How to have a Wedding reception that everyone will remember
So you’ve gotten all dressed up, you’ve said your I do’s, you took your formal photos, you said hi to all the homies and now there’s only one thing left to do, PARTY! Now it seems pretty straightforward, but sometimes things don’t go as planned and the party ends up being a little stale. Now what a freaking bummer! You’ve been planning this event for sometimes a year+ and had this vision of an insane party to cap off your celebration of love. BUT we aren’t going to let that happen to you, because over the last 8 years we’ve been through it all and we are about to drop some tips on what to do and what not to do when it comes to having a wedding reception everyone is going to be talking about for the next 20 years.
Let’s start with the latter of what not to do, and some of these you might not like, but it is what it is. First things first, DON’T INVITE PEOPLE YOU HAVEN’T TALKED TO IN 10 YEARS. We’ve all got at least one homie who you are inviting because you feel obligated to invite, whether it’s a childhood friend, or someone you went to high school with that was “kinda cool” at the time. Yeah lets just skip that invite because we see it all the time and once that person says hey and eats your food, they are almost always going to dip out early and that’s buzzkill.
Next, lets talking about drinking. Now you are an adult and you are going to do whatever you want, but this is a wedding day, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. A brew or a shot before the ceremony, that’s totally cool, but you don’t want to be 8 beers and 3 tequila shots in before you even walk down the aisle, because you still got like 3-4 hours left and you don’t want to be painting your aunt with puke before your playlist even starts.
And speaking of playlist, lets talk about what to do! GET A BADASS DJ! Now your definition of a badass DJ can vary, but sometimes a badass DJ is legit someone who will actually play your freaking playlist! We can’t tell you how many times we’ve photographing a wedding and the DJ completely ignores what the couple wants and just plays the top 40 pop charts and the dance floor is a ghost town. If you want to play Three 6 Mafia, you should get some Three 6 mafia! Seems like a simple concept but damn, it happens more often than you’d think.
Okay now this one sometimes doesn’t fit into your budget and that’s totally cool, but if you can swing it. Have everyone shuttled in to the venue, WHY??? Because it traps your guests there lmao, and the easiest way to make sure you don’t have anyone trying to dine and dash on you. Also it removes the whole drinking and driving thing and that’s always rad because safety is our #1 priority!
Kind of piggy backing off the DJ/Playlist thing. PLAY Mo Bamba by Shek Wes! First of all we give a 10% discount off your prints/Album if you do and that’s sweet, but also EVERY wedding that has had this song play, has been a CERTIFIED BANGER of a reception. There is something magical about that song, that will guarantee the party to be a core memory for all your guests.
And lastly, hire a photographer that is going to actually get in the thick of it and document the party like a floating eyeball aka US! This isn’t national geographic, you don’t need someone snapping from 100 feet away like you are a gazelle about to be munched on by a lion. In order to get the vibe of the party, it’s pretty simple, you gotta be apart of the party!