If you are looking to have a huge celebration at your wedding reception, you may want to consider choosing December 31, New Years Eve, as your wedding date. Set the time for your wedding ceremony late enough and your guests will be able to have a double party combining their New Years celebration and your wedding reception into one amazing night.
Wedding Color Combinations
In general, New Years colors are usually black and white mixed with silver, gold, or blue. A black and white wedding theme can easily be incorporated into a New Years Eve wedding. Consider adding a splash of color, but keep in mind that you will probably have to look for decorations that are not specifically geared towards New Years Eve celebrations. You could add these colors by incorporating them into wedding flower centerpieces, your wedding cake, and balloons that will hang above and be dropped at midnight.
Theme
A great theme idea for a New Years Eve wedding is a masquerade ball. Even if you have a traditional wedding ceremony, you can incorporate Venetian masks into your wedding reception. Be sure to mention in your wedding invitation that your reception will be a masquerade ball so they know to wear a fun mask. Also consider purchasing some Black Harlequin Half Masks and Silver Harlequin Half Masks ($2.54 each from Amazon) to use as decoration and in case some of your guests did not bring their own masks.
Purchase special bride and groom masks. PartyOasis.com carries a huge variety of Venetian masks from the cool long nose eye masks to masks made specifically for a black and white masquerade ball. For more visual inspiration for a masquerade ball themed wedding reception, check out Having a Ball, a photo spread from Vogue, December 1997.
Wedding Invitations
Damask is a good choice of print for a New Year’s Eve Wedding invitation. Anything that has a clean presentation, mostly black and white (or cream) color palate with silver, gold, or blue accents will look great. My suggestion to you is to check out WeddingPaperDivas’ Letter Press selection which is full of elegant designs.
Be sure to include on your wedding invitation that you will be combining your wedding reception with a New Years celebration so that they know not to make plans following your reception. If you decide to have a masquerade ball, you will need to include that information on your invitation so that your guests will know to dress in black and white and to bring their own masks.
Wedding Cake
For your wedding cake, damask is always a wonderful idea for any black and white themed wedding. Consider having a cake topper made for you (or make your own) that looks like the ball dropping over Times Square. If you are serving cupcakes, you could do a devil’s food cake since it looks almost black, frost with white vanilla frosting, and sprinkle with blue, gold, or silver dragees/nonpareils.
Wedding Photo Ideas
Photo Booth
Photo booths are a really fun idea for wedding receptions. It is a chance for your guests to be completely outrageous in a setting that is away from main area of the reception so that they don’t feel foolish. You can have a photo booth set up with a digital camera that is run by remote control and you will not need anyone to man the booth to take photos all night. You may want to check out Prop Ideas for Your Wedding Photo Booth for prop inspirations if you decide to set up a photo booth.
Disposable Cameras
I love the idea of providing disposable cameras for your wedding reception to get great candid photos. You pay one flat fee to get prints (good or bad) and don’t have to worry about paying for individually priced prints from a professional photographer. You can get a 10 Pack of Rhinestone Disposable Wedding Cameras from Amazon for $59. The rhinestones would look great with any white or silver theme and are perfect for a New Years Eve Wedding reception.
Painting with Light
Have your photographer let your guests try to paint with light using their sparklers. Not only is this a fun activity, but you might end up with some really cool photographs from it as well. Find out more information about painting with light on DIYPhotography.net.
Wedding Reception Location
You should consider holding your wedding reception in a hotel banquet room. You can reserve a block of rooms for your wedding guests (and yourself). Celebrate into the wee hours of the morning, then no one will have to drive anywhere after I long day of celebrating your wedding and bringing in the New Year. Some hotels may even have a band and party planned for New Years so your group could move to that location after your reception instead of having the reception roll over into the New Year.
Wedding Party Supplies and Decorations
Pinatas
Usually when you think of pinatas, children’s parties with tacky donkeys and ponies come to mind. Confettisystem carries some beautiful, stylish alternatives to the pinatas that we are all used to. They have various diamond and mineral shapes available from $140-150 in colors that are perfect for a New Years Eve wedding party. They even carry a matching silver and grey blindfold that matches your pinata. You don’t have to fill it full of traditional candies either, try to fill your pinata with items that fit your theme – try silver horns ($3.99/dozen from Oriental Trading), Wedding Party Poppers (confetti poppers that shoot out silver confetti instead of multi-colored, $7.99/dozen also from Oriental Trading), and you can buy a few sets of Burt’s Bees Kissable Color Lip Shimmer so that all of your guests will be prepared to pucker up at the stroke of midnight.
Rice/Birdseed Alternatives
Instead of having your guests throw rice or birdseed, consider providing sparklers and bubbles. You can buy bubbles that come in min-champagne bottles from Oriental Trading – 12 for $5.99.
Balloons
You should consider buying a balloon net and filling it full of balloons to be dropped at midnight. Heart shaped balloons are a great idea since the main focus of the event is to celebrate your wedding, you can purchase 100 clear heart shaped 11″ balloons from Amazon for $34.77. Mix in standard balloons that match your wedding color combination. Please note that you shouldn’t fill any of the balloons with helium because this will keep them from falling when you release the net at midnight.
Wedding Guest Book Ideas
If you are looking for something unique instead of a traditional guest book, consider picking up a canvas print of Times Square such as Times Square New Year’s Eve by Jerry Driendl. You can have metallic silver paint markers or Sharpies available for your guests to sign the canvas which will be perfect to hang up in your house and not lay around in a pile of dust like a typical wedding guest book might.
Signature Cocktail
Champagne is a typical wedding and New Year’s beverage. Check out Champagne-Based Drink Recipes from DrinksMixer.com to try to find a signature cocktail that includes champagne.
Hopefully these creative wedding ideas will help you in your wedding preparation. Having a New Year’s Eve wedding is fun for everyone and all of your guests will be able to fall asleep safely at the same location as your wedding reception!
