Step 9. Plan the Wedding Reception Decoration
Think about how you want your wedding reception venue decor to be, including the decoration colour scheme, the lighting, the seating and tables arrangement, the wedding cake, outfit colour matching of outfits of the couple and their wedding party’s (bridesmaids and groomsmen), the flowers, etc. The reception decoration is basically about the look and ambiance of your wedding and a big part of your wedding style. And, it’s not just about the colour scheme. So, keep the decoration minimal and simple (rainbow colours are not elegant).
If you’re having a combined trad plus white wedding reception, you’ll have to decide on the theme of your reception hall or outdoor venue. Is it going to be an all-traditional vibes decoration or a neutral, white wedding vibes decor, or partly trad decor and partly white wedding decor? That decision is up to you. However, just make sure that the venue decoration colour combination is not clashing.
HINT: Fewer colours in a venue decoration colour combo are easier to manage and also less likely to clash if you’re not sure what will work. It’s a good idea to get your inspiration of what the venue will look like from looking at other people’s wedding reception pictures. From there you can pick the picture that most represents the vision or idea you have about how your reception should be decorated.
We recommend that you sit with your wedding decoration vendor to brainstorm ideas for wedding venue decoration, but it also helps if you have a small idea of what you like – such as: how you want the seating arrangement to be in your wedding hall (rectangular tables? sets of chairs around a round table? or how? Where will the bride and groom sit?
Step 10. Plan the Reception Music/ Entertainment
Would you want to have a DJ or music band, or both? What other forms of entertainment can you afford to thrill your guests with – comedian/ traditional dancers/solo singers? There’s no right or wrong here – let your personality shine through your choice of wedding reception entertainment, while ensuring to keep a balance with what your guests are likely to like.
Useful Wedding Reception Music Tips:
- If you’re on a budget, DJs are cheaper than live bands. Also, it is not necessary to have both on-ground. A good DJ is better than a sloppy music band, any day. However, you choose to entertain your wedding guests, know that a bad DJ/ band will dull your wedding reception mood and make your guests want to leave early. Don’t be stingy when it comes to getting a professional DJ that will keep your guests up and dancing. Do everything you can to keep the mood in your reception festive.
- Compile your wedding Do-Not-Play-List-of-Songs. These are the songs you or your guests would be embarrassed or displeased to hear in your reception. Think of your guests – you know them – and know the type of songs they will not want to listen to or dance to. Write them down and give to your DJ. I was at a wedding where most of the guests are from the couple’s church and the bestman and Pastor were always getting up to the DJ’s table to ask him to change some songs that came up. This happened very frequently that it was noticeable to the guests and made the dance floor empty, and the wedding boring. So, that’s why it is advised to make a Do-Not-Play-List.
Step 11. Plan the Pictures (Wedding Reception Planning Checklist)
In what forms do you want to keep your wedding day memory?
Based on your budget, can you afford to have both wedding photography and video coverage, or only photography? Wedding photography is another area where we advise couples not to be stingy – work around the budget you have to get a professional wedding photographer to cover your big day. We’ve heard many stories of couples who ended up having no pictures or very blurred photos of their wedding day – don’t make that mistake! Here are more tips for making your wedding picture-perfect.
- SEE ALSO: Order of Photographs Checklist for Wedding Day Snaps
- Top Nigerian Wedding Photography Mistakes to Avoid
- True Story: How a Photographer Ruined a Nigerian Wedding
Step 12. Research and Choose Wedding Vendors
Who and who (or what companies) will help you put together the different areas of the wedding reception – such as the MC, the DJ, the caterer, the cake baker, the venue decorator, the makeup artist, etc.
There’s a lot of logistics with wedding receptions, and you require other people (wedding service providers/ vendors) to help you translate your wedding dreams into a reality. The good vendors always get fully booked early, so start researching for (who to hire) from at least 6 months in advance. The best way to find wedding vendors is by asking around for the reputation and quality of the local vendors near your wedding reception venue. Good places to contact when looking for a wedding vendor include asking hotels and other wedding service providers to recommend reputable wedding vendors they have worked with in previous wedding events.
- Where and How to Find Good Wedding Vendors in Nigeria
- Search/ Find Wedding Vendors or Venue In the State/ City of Your Wedding
- Tips to Find and Pick a Good Makeup Artists
Step 13. Decide How and Who to Coordinate the Wedding Reception Party
The wedding day is labour-intensive and you (bride or groom) cannot be there, except if you want to miss your wedding and regret it later. You should plan your wedding so that you can attend it like the VIP guest. You have to keep your wedding day for yourself, to totally enjoy all of it. Get someone (NOT YOU) to coordinate the wedding reception tasks in the last weeks leading to your wedding day. That person’s role will also help put out a few fires and last-minute confusion.
If your budget can afford it, hire a wedding planner for the coordination role. If not, find one or two capable friends or family members to help you out.
- Wedding Day Coordination Planning Checklist (to Guarantee That Your Event Runs Smoothly Without You Involvement)
Step 14. Design the Wedding Reception Program
It’s a good idea to create this with your wedding MC, but be sure to let him/ her know how long/ short you want the event to be. And it’s best to incorporate ideas from one or two wedding receptions you’ve attended and really like. Here are a few helpful posts on this subject:
- Same-Day Trad and White Wedding Program of Event Sample and Tips
- Yoruba Trad Wedding Program of Events Scheduling Tips
Step 15. Decide What the Wedding Souvenirs Would Be
Wedding souvenirs should not be a do or die affair – if you give your guests good food and entertainment, they’ll feel special even if you didn’t give them souvenirs. However, if you have a budget for wedding souvenirs, go for it, but know that a perfect wedding souvenir doesn’t have to be expensive.
Wrap up: Get Started with Planning Your Wedding Reception
Your wedding reception should be about giving your guests a nice time, and that starts from knowing these facts – wedding guests hate to be kept waiting and they also hate a very long reception. So, be sure to be on time at your wedding reception (no Nigerian time thing) and keep your wedding reception not too long. Finally, find time to relax in-between your planning and take things easy. If at any point, you find yourself feeling stressed and overwhelmed, take a deep breath and follow the advice we outlined on how to deal with anxiety and stress when planning a wedding.
That’s all on how you can plan a memorable wedding reception in Nigeria. I made sure that the checklist has everything you need to remember to do and put in place. So, I’m counting on you to do the legwork and execute the tasks inside the ‘reception plan’. Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed reading this post, help us share it with others on social media. Also, consider subscribing to our NaijaGlamWedding newsletter and also follow us on social media to get our bite-sized Nigerian wedding planning tips and latest aso-ebi styles.
There you have it – our Nigerian wedding reception planning checklist for you. I hope you like it, and I also hope it keeps you organized on what and what to do every step of the way. You can print out this post to refer to and check off completed tasks.
Now, it’s your turn to me. Where are you in your wedding reception planning journey and what things have you already completed? Comment down below to tell me. Also, is there any helpful tip(s) I didn’t add? Feel free to add it down there in the comments section sown below.
Dramaqueen says
Hey sis Stella!
Ever since I started planning my wedding your blog has been really helpful.
Thank you so much😘
But this stage where I am , I’m getting do stressed out🥲
I really love to have a simple yet classy wedding ,not so crowded. We were considering about 150 guest but as it is eh it seems unrealistic cus we both know a whole lot of persons. so 200 is hopefully the deal..
I thought about using table number or seat number to reduce the crowd if at all others persons we didn’t invite get to hear about the wedding. But how the hell to assign those numbers is what I don’t know.
I’ll be glad if I could get some help. My wedding is in a 2months. Thank you for your anticipated reply
Stella Anokam says
Hi Dramaqueen, thanks for that sweet feedback. It made me smile. I am happy to know that our posts are helping you through your wedding planning journey. Now, here’s my reply to your question:
-You asked: how to assign seat numbers; AND you also said you plan to use seat numbers to reduce the crowd and keep away uninvited guests.
First, I have to tell you that the real purpose of numbering seats is different, and is not to keep off uninvited guests.
**Let’s dream a second: Imagine it’s your wedding day and the venue is full, some are seated, some standing either because they did not get a seat with their name or because someone was already seated on the seat that has their name. You, the bride and your groom are there looking at the chaos. How would you feel? That scenario tells guests that the wedding was either not properly planned or had zero planning.
I want you to know that the purpose of ‘planning’ in wedding planning is to stream down the guest number to how much your budget can afford, to plan how to keep away uninvited guests, to plan how to make the wedding party fun, and more.
HERE ARE MY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT TO DO:
>Accept the fact that you cannot invite everyone you know, and don’t feel bad about it. Like you, every other couple knows a million and one people but weddings are not meant for inviting everyone, unless you don’t mind a crowdy, stuffy venue, and if you can feed everyone.
>Use tried and tested methods to keep away uninvited guests = Make your wedding “strictly by invitation’ and Hire venue security/ bouncers to not allow anyone without an invitation card. And state in your invitation card that it’s strictly by invitation.
>If you choose to use seat numbers for your guests, it would only be effective if you hire ushers and a wedding coordinator to help guests find their seats, else it could be cumbersome for guests to betrying to walk around looking for where to sit. Also, be sure that you have a way to communicate every guest’s seat number to them in advance, and also maybe have it at the venue entrance.
>Tips for assigning seat numbers include: group guests together and assign a table per group of persons with or without either names and seat numbers or names alone (e.g. a table per group, for example: bride’s/ groom’s immediate family, bride/ groom’s classmates, your/ groom’s coworkers, church members, your neighbours, your cousins, married couples and other married couples, single female guests with other single male guests, older guests with other older guests.
**The idea is to group people who are already familiar with each other or have similar interests, so that every guest has someone to talk to, and not feel awkward.
>You have to have ushers to help you make it easy to help people find their seats. *Note that seat numbers can also be confusing for guests if you don’t have a team of people to coordinate it.
>There are some apps for making seating charts and assigning seat numbers. Just google for seating chart apps, and use it to easily assign seating numbers to your guests.
>Also, put a banner outside your wedding venue that has table numbers and names of people assigned per table, to make it easier for guest to find their seats upon entering your wedding venue. And have ushers to help with that.
FINALLY:
>Plan your guest list, trim it down to the number your budget can feed.
>Actually make a guest list on paper. ==> How to make a Guest List, using our simple rules to decide who to invite and who not to invite.
>Work with your caterer to determine how much you need to feed the number of guests you plan for, and cut that number down if the cost is more than you can afford. Cut down your guest list to a manageable number. **Find out how to trim down your guest list
>If you really care about the rest of the crowds you know but can’t invite, then have a casual party later for everyone giving them food and drinks, after your wedding.
**READ: How to Reduce Wedding Planning Stress
I hope that helps.
Thanks so much for all the explainations, my wedding is in two months time, i want to have both in one day, still confuse on how the arrangement will be.
Hi Ebele, thanks for your feedback, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.
I wrote a guide and sample flow of events for a 2-in-one Traditional and White wedding events on same day. I think you should check out that post and read to the end, to get ideas on how to arrange things.
Don’t worry, that post was written to get the confusion out of the way for brides like you.
Let me know how it goes. Happy planning!
You are doing a great, job well done.
I am planning to have my wedding in 6 month time. I am a yoruba lady and the type of person that do not have so many friends and am not so close to my extended family even my uncle family where i will do the introduction how do I make up for this in my preparation.
Thanks.
Hello Adewunmi, and thanks for the compliments. Here’s my thoughts:
-For your customary marriage introduction preparations, you should ask your parents or the few relatives you are close to (even cousins, your cousins’parents/ aunts/ uncles), to lead you to your Paternal Uncles who are key players on the D-day. Use other relatives to get to them.
-You do not need so many people to be at your wedding – these days, some of the classiest weddings do not have many guests – think of the Nigerian celebrity weddings – their are not many guests. The focus is on keeping it CLASSY. It’s okay, especially these days, to have a wedding where there are few guests.
-I have a question for you – what kind of wedding size do you dream of? Lots of people or moderate number or few people made up of tightly close family members and friends?
My advice for you is this: plan your wedding guest list around the few, close friends and family members you have, BUT focus on making it high quality, top class – so that your guests would be wowed, and keep talking of how yours was refreshingly different. >That you have fewer guests would mean that you can have extra money to provide great food for your guests and a memorable party experience.
We have a series of posts on Ultimate Guide to Planning a Small, Intimate, Classy Nigerian Wedding (click).
And, How to Wow Your Guests with a Small but Mighty Wedding (Celebrity Style).
Hope the above tips help you.
I really appreciate your detailed, insightful and helpful tips. We are planning a garden wedding (wedding blessing and reception same venue different location) for May. Just a little tip on how to go about the event, even though we have been able to make a budget and others via the tips from this platform. thank you in anticipation
Dear Alheri, I am so happy to learn that you have been planning your wedding details and budget with what you read here. Thanks for the feedback.
On your garden wedding, here are some tips:
1) Think about CONVENIENCE or RESTROOMS (especially toilet) for your guests. What is available at the venue you are thinking of? Would the number of toilets be enough? As the venue what is available, how many? And check to see that it is true and that they flush. >If nothing is available, ask around for where to hire mobile toilets. >>On the wedding day, have someone visit early and ensure the toilet(s) are washed clean. Also ensure there would be a few people on ground to wash the toilets in-between uses, because some guests may start urinating in surrounding open spaces if the toilets are dirty, and you don’t want that.
2) What if it rains? The rains have been sporadic this year, coming at unexpected times. Would you use a tarpaulin or does the garden you’re renting have a covered tent-venue (marquee) that you could book for backup for you and guests to move to, if it rains.
3) Your shoes: Do not wear pointy heels. They would sink into the sandy and grassy garden floor, and that would make you uncomfortable.
4) Make your wedding dress to not be too long, because if it sweeps the garden floors/ sand, you are definitely going to have it dirty before the reception ends.
5) Where will Your DJ setup? Ask the garden managers the location that is close to electrical sockets, where your DJ can plug his gadgets for sound. And be sure to check that the sockets work. >Ask if there are extra extension boxes. It would be good to let your DJ know to have extra extension boxes on hand.
6) Speakers position: Your DJ should know to do this, but still hammer it in his head, and be sure that someone follows up that day. Have them position speakers on all 4 corners of the guest-seating area, but far apart, so that the music can be heard by all.
7) Make sure there’s a nearby Parking Space for your guests. Many gardens do not have this, and if your prospective venue doesn’t, then schedule a visit again to that garden venue and walk around the environment to determine where and where to mark out for use as parking areas on your wedding day. >>To make this work, assign a few of your trusty people (wedding day coordinators) to direct guests to where they should park.
8) Tone down on Glittery Makeup because in an outdoor venue, the sun would be lighting up your face and make any highlights look too much in pictures. >>Also, have a professional makeup do your makeup, so that every spot would be covered – if not, outside, natural lighting would show them in photos.
9) Insects and Crawling Things: It’s common to have lizards and insects showing up around the wedding reception area, and guests would not be comfortable. So, ask the garden managers if they could fumigate insect repellents around the proposed wedding area, a few days to your wedding date.
10) Minimal Decor Required: Nature is beautiful on it’s own, and so garden wedding venues do not require too much decoration to make it look uniquely different and classy.
Pheww! Alheri, I guess those tips would help you take your garden wedding venue from the usual look and feel to uniquely beautiful. Finally, you might want to grab more ideas from one of the garden wedding venues we’ve featured on this blog.
Hello Stella!
Thank you very much for your posts. They give me a clear idea of how to plan my wedding and what to expect.
I would like to know what the usual wedding reception agenda is? From the moment the guests arrive at the reception hall until the newly weds leave the building. I don’t know how I should set up the order of events that will occur at the wedding reception. I’ll really appreciate your help.
Thank you!!
Thank you too for reading, Olufunlola. Okay, below is a wedding reception programme (order) from a Nigerian wedding I recently attended:
-Arrival/ seating of guests
-Recognition of Special Guests
-Introduction/ Invitation to the High Table
-Entry of Couple
-Opening Prayer
Opening Remarks
-Couple’s Dance
-Cutting of Cake/ Toast
More Dancing
-Presentation of Gifts
-Vote of Thanks
-Dance! Dance! Dance!
Thank you so much for your response Stella. That gives me a clearer picture of how I should organize the agenda. I appreciate it!
I’m happy to know that the suggested wedding reception agenda was of help to you. You’re welcome, Olufunlola. Have a lovely, glam wedding!
Hi Stella,
my Wedding is in a month and i must confess i have learnt alot form your blog. i hope to share my ideas after my wedding.
please wish me luck.
Thanks, Chineye. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding – I wish you all the luck you need:) I’m happy to know that our tips on how to plan a fabulous wedding reception, and I look forward to seeing you back to share your after-wedding-ideas.
thanks. counting down- 3weeks to go.
You’re welcome, Chinenye. And, we here at NaijaGlamWedding wish you a fabulous wedding experience.
Hi Stella,
Your posts are very insightful,
Hello Christabel. Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed reading my Wedding Reception Planning guide. I and my are team always gingered to write more posts, after reading a feedback like yours. We have more helpful posts, be sure to look around:)