Planning your wedding reception can be exciting and stressful, especially when you start considering the costs. Although you may have dreams of a lavish reception, you can have a memorable event without driving yourself into debt. Here are some tips to keep your wedding reception more budget-friendly.

Scale-Back Your Guest List

One of the biggest budget breakers for both the wedding and reception is inviting too many people. This can lead to paying off wedding debt for several years. Try to keep your guest list to immediate family and your closest friends. If you feel obligated to invite distant family, coworkers, or acquaintances, try live-streaming your wedding. This way, anyone you know can view the wedding and significant moments during the reception. In some cases, this can take the burden off guests who may feel obligated to attend the wedding or buy a gift if they were directly invited but may not have the funds or desire to do so.

Skip The Traditional Dinner

Having a traditional sit-down dinner at your wedding reception can be over-kill and significantly raise your wedding expenses. Place more of the focus on speeches, dancing, and the wedding cake, instead of dinner. One way to compensate for dinner is to have a buffet-style service with several hot and cold items for guests to sample. Using this approach also makes inviting guests to your wedding easier, because you do not have to coordinate menus and wait for feedback from potential wedding guests about their dinner preferences. Choose small snack items that are easy to eat, such as miniature meatballs, fresh fruit and vegetables, or even different types of soup. Talk with your catering service, or check out websites like http://www.mascaroscatering.com, to see what kind of options they can offer.

Think Outside The Wedding Cake

One of the most elaborate expenses at the reception can be the wedding cake. There are ways to compromise between having the ideal cake for you and your partner, while providing guests with an acceptable and less expensive option. Instead of having a traditional wedding cake, you might only want the top one or two tiers with all the decorations for you and your partner. Having two small tiers still leaves the option to save the top tier for celebrating your first anniversary. The bottom tiers could be made from cupcakes with the same cake base and frosting. This way, everyone has the opportunity to sample the way the cake tastes, and it is often easier to make several cupcakes than a single, multi-tiered cake. Using cupcakes also makes serving easier, since it does not have to be sliced.

Finding ways to make your reception more budget-friendly will make the event more enjoyable since you can fully enjoy the experience and not spend months paying for it. Focusing on an intimate gathering with basic food and dessert is the most effective way to keep costs manageable.