We’re sharing all the best wedding reception decor ideas to help you elevate your best day ever! Do you want to plan an immersive wedding day experience for you & your guests? There are a few key decor items to make your wedding day unforgettable. Keep reading for our top 6 tips.
1) Stationery
Custom wedding stationery is an investment, and it goes beyond your wedding invitations. We know there are plenty of online sites for couples to build out their stationery design. However, the touch points of a curated stationery set should dig deeper than what you’ll be sending your guests in the mail.
Investing in working with a stationer will give you the flexibility of a custom experience. It will also allow you to order multiple items for your wedding from the same professional. We can tell you from experience, its difficult to create a cohesive stationery experience if you have to order these items individually. It all begins with your invitation suite, which will set the tone for your wedding day. But a full stationery experience includes vow books, menus, place cards, timelines, and signage.
2) Chairs
Chairs are a wedding visual that also plays into guest experience. Always upgrade your chairs! There are so many Maui wedding venues that offer tables & chairs as part of your package. But, more often than not, the chairs offered do not match the design vision that our couples have in mind. You might be thinking, but it’s just a chair. Not really. Chairs at a wedding ceremony & reception in a beautiful landscape like the Hawaii islands are so much more than just a chair.
Above all, they are furniture. Big pieces of furniture that will quickly catch the eye of those in attendance at your wedding. But also yours when you look back on your wedding photos for years to come. The goal of upgrading your chairs is to provide your wedding with a piece of functional decor with optimal comfort. While also seamlessly coordinating with your vision for an impeccably curated wedding day.
3) Dinnerware
Surprised to see this on the list? When you think of wedding reception decor ideas to elevate your day, dinnerware doesn’t exactly come to mind. But, it is a highly relevant component of your tablescape; right along with florals – which we’ll get to in a second. Let us paint the picture for you. Think of a meal you ate on a paper plate, or with disposable cutlery. Now we want you to think of another meal. One you enjoyed with fine china, silverware, and two pieces of stemware; one for wine and one for water. Two completely different dining experiences, right?
As the couple, you are about to serve your guests a delectable carefully selected dinner. So it’s important that you set the scene for your guests in a way that introduces the meal. That means upgrading your chargers, plates, napkins, utensils, and stemware. Don’t forget to top it all off with the menus we discussed above. A wedding dinner is one of the most formal dinners to attend. Upgrading your dinnerware will lend to your overall wedding reception design and dining experience.
4) Overhead Installations
Weddings are an immersive experience, for couples and their guests. At a wedding, you are stepping outside of the world and into a celebration. All the noise of everyday life melts away. You spend the night in the company of your beloved friends & family members creating lifelong memories. In a sense, attending a wedding is similar to stepping into a microcosm.
To achieve this complete feeling of immersion through your wedding means to think about decor up, down, and sideways. Floral installations, specialty lighting, and draping are all elements that create the sights & sensations of an immersive wedding day experience. Oftentimes when our clients plan outdoor weddings in Maui, we work with them on enhancements like chandeliers, draping, and hanging flower arrangements.
5) Live Entertainment
How often do you frequent concerts, theatre, ballet, or go see your favorite comedian perform stand-up? Live entertainment is often a way to relax while taking in the arts. Which makes it another wonderful element to add to your wedding. Live entertainment is also a great way to add to your guest’s experience. It provides breakout spaces for guests to mix & mingle within your wedding reception. Some of our favorite ways to elevate your wedding day with live entertainment are through live painters, musicians, or, our favorite for Maui weddings; Tahitian Dancers.
6) Florals
In a sense, flowers are kind of a given for weddings. They are expected, right? You assume you’ll see carried bouquets or boutonnieres on lapels. But adding flowers to the spaces that matter most is how you go from beautiful to next level. There are so many ways to add florals aside from bouquets, boutonnieres, and table arrangements. All in a way that creates the immersive experience we’ve been talking about.
Consider adding on a floral arch or individual arrangements to your arch structure. Petals tossed by your flower sprinkler are always a nice touch to your aisle. But petals alone can make things look a bit ‘thin’. Ground arrangements will accent your aisle alongside guest seating in a way that is unobtrusive yet mesmerizing. The wonderful thing about aisle arrangements is that they can often be moved to your reception for repurposing. Other spaces to consider when going over the proposal with your florist? The welcome table, bar, lounge area, cocktail tables, and individual stems to add to your guest’s place settings!
