What is a ****tail reception and how to go about it?

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Well I was thinkiong a ****tail reception would be good, cost wise. I guess being less formal it suits 'us' and as for the church wedding, well ive wanted to get married at this church since I was five, not backing down on it now
The thing is I just don't really know where to start. The other thing I was thinking was to hire a hall and get caterers but for the effort involved im sure it would just be easier to do it buffet style at the Sheraton like mum did.

[Snacks]

I think ****tail reception is just fine after a church wedding
Personally, I'd definitely go with a reception venue. It may end up being a little more per head, but I agree that it'd be heaps less effort for you.

[Lucy]

Ashlea,

If you think of all of the venues that are in your area that you think you might like to have your reception at, that are local to the church that you are getting married in, then Goodgle them and see if they have a website. Then hopefully they will have some sample ****tail menus on there with pricing so you can see ballpark figures.

We got married nearly 3 years ago and we did consider hiring a hall and organising catering, but it worked out a LOT more expensive.......all the hire of all the crockerly etc.......nightmare!

I arranged my wedding in Adelaide from Darwin (nightmare!) and I had totally NFI, but we got there in the end, so I empathise!

There is a list of Melbourne venues HERE.

Very best of luck!

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Thanks for that Lucy that's really helpful! You're a gem!

[mrsmac]

We had a simple wedding then a reception in the Novotel in the dining room. They partioned off with plants a section for us and we used the buffet that everyone else was using. It worked out much cheaper for us and i think everyone liked it (Snacks?? Paddywhacks????)

[Snacks]

Was lovely, MrsMac !

[briggsy's girl]

DH and I met at a ****tail reception - it was an absolute fiasco!! the idea is brilliant, but make sure you do it somewhere with a good reputation!!! the location for this one fired their chef a week before the wedding, and the owners took off without organising someone else!!

after experiencing that, we decided we'd do out wedding differently - still informal, but a hell of a lot better. we rang around to get price per plate for catering at local establishments, found out what was included etc. then we rang a couple of "go anywhere" caterers - and OMG - it cost us half as much getting catered that way (buffet spit roast, four meats, salads, vegies, desserts) than what it would have a ****tail reception! we then shopped around for a location that suited us and chose one of the local football/netball clubs. $150 gave us the venue from friday afternoon til sunday morning, bar staff and clean up included. we got to set up on friday night the way we wanted (all in all cost less than $100 with table centrepieces), alcohol was cheaper than normal bar prices, we were able to get a band etc... and it was a fantastic night

i guess why i've waffled is to encourage you to look at all options that are available to you before deciding - if your heart is set on this particular church, then your reception has to fit around it's availability - and expense wise, it might be just as cheap, if not cheaper, to have a relaxed sit down meal... definitely shop around, compare everything, and then decide on what's best for you and DP.

i guess too, the fact you're not sure of what a ****tail reception is, rings in my head that it might not really be "you", so might not be as enjoyable as you want your wedding day to be, kwim??

[The[cookie]Doctor]

then we rang a couple of "go anywhere" caterers - and OMG - it cost us half as much getting catered that way (buffet spit roast, four meats, salads, vegies, desserts) than what it would have a ****tail reception!

ive been finding that just from looking at ****tail prices at venues...

My friend had her 21st in a church hall with catering with twice as many guests (she's italian, big family, lol!)as we'll have at our wedding and catering cost half as much as what we'd be looking at for a ****tail reception...

we're not about fancy food, so catering for roast meat and veges would do me fine! plus, i think all the family could do dessert, dessert is easy / ill be having a mudcake not a fruit cake so that could do too.

and from what it looks like so i guess i really had the wrong idea about what a ****tail reception is and if we did it in a hall maybe a better option for the littlies (they will be invited, i love all my little cousins and wouldnt have them miss out for the world, so i think there'll be at least six toddlers).

It's a pity i hate talking on the phone because looks like thats what im going to have to start doing
Thanks for your advice BG because you're sort of channeling whats been going through my head since i started googling.

[Lulu]

Totally agree with BG!

Look around for different caterers. I was horrified to see I had to hire plates, forks etc AS WELL as the catering.
Then I found one that did it all, they provided great references and the food was so good they got heaps more work out of it. They also provided bar/wait staff. The price was far, far cheaper than some. Be careful of REALLY cheap though.

With a ****tail reception you gotta be careful. There never, ever, ever seems to be enough food for everyone for a start .
You will have to think about the time you get married because you cant have people waiting too long in between the ceremony and the reception. You also cant have them starve.

[AngelPunks]

I went to a ****tail reception last year. The wedding was in the church, then the bridal party disappeared for a few hours to get the photos done, then the reception was at the bride's parent's place (they'd won a prize home so it was a s**** house), they had the caterers at the house getting all the finger food organised while the ceremony was going on. Don't know what a lot of the guests did between the ceremony & the reception (coz I'm considered a member of the family I got to go to the house just after the ceremony).

The nibbles were a mix of hot and cold, with the caterers bringing around the food for a few hours. Still did the "traditional" stuff, like the introduction of the bridal party, bride & groom, speaches & cake. It was ****tail dress, which was great to dress up for.

We did the spit roast thing (bridal package) for our wedding at my brother's house. It was pretty good, funny thing is my brother did a trial run with them for his 60th a few months earlier (same venue) and that was better than the food they served for the bridal package.

[Madham]

Well i think everyone has given you pretty good advice so far. Catering is what i do for a job, its a family business and we specialize in weddings so if you would like to no anything particluar just pm me. As we are in the country pricing maybe a little cheaper here than Melbourne but we do alot of ****tail weddings but buffet type weddings are the most popular. ****tail weddings can be a little more expensive as there is a lot of work preparing the food, and usually the alcohol bill is alot more expensive as people seem to drink more at a ****tail wedding not sure why. We do alot of weddings where people want to keep the cost down and they usually choose to have light finger food when guests arrive then have a sit down buffet with the wedding cake (usually mud cake) as dessert served with cream and coulee. You dont need the traditional 3 course meal anymore. With having a buffet rather than a service to the table meal caterers can do it cheaper as they dont need staff for a long period of time, usually only for few hours to clear tables and clean up. Hope this helps a bit. Good luck

[Nelle]

How fun Ash! ****tail receptions are fun, the last one I went to was in a winery with a jazz band.
Lulu's right though, I could have done with some more food. :P Still, it's very fun and glamourous.

How formal do you want it? Given my time again, I reckon I might do a picnic...that's just me though. :P

[Kitt3n]

might be a bit far out for you - but have you considered your local "ethnic" clubs?

At most of these places you can get decent food (no one will go hungry!) plenty of alcohol (most of us ethnics like it ALOT ) and a dj thrown in for a really good price. Or (as we are doing) we are loading up our laptop with hours of tunes

Thats what we are doing with ours - well, actually we are getting married in september this year and will have the reception next year - mummy (me) wants to party too!!!!

[The[cookie]Doctor]

I'd love a picnic, honestly - that's very ashlea like - but you just can't count on the weather, so now we're going to do a spitroast type thing. It's also very us - when friends come and visit ash n ant we have a roast, and mudcake - or when ashlea had easter at her place, there was a roast, and three million desserts... i think it just "suits". I didn't really know what a ****tail party was but it's definitely not for us...

thanks for the info abb34!! thats really helpful, will keep you in mind for when i need to quiz someone!

ETA: Kitt3n there's not really much around here or it might have worked for us. I'll probably be doing the tunes as well, although im wondering if our alternative taste is going to be too much for a wedding I like the thought of a semi-punk themed wedding but i just can't part with classy either
Love the idea for the mummy partying, good one!!

[briggsy's girl]

ash, maybe check out local cover bands - if you get a decent band, they'll play music that is suitable for the oldies earlier in the night, and move to more "ash n ant" stuff later...

[Kitt3n]

lol - aj when we start putting together our music list its going to have everything from Tom Jones to nine inch nails to lamb to rod stewart to aphex twin. Bit of Mozart while we eat.

we have such a diverse family/friend network that there will be tumes for everyone - and i am sure some people will just walk out of the room for some! I dont care!!

Its going to be the party of all parties

Are you sure you dont have anything around? A greek/russian/jugoslav/polish club?

[Madham]

We did a wedding not long ago that had all there music on an ipod play through the pa system, but what they did was when they sent out the invites they had an extra piece of paper for you to request 2 songs to be played at the reception, so they had music for everyone, paper was attached to the rsvp so they recieved music in plenty of time before reception. Worked really well.