Bliss Reception Styling & Inspiration | Bliss Events by Katie: Multi Award-Winning Venue Dressing & Styling for Weddings & Events across the North West

Bliss Reception Styling

The Reception - where you can sit down and take it all in as a married couple. OR where you hit the dancefloor straight away...both equally wonderful so let's make it look wow!

If you have held everything at the same venue then there may be a Bliss relocation going on in the same room, down the corridor, from outside to inside (depending on the weather.) You may have got married at a Registry Office / alternative location and will be trotting over to somewhere new. If you are lucky enough to have got married abroad or elsewhere in the UK at an earlier date then no problem as we offer Reception Styling as part of a Full Day Package and as a standalone service.

However you are choosing to celebrate - be it a more traditional seated affair or opting for more a party vibe we can help you set the perfect atmosphere to suit you and your wider wedding feels! We can provide as much or as little as you need, we can accommodate wedding styling of all sizes - all we ask is that you share all your ideas with us so we can ensure that it all flows seamlessly even if we didn't have any involvement with your Ceremony decor.

PS - if your venue needs a little help in making it feel more 'wedding' then if we are your Venue Stylists we can source alternative furniture such as round tables, trestle tables, Chiavari / Cross Back Chairs and so on. You would benefit from our supplier & trade discounts where applicable and there is no commission - what we are charged is what you are.

PPS - We have to say it - sorry broken record over here but it's better than any broken rules - all candles are provided in line with your venues candle policy at the time of your Reception. Things do change so we have to check and provide accordingly.

Quick Links:

We have put together some information outlining how we can take you from Ceremony to Reception - click here.

To view our Ceremony Styling & Inspiration - click here

To view our Sample Packages - click here

To view our Feature Decor - click here

To see our Bliss Weddings Gallery - click here

Katie & The Bliss Team x

Be our Guest...Table Centrepieces

We like to keep things simple where possible - by now we expect you have uncovered the wonderful world of weddings is mind-boggling. So many options, how do you decide where to go and how to do it.

So we set out our centrepieces by height. This allows us to cost things a little easier and allows you to select a range or a mix of ranges (2 heights basically) at the initial proposal if you can't pin yourselves down. This means with a few exceptions your proposal will be as accurate as possible and when you come to making the final arrangements we shouldn't be too far off (we still need to confirm quantities but you get our drift).

Few things to note:

We say it all the time but all candles are provided in line with the venue policy at the time of your Wedding. You will be repeating this in your sleep soon enough but we have to say it
Our Centrepieces will NOT block guest view...look we know you may have been to weddings where you have been doing a head bop to talk to the person opposite but no half decent Venue Stylist would let this happen. We like to think we are better than half decent and we do our upmost to make sure that the room setup table decor wise is planned - you will notice we ask you for a room plan which you have agreed with your venue...its not just thrown together!
Small Centrepieces maybe our most cost effective option but they are just as impactful as the larger designs. Cheaper doesn't mean cheap looking at Bliss HQ.

Bliss Events by Katie: Reception Styling & Inspiration - Venue Dressing & Styling for Weddings & Events across the North West & West Yorkshire

Our Rose Range

Our Rose Range covers our smaller centrepiece designs. They are often candle based with shorter florals; most of the time the florals are a little simpler with single stem flowers, light foliage and gyp.

We have the opportunity here to go big on the details within these designs and it often suits couples who don't want each table to be a carbon copy of the next. These designs work well with those in our Peony Range if you are looking for a mix of designs

We can use a mix of the following to create your Rose Centrepiece Design:

Log Slices
Cylinder Vases
Simple foliage wreath/garland
Flower Heads
Single Stem Florals & Foliage
Bud Vases - clear and coloured options available
Tea light & votive holders
Taper / Dinner Candles

As normal we tend to finish off our tables with a table runner which can be gathered or laid lengthways and scatter petals.

Our Peony Range

The designs in our Peony Range are probably the most hired from us as they work perfectly with both the Rose & Lily Range bringing elements from smaller and larger designs through.

We can normally use more elements of the Peony Range down the aisle than the Rose but it does depend on what you go for in the end.

These Centrepieces are still lower than eye line; there could be the odd foliage flowing but they tend to be no more than 40cm tall off the tables. Our tallest cylinder vase is 40cm tall for example - they are clear of course and you can see through. We just want to reassure you as this is our most commonly asked question when selecting a design.

Examples in this collection include:

Pedestal Bowl with Florals and optional taper candles & chimney sleeves
Wreaths with Cylinder Vases / Hurricane Lanterns / Closed Lanterns / Birdcages
Floral Cube Designs - think baby plumes in a metal cube!
Acrylic Table Risers with mix of taper candles, cylinder vases and some bud vases
Disco Ball Centrepieces - Round Vases & Wreaths
Hoop Centrepieces
Shorter Feather or Pampas Designs

If you are having 9 x round tables; depending on how the room is set out it may be best to go for a 5/4 or 6/3. This is where we mentioned above we do like to see a room plan for you and your wedding as there can be differences depending on what other suppliers are involved.

Our Lily Range

Go big or go home right? Our Lily Collection is all about the height and the drama. Perfect as a standalone design and looks fabulous when mixed with our Peony Collection.

Design Ideas include:

Tall Floral Plumes / Flower Bombs on square stands (cylinder vases at the base are optional)
8 Arm Candelabras (straight arms with a square base) suitable for wreaths around them
5 Arm Candelabras (classic candelabras with round base) suitable for wreaths around them
Feather Centrepieces in Gold Trumpet Style Stands - white and black feathers available
Pampas Centrepieces - Pampas Plumes all round

We have a range of colours in the stands available including Gold, Silver, Black and Clear Acrylic.

With the 8 Arm Candelabras we have Gold and Clear Acrylic.

With the 5 Arm Candelabra we have Gold and Silver.

All can be paired with a Table Runner to compliment any chair dressing we provide and finished with scatter petals.

These designs work well on clear plinths down the aisle and the clear acrylic 1m plinths are included as an option in our Chic & Blissful Full Day Styling Package.

We can of course work with you and your design ideas so this is why we always ask for inspiration from you as it is helpful to see how you envisage this all coming together.

Top / Head Table

The idea of you two sitting down for any longer than it takes for you to have some food is frankly just a silly concept. You will be roaming the room all day until you hit the dancefloor BUT it is important that you have a perch of some kind.

A long top table isn't for everyone...a sweetheart table could be just the ticket. If you are having more of an informal dining choice or a twilight wedding your venue may say you don't have a top table. Let me tell you - it is your wedding and you can; they may suggest you don't need a table plan and top tip here it stops people moving chairs all over and adds some structure. You may want party vibes only but this table allocation even if not seat allocation is a good idea. If you choose a round tables across the board do reserve one for you two / the immediate party so you have a base.

We can adapt the design based on the size, shape and length of the table. Often we use any decor from the signing table for your top table but if this doesn't suit we will find a home for this somewhere in the venue for you. If we can use it we will elongate this as needed. If you are doing speeches from this table then we do suggest a lower arrangement so that your photo / video team don't hate us and they get good angles all round.

Please be seated...
before you Dance

Just in case you didn't swing by the Ceremony Styling & Inspiration Page we thought we should touch upon Chair Dressing again as you may well be having Reception Only Decor. We can work with anything your venue provide - some include Chair Covers for example and this is fine with us! We can also look into hiring in alternative chairs for you if this is your preference.

The different design options are dependant on the chairs you have at your venue. We can discuss the styles with you but they include vertical, tied diagonally, diamond, chair hood, double drape and weave. We have included some examples here but this is just a selection. You can accessorise with foliage / gyp sprig or ribbon should this suit your preferred design.

PS have we mentioned we have over 20 different chiffon colours to choose from? We encourage you to decide face to face at our walkthrough meeting (we tend to have one for full day styling packages) so you can colour match.

PPS please don't get too hung up on what we call our colours. As you will know by now in all your wedding planning the colours are slightly subjective (a bit like shades of grey in paint!). You should go for the colour shade not the name.

Our Feature Decor

Within our Full Day Styling & Reception Only Packages we do include an item from our Bliss Backdrops Collection which you can out more on here: Bliss Backdrops

We always look to repurposing this so if you are having a top table / head table we can pop it behind here for you; if you fancy jazzing up your cake - let's go for it. IF you want to make the most of it and go full on paparazzi in front it we can look to finding a suitable home for it. Wherever we relocate this too (or where we set this up if it is Reception Only) we just need this to stay in-situ for remainder of your celebrations. We leave this safely and securely and we can't have either you, your guests or the venue staff tampering - it's a big no no as this could damage the items or ruin your setup on the day (plus they are all very heavy).

Neon Signs - if we didn't have one on for your Ceremony let's light it up for the Reception; you of course don't have too but it is what most people opt for. We have good Neon Sign Game which can be found here: Bliss Neon Signs OR just a suggestion why not have us create a Custom Neon Sign for you?

All our Feature Decor is subject to venue suitability and if on the day the original agreed location isn't suitable for any reason, we would discuss with the Duty Manager (and you if you are available) to place in an alternative location.

Event Essentials

Event Essentials include many of the faffy bits that you need but don't want to buy yourself as what will you do with an Easel and Crisp Wall after the Wedding?

We have a right old collection for you to choose from. We keep an updated list over on this page: Bliss Event Essentials so do check there for more details.

We can provide:

Bonnie the Bubbles Wall - Table Top Prosecco / Champagne Walls (2 available)

Dolly the Donut Wall - Table Top Donut Walls suitable for ring donuts (2 available)

Cilla the Cupcake Tower - tiered cupcake towers for medium sized cupcakes (3 available)

Patti the Post Box - Real Deal Royal Mail Post Box painted ivory

Etta our Easel Collection - suitable for A1 & A2 signs used throughout the day (2 x Gold and 2 x Silver available)

Lulu our Rustic Ladders - suitable to use as a memory ladder / table plan

Chaka our Crisp Wall - 6ft grid mesh frames with pegs (2 available)

Shania the Shot Wall - Table Top Shot Walls

Cher our Hoop Cake Stand - depending on your cake dimensions

We include 2 as standard with our Full Styling Packages but are available as add on items to wider services

Table Linen & Finishing Touches

Table Linen

We can provide standard white and black table linen for you should your venue not provide these as standard within your package. We would need to know the number of round tables, how your top table is to be and any other tables to consider such as card / present table, cake table etc. We don't provide the table linen for the catering tables (such as buffet) simply because of the stains...have you tried to get lasagne / curry stains off white linen?!

Fancy going all out? Well...we do have some crushed velvet beauties for you. For more information on these get in touch.

Charger Plates & Napkins

Elevate your tablescape with our gold beaded charger plates and black trimmed charger plates.

We can pair them with a complimenting / closely matched coloured napkin to any chair dressing we provide or we can use the napkins that the venue provide for you.

When hiring any of these items it is imperative that you inform the venue (we will too) so they know what is required at Reception setup - especially if you are to be married in different rooms which means the tables may be set prior to our on the day arrival. The other thing is to consider how your meals will be served on the day...items not on standard plates will only end up in disappointment as they aren't suitable.