JESSICA'S TAKE:

ADVICE SISTER JESSICA’S TAKE:

You are planning to have a cake reception for everyone who attendsyour wedding and then a dinner afterwards and you want to use the same flowers you use at one reception for another...You don't say if the reception(s) are going to be in the same place which would make the "travel time" for the flowers easier to handle if you want to "reuse them." I guess I don't have to tell you that whisking away the flower arrangements while your cake and champagne guests are still in attendance because you want to use them elsewhere is...well, unacceptable. It not only makes your guests at the smaller reception feel bad..it makes you look like you don't care about those guests...and I know that isn't what you want at all.

You also don't say when the wedding is and when the first reception will take place. It would seem, for example, that a cake and champagne reception ought to last no more than two to three hours (at most), so if you had that reception start at, say 3 pm and it was over by 5 pm (allowing for people to leave late, 5:30-6) and scheduled your other reception for 7-7:30 dinner... it would be possible for someone to load the arrangements into a car and whisk them off to your other location for the dinner and set them back up in the new location while your dinner guests were having pre-dinner cocktails or just arriving.

But frankly....wouldn't you be better off without formal arrangements for the first reception..but perhaps beautiful (but inexpensive) bud vases and or bridal balloons or paper centerpieces at the earlier reception that you could just leave there and not worry about?

ALISON'S TAKE:

ADVICE SISTER ALISON’S TAKE:

While using the flower arrangements more than once is economical and makes practical sense if both receptions are in the same place or close by, it might be a real pain in the neck to transport large quantities or large arrangements if you have to do it by van or car. And, as she said, taking the decorations away while a party is still going on is rude and a signal to your guests that you want them to leave. It would be a bit like whisking the dishes and tablecloth off the table during dessert when people were still eating just to "get them out!"

But I disagree about the time involved here. I don't think a cake and champagne reception should ever be more than two hours. If you will need more time than that to set up the flowers in the next location, I agree with Advice Sister Jessica that the best thing to do is make the first reception very simple, with "throw-away" decorations so that you don't have to bother worrying about the short time frame. While crepe paper doves and bells and balloons aren't the most sophisticated of decorations, they are inexpensive and festive and wholly appropriate for a simple cake and champagne reception. Or, as Advice Sister Jessica said, a few inexpensive but pretty flowers in bud vases can be taken by the guests as favors at the first reception or discarded without too much financial distress! One more thought: be discreet about who is going to what reception or the folks you invited to the simple reception may wonder why they weren't good enough to be invited to your second, fancier one. The Advice Sisters would hope that your colleagues and friends are well-bred enough not to make a fuss about not being on the "A" list, but if they get the idea that there is another reception after the one they are attending because they see people packing up "the goods," they may feel that they are invited to both and become "crashers".

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