Restaurant Reception Advice

We thought about doing this for our DW as well. But as our guest list grew, we abandoned the idea. My advice would be to check lots of places, as I found that rates and requirements varied greatly. Make sure you find out the cost of renting a private room & how many people can be COMFORTABLY seated (I found some places will say the room capacity is one amount, but that’s really cramming people into the space. You want to make sure your guests are seated comfortably, not bumping elbows). Also find out if you will be allowed to order from the menu or if you will have a limited menu to select from. Will they be charging menu prices, or a special rate? Find out what all the other “hidden” fees are (this can add 20-30% or more!) And if you plan to have alcohol you will want to ask about that too-will they just charge typical fees for each drink, or will they charge a flat rate for so many hours of open bar? Will you need to pay for an additional bartender to be in staff that night for your party? And again, any additional “hidden” fees.
As far as making it feel more like a wedding reception... I think the only way to do that would be decorations. You will want to find out if the restaurant allows outside decor, and any restrictions with them (ie, some places do not allow anything hanging, no glitter, no open flames, etc). You will need to know if you will have access to the room prior so that you can decorate, as well as who has to clean it all up. To be honest though, if I was having my reception dinner at a restaurant I would just forego decor. It’s a lot of unneeded work and clean up!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much. I haven't thought about most of that. I really appreciate your advice!

View Quoted Comment So glad I could help

We are doing same - the room has a dance floor - I think that helps it be more reception venue like!!

I've seen this. It'll feel like a wedding. Weddings now a days are held at restaurants a lot and they can accommodate things like dance floors and what not if you need or if they can, usually.

I'm having a private room also. It took awhile for us to find the perfect restaurant though and we have eaten at ours 3 times now just to get a feel on what to order for our guests. We fell in love with the rustic decor and the manager is amazing to work with so that made it even easier to book it. Since we already love the décor we will just be doing centerpieces, a favor table, a gift table and the cake table. As far as drinks go...we figure we could set out a few bottles of wine and also let our guests buy whatever drink they want and we'll foot the bill, but our families aren't big drinkers.