Kayennat's and Khizer's Wedding: The Reception (1)

Be forewarned! This is going to be a rather long post. There were so many aspects to the wedding that it will take a lot of space. From the decor, to the outfits, and the dancing to the food. 

The reception took place in Crystal Plaza, in Birmingham. A lot of Asian weddings happen here because of the size. With two levels for your guests, it can accommodate an approx. of 1000 guests for a sit down meal. I personally don't like it. It's mostly the carpet and the lights, which I find really tacky. I do not understand what the thing is with red carpets that everywhere needs to have it! The amount of guests we had at the wedding limited the available venues we could hire as many only cater to about 150 or less. We had about 300 - which is good for Asian weddings, and this was just family and friends! On our side anyway.

We split the guests between the two families, so we each had 150 guests. It works out so much to do two separate functions, which is what happens back home in Mauritius, but then again they invite the entire neighborhood as well. 

It was an evening reception, and since the marriage had already taken place the lovely couple came to the venue together. We got the hall only an hour before the wedding to decor it. The hall had a very limited selection of center pieces which were icky so we did our own. The theme seemed to be vintage and flowers! 

The Decor

This is basically the room, taken from the stage. The wooden area is what I think works for a dance floor, and there's the red carpet! We kept the colour scheme simple, to not make things tacky. The chair covers and table were white as standard, with customisable sashes - which we kept as lilac and silver. 

We had decided to reserve a certain amount of tables per family, for the near and dear. The head table was also the same as the others, and not isolated like most weddings. I had made place cards, along with my minions to sit everyone on each table. Each reserved table was labeled with hanging cards, attached to the center pieces, which were assorted birdcages and candle holders: mostly from TKMaxx. 

 

We hand made the "flowers" using twigs, tissue paper and glue! (Do I smell a tutorial?)
Also added baubles, and heart shaped chalk boards with the date on. (Another tutorial ..?)

I also made the menu cards. The food was a sit meal, but buffet style. So the guests were able to choose what they wanted from what was on the table. Food was catered by Akbars.

The wedding favours were also made by us! We made cupcakes and wrapped it up in cellophane paper, wrapped it up in a bow, and added a thank you note to our guests. We also gave the traditional Mauritian favor of 'gros anis', which was wrapped up in a clear bag, and put inside these beautiful colorful drawstring bags bought from eBay. 

We had juice to welcome the guests, which we provided, as the venue charges way too much, and we love Costco so we bought in bulk! 

 We had a photobooth at the wedding with unlimited pictures for our guests to have fun! It was an amazing idea, and one that I think all weddings should have!

I will add the rest of the pictures in a follow-up post!

Much Love,

Nigar