Modern Romantic Reception ideas on a Budget

Most people throwing an event do not have unlimited budgets.  The “B” word is something we talk about at great lengths with our design team.  How do we curate for clients that come from all different budgets?  How do we present options that are respectful of what our clients can spend?

First, it is vital to find out what matters most to our client and the event.   We break this down in “zones,” which are specialized areas that comprise the layout of an event.  Is the bar area your jam?  Are you dead set on seating vignettes?  Is this a corporate event that wants amazing food stations? Is this a wedding where the bride and groom have their hearts set on an amazing head table?  Will you be having a lot of older guests who need comfortable seating?  Is this a heavy drinking crowd so self serve beer and wine stations are a must to prevent bottlenecking at the bar?  And the list of questions can go on and on…

So for the sake of time, let’s say we get a client who wants their reception to feel Modern Garden.  Their venue is a little lackluster, but they were able to get a great price.   Their main focus is to create a cool guest experience.  P.S. This example works great for the wedding on a  hard budget or for a non-profit event.

Let’s start with the chairs, and for the record, chairs absolutely matter when on a budget!  Here we chose our most economical wooden chair- Teak Wood Folding.  Chairs make the most impact when entering the room.  You most likely won’t be dropping 5k on a hanging floral element or 15k on a huge band setup, so chairs will be your #1.  Second impact piece- tables and centerpieces.  We chose a budget poly in a neutral shade for the table cloth from our friends at L’nique (not white because budget poly white can translate as cheap.)  The table beneath the cloth is a standard 8ft banquet table.

The centerpieces were chosen from our vintage vase collection and were selected for their height and color.  We wanted to make an impact with the color and scale.  In this case, because we decided to go tall.  The faux florals where provided by Molly Taylor and Co. and were the perfect compliment for the vase.

Faux florals are awesome on a budget because they can be set up days before the actual event.  You can also purchase and resell these on your own (or keep them in your stash for future events!)  Same for the vases- if you want to save on the rental, you can source your own.

Be sure to give yourself time to hunt, because faux flowers are sometimes hard to find at your local thrift store.  A secret when sourcing – determine your color pallet and desired shape and stick to it.  This will ensure you don’t have a random vase that doesn’t work with the rest of the vases.

For the dinnerware, we chose a simple Coupe Plate.  This is typically your least expensive option on the market.  To give it some flare, we chose our Vintage Plate Collection in the bread ’n’ butter size to be set directly atop the other plates.  Beneath all the plates is our  Straw Place Mat.   Our goal was to achieve some texture on the table. For the glassware and flatware, we chose Borrow’s most budget friendly options; the Standard Wine + Water Goblet as well as our Lilliana Flatware.  To make things nice and easy we’ve comprised the Vintage Table Top Package for 10!

Ad some sparkle and light to the table with Gold Candlesticks with differing colored tapered candles (these pictured are from Target) and tea lights.

Want to mix up the look with the same idea but in a monochromatic color pallet?  Here is the same idea but with a blue and white pallet.

Finally- let’s say you find a little extra room in your budget and you want to go a little bigger with your chair choice…. here is the same design but with changing out our Teak Chairs for our Bentwood Chairs and Chair Cushion.

Total Price Breakdown per table not including what is listed below:  $189.00.

Chairs X 10: $67.90

Banquet Table x 1: $18.00

Vases: $30

Tea Lights: $10

Linen: $20

Total Per Person Cost: $33.49

Would you like pricing for more economy options?  We’d love to help!!  Just a friendly reminder we have order minimums for High Season (May through October.)  Book a consult HERE and we’d love to chat.

Cheers!

Ann