Anyone couples having a reception at a restaurant?

We are having ours at the beach. Wish I could help.

I've done a LOT of restaurant weddings, but it's kind of hard to give you advice without knowing where you are. I'd make sure that the restaurant has enough staff to make sure your party is taken care of, that furniture can be moved around for the ceremony, etc, and that they are really big enough to handle your party gracefully.

We are looking for a place in San Diego.

And will have between 15- 20 people.

I'm just not sure where to start. I have called quite a few places but they haven't gotten back to me.

I'm having mine at a restaurant that doesn't normally do weddings. I just called and asked if I could rent out the place for lunch/early afternoon. They gave me half (for only the cost of the food!)

I get to decorate any way I want the night before (having rehearsal/dinner there) and get the room until the dinner rush starts. The restaurant will have their normal wait staff assigned to the room, but they aren't providing any other wedding-related services. I think it's a great deal, and I love their food.

OH NO M.S.P.! You're so close to your date!! What happened?? I know your guest list is a little smaller now. Do you not have enough people for your original venue? Will you resend invites or do word of mouth? Im sorry you have to deal with this so close to your wedding day! Good luck!

We are having ours at a restaurant, it is a Brazilian Steakhouse and they have a very beautiful private dinning room that seats 45. They are setting up a table for our cake and we can arrange the room the way we want and decorate our tables. I think a restuarant with a private set up is perfect for small wedding receptions. Good luck!!!

Updated for photo of our room.

I just went to a reception at a restaurant, it was awesome! The couple was able to rent the whole restaurant (it's a small place) free of charge and only had to pay the food bill. They just let everyone sit where they wanted and had the "private dining" area set aside for the buffet and gifts. the "head table" was just one of those big corner booth things that was well decorated. I loved it. It was very casual, simple, pretty.... and we were the only party there. It was great!

I'm having mine at a restaurant. I think it doesn't really matter if it's a wedding restaurant or not. They are all willing to accommodate you to get your business. If they have private party room, they'll most likely give you at least three hours before the party to decorate. Get some friends to help you set up the place. If they do do wedding and private party, they might even have their planner to set up the place for you. I say go there and scope out the place see how it looks, so it gives you an idea of how to set up your decoration.

Sorry about your down sized guest list. Happy planning!!

One more thing, if you have your reception catered, you'll pay extra for the service fee. Depending on the venue if they allow your food vender to use the kitchen or not (places I looked up, they don't). Food won't be as good and cater menu is limited.

You can definitely save money if you find a BYOB place.

Amy: We will do word of mouth. Since there are only 13 guests and the rest is the wedding party it shouldn't take much time.

You could do a buffet restaurant. Are there any you like in San Diego?

Then you know everyone can have a choice.

I agree w/the other ladies. My aunt & uncle had a small wedding and a friend that also had a small wedding. They contacted local restaurants and they were able to rent an entire room. To make things easy, the couple selected a few items off of the menu.

We had our reception at a restaurant. We only invited 50 guests, we both have big families so it wasn't easy but everyone understood we aren't rich and we didn't want to spend our married life together paying off debts for one day.

We called around to a few restaurants. We went with my husband's choice (since he didn't do much choosing when it came to other wedding related topics). They had a private room that would seat 50 people so it worked out perfectly. Of course we were already familiar with the menu but to make things easier like Christina H. said, we choose what would be on the guest's menu. We met with the general manager of the restaurant several times so he knew what we expected and he gave us a menu that they use as a catering menu so that helped to cut costs. We had a set price per head like a banquet hall would do but our guests had options for the dinner like a buffet would have.

cont.

You definitely want to make sure they will have enough staff for you. Find out when you can come in and decorate. The restaurant wasn't even open, only the cooks and other staff were there when our families went in to decorate. The GM did help our families decorate but he didn't have to.

I am so glad we choose to have our wedding reception there. Everyone complimented us on our choice. No one had been to anything like that before we did it and everything worked out great. The food was delicious and it was very reasonable in price.

We got to move tables around where we wanted them and we measured the tables beforehand so we knew what we needed as far as linens go. And the room we had our reception in had a door that locked so when we were at the ceremony no one would have access to the reception area.

It is very do-able. Good luck to you.

I've been married twice now, and have had restaurant receptions both times. My first wedding, we took over the entire restaurant for a lunch reception. My second wedding, we used the private dining room of a restaurant. In my view, a restaurant reception can be a great way of minimizing complications, as you can use the same vendor for space, food, alcohol, china, tables and chairs, etc.

What you need depends a lot on what type of reception you want:

* Are you planning to have the ceremony at the restaurant, too? In that case, you'll need space that everyone can see for the ceremony.

* Do you want music playing, either as background or for dancing? In that case, you'll need to inquire about sound systems.

* Are you planning on having dancing? If so, you'll want to figure out whether there is space for a DJ or band, and a dance floor.

* Do you want a formal wedding cake? If so, you'll need to figure out their policy on bringing in outside food.

(cont.)

As far as decorations go, what type of decorations do you want? A nice restaurant has to decorate nicely, so you may not need to add much. However, if you want to set up additional decorations, you'll need to figure out when you can get in to do that, and how much time they will allow you.

The restaurant we used allowed us to use either the regular menu or a "private dining menu." With the private dining menu, we could choose one of several price points, and our guests would be given a choice of items. That way, our guests never saw prices, and we could plan in advance for what the total cost would be. They also gave us choices on alcohol. We could:

* Specify what (if any) alcohol was to be served, so we would know the cost in advance.

* Provide a certain level of alcohol automatically, but allow guests to order more at their own expense.

* Provide a certain level of alcohol automatically, but provide that we would pay for other alcohol guests chose to order.

(cont.)

If we chose the last option, we could also decide whether servers would mention other alcohol to guests, or whether they would provide extra alcohol only if a guest asked about it.

We chose to have a champagne toast, and bottles of red and white wine on the table. We asked that servers not suggest other alcohol, but said that we would pay for other alcohol if guests asked about it. I don't think any of them did, but we didn't want to set up a cash bar kind of situation if someone really didn't like wine.

* Are you planning to have the ceremony at the restaurant, too?

-Our ceremony is at the beach

* Do you want music playing, either as background or for dancing? In that case, you'll need to inquire about sound systems.

-We are not having dancing and shouldn't need music

* Do you want a formal wedding cake? If so, you'll need to figure out their policy on bringing in outside food.

-We Already ordered our cake so we will need to find a place that will allow us to bring in a cake

I don't think we will be decorating because it's so last minute and I'm afraid I wont have time for it.