A Warm Reception

One part of a wedding that some people consider to be all but indispensable in the present day is the reception. Having been through what a majority of attendees consider to be “the boring part” – you know, all the stuff about a lifelong commitment, sickness, health, richer, poorer, the whole nine yards – everyone decamps to a venue to eat, drink, dance, laugh, cry and if everything is planned correctly, for two drunken uncles to have a fight for reasons no-one will be able to understand. It is almost as much of a tradition as the exchanging of rings.

Planning the reception can be almost as much of a headache as the ceremony itself. Most venues will have a limit on the number of people you can invite, which is rarely the exact same total as those who have attended the ceremony and therefore means that some people will be able to come to one part but not the other. Then you have to decide who will sit with whom, and this in itself leads to the age-old question of “who hates who the least?”. Perhaps this is a cynical description, but it is also, in many cases, blazingly accurate.

Considering the likelihood of alcoholic beverages being served and consumed, it is important to keep in mind the possibility of division and bad blood. If necessary, it will be wise to keep people with grudges as far apart as possible, and also to have a word in their ear about standards of behavior. Remember it is your day, not theirs.