8 Ways To Enhance Your Indian Wedding Reception

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The Indian wedding reception is the newlyweds’ first celebration as a married couple. While the wedding ceremony stands to be the most special and crucial of your events, it’s the reception party that most look forward to!

We live in a world full of Pinterest and Instagram weddings. All brides, at one point or another, have taken a screen grab or pinned a post to achieve something to the same effect for their own wedding. Full of fun, music, dance and high spirits, it’s a time to let your hair down. This is the biggest and grandest party you’ll ever throw!

Here is your chance to mix and match elements from all the past events or create a whole new theme for your first party as newlyweds. So, what describes you as a couple? Are you conventionalists, traditionalists, or imaginative creatives? Brides are moving from a more typical approach of marigold decorations to more quirky forms of decor that speaks to them. The best celebrations have personal, unique and fun touches to keep your guests and you smiling, talking and reminiscing long after that last dance.

To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of some wow-worthy ideas to help you style your Indian wedding reception.

The Showstopper Entrance

Enhance your Indian wedding reception party entrance with smoke bombs

You definitely want your guests to be excited from the minute they attend your first function. In recent times, the bride and groom entrances have evolved and gained importance, so make sure to utilise that opportunity. Here are some beautiful entrance ideas to charm your guests at your big fat Indian wedding reception.

If you’re a dreamer, you can explore having the aisle laden with flowers. Have your friends and sisters shower you with flowers and synchronize dress colours if the aisle is long. You can also create a dome entrance laden with flowers matching or complementing your attire so you really stand out.

For an evening soiree, you could hang fairy lights from the ceiling to give a “starry night” appearance. If you are an early evening party starter, hanging little mirror threads can provide the same effect, sparkling against the sunset.

Add some fireworks or a confetti shower. Nowadays, smoke bombs are equally as impressive, used to make a dramatic impact, and look oh so wow in your photographs. The colours are absolutely mesmerizing.

The Reception Lounger

Enhance your Indian wedding reception party with ottoman furniture

Photography by Samuel Lippke Studios courtesy of Modwedding

For couples looking for a funky yet regal touch to their Indian wedding reception, how about adding ottomans around the bars and the dance floor.

A carefree atmosphere can be created by placing comfortable and swish looking ottomans, with pillows and sofas in different locations of your venue to allow guests to mingle in a more relaxed setting.

This is great if your Indian wedding reception is being hosted in a wide and open space. If you want to really wow your guests, hang some lush curtains to give the space a full-on VIP vibe.

Set The Table

Enhance your Indian wedding reception party with mismatched wedding decor

Photography by Mango Studios courtesy of Ruffled Blog

Your table setting is the blank canvas to your reception. Inject beautiful splashes of colour to weave a story for your guests.

Be creative with your table centrepieces with eye-catching florals, glassware, candles, cutlery and linen.

Conventionally, wedding decorators choose to maintain uniformity. Nowadays though, the more imaginative and creative you the better! Mis-matched colours could add dimension to your theme. You may also choose to have different sized tables or trinkets, depending on the style of wedding.

Cocktail Hour

Add some quirky cocktails to your menu at your Indian wedding reception party

Photography by Emily Blake courtesy of Style Me Pretty

It isn’t a party without a good drink in sight!

Begin your Indian wedding reception with a bhang! Cocktail hour could be served at the entrance. Work on a stylish cocktail menu that matches your theme. If your package and venue permits, you could even have the bartenders dressed in matching colours to suit your theme.

Serve welcome cocktails and hors ‘d oeuvres before your guests are formerly seated. Have your venue set up a drinks station at the entrance to the venue, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, and keep them flowing in to the reception!

For a destination Indian wedding reception, serve cocktails in coconuts or bamboo shoots. Rustic-chic mason jars are also becoming increasingly popular for outdoor wedding parties. In the summer wedding season, some light gin or wine cocktails mixed with a tonne of fruits would be enough to get the reception started. Winter wedding lovers will want to make sure that their guests warm up with a neat espresso martini or a hot toddy!

Accessorize

8 Ways To Enhance Your Indian Wedding Reception_The Maharani Diaries

Photography by ShaadiGrapher

Indian wedding receptions are no small affair anymore. The bride and groom, with the centre of attention, ensure that their guests are equally as involved and excited throughout the festivities. So, plan a deserving bash for yourself and your hardest partying gang.

The bar next door may not be enough. Find a venue that suits your vibe and fill it up with elements to keep the party running well into the night.

Photo booths are a chic idea and have never lost popularity since they first made news around 8 years ago. At receptions there’s time to let your hair down, grab your photogenic partners and strike a pose in the corner. Add outlandish props such as masquerade masks or even light up letters. Guests also love to go gaga over the conventional day-to-day things like a decorated rickshaw, or a cardboard cut out of the epic Sholay scooter.

Personalize it to your liking and create a bulletin board so that you can share the photographs with all your guests.

Music request box

This is your party to remember! We all pay attention to the broad details, whether it’s revolutionizing the lighting, coordinating the moment when the confetti falls or adding a monogram to the dance floor. All of which can transform a venue into your Indian wedding reception party. But, while you have your DJ playing up there pumping up the crowd, go one step further.

Have a music request box allowing friends and family to insert their requests with names and messages. Saves the trouble of walking all the way up to the DJ to play your request. What a fun idea!

Friendly Banter

8 Ways To Enhance Your Indian Wedding Reception_The Maharani Diaries

Photography by Tomasz Wagner courtesy of Bridal Musings 

Celebrations and games have been a part of the Indian wedding tradition since aeons. Whether it be the ‘joota chupayi’ or fish the ring, the banter, loud laughs and music add a spirit of celebration to any function. So get those thinking hats out, create a game or just choose one to play with guests of all ages.

One of the most popular ones right now is the shoe game. Couples are enjoying this game, especially after a few cocktails down. Ask one of your closest friends or sisters to prepare a questionnaire for the game. The couple has to sit back to back with one shoe in each hand. All you got to do is answer by raising his or her shoe.

Midnight Snacks

Add some amazing desserts to your Indian wedding reception party

Photography by Jose Villa courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

After an incredibly long week of functions and innumerable change of attires, the reception party takes on a quick high leaving, with everyone tired and dreary. The fun starts winding down until you bring on another surprise element.

Liven up the party again with an injection of sugar. Set up a cart or hire a food truck that serves a mixture of sweet-as snacks. Think cookies and milk, doughnuts and coffee, gelato or cannoli.

There really is no better to way to end your week-long Indian wedding than with a banging reception party. So let’s create an experience for your guests. Throw in oodles of personalized touches, good food and drink and entertainment for an amazing night!

What are your thoughts maharanis? Do you have any other Indian wedding reception ideas that you are keen to share with us? Please let us know in the comments.

10 replies
    • Poonam
      Poonam says:

      Thanks so much Prithviraj! We love inspiring our audiences and we’re happy to hear that you loved reading about this particular topic.

      Reply
  4. Sonal Patil
    Sonal Patil says:

    Everyone wants their wedding to be special. That is why families put in a lot of effort to arrange the perfect wedding. Here you have shared some ways to enhance the wedding reception which I really loved. The images shared with the post are extremely colourful and vibrant. Keep sharing more such wedding posts.

    Reply
    • Poonam
      Poonam says:

      Hi Sonal, thank you so much for the appreciation and love your sentiments too. Our weddings are truly all about family. Best wishes.

      Reply

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