The Unique 3C Reception at The Westin Columbus

For most Ohio weddings, a “3C” would probably mean Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. That wasn’t the case Kayla & Adam’s wedding reception at the Westin.

So you know that we’ve done some incredible wedding receptions at the Westin Columbus over the years, and we thought we had seen it all. But this reception had a few ‘first’ for us, along with a few surprises, and a fantastic ending which all combine for a very unique reception.

Buckeye Sounds has done a few receptions with the non-typical room set up in the ballroom. That is where the dance floor is in the middle of the ballroom instead of along the High Street side. We don’t see this set up too often at the Westin, but it can be done.

They also had a very long head table going along the side. This unique set up just makes for a very different feel for the ballroom in my opinion.

We had our decor lighting around the room. I just LOVE the way it highlights the beauty of the ballroom while giving some custom colors from the bride and groom design. Even more so in the ballroom of the Westin Columbus!

So you combine both of these, its a very cool feel to an already beautiful ballroom.

The photo booth. Now normally, we like to place our photo booth in the main ballroom. But we had it in one of the side rooms which made it a HUGE hit for cocktail hour, and when the guests went out to get the cookies (more on that next LOL). So I was a bit surprised to see how many pictures this wedding took. It was A LOT! As you can see by these pictures, the photo booth was a HUGE hit with the guests!

One of the other new things we brought to this wedding was a way for the guests to text us their music requests! We announced a number for the guests to send their text, and told them it would be available for the duration of the wedding. This is a brand new service and we weren’t sure how well it would work, but it was a big hit. We got a lot more requests than we expected.

Now for the three Cs.

The first ‘C’ is for Cookies (that sounds like the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street). The bride’s family was from Pittsburgh, and one of the really great wedding traditions from there is to have a cookie table. If you love desserts, you have to see one of these because it’s almost a contest to see who can have the best cookie table. And this cookie table was incredible with so many different choices! I love this tradition!

The second ‘C’ is from our brand new CO2 cannon. I have been wanting to try this at a wedding…so this was the first time we’ve EVER taken out new CO2 cannon to a wedding reception. I didn’t tell the bride and groom, I just told them that I was going to have a surprise for them!

But of course I didn’t get to shoot it LOL We let the bride and groom have the fun of shooting it into the crowd. But we also had the mother of the bride and a guests shoot it too. We got great smiles in the pictures that we took. It went over GREAT with the wedding guests.

The Third ‘C’ is for Celine Dion! So here is the thing that surprised me the most from this wedding - how they ended the night. The way you end your reception is VERY important because its often an important memory for your guests. If you have a packed dance floor most of the evening, and then you end on a high note everyone will remember having a great time. So yes, its important. Its something we discuss with all our couples when we have our final detail meeting.

So the last song is key. And we’ve done a handful of songs for this. Friends In Low Places. Shut Up And Dance. Closing Time. Best Day Of My Life. But we’ve NEVER played ANY Celine Dion for the last song! Until this wedding….

But for the last song the bride and groom wanted me to play “Its All Coming Back To Me Now”. I thought for sure this would be a bomb and clear the dance floor.

I was wrong! That song was a HUGE hit! It worked as good as any other last song we’ve played! The crowd formed a tight circle around the bride and groom on the dance floor and sang that song at the top of their lungs. "BABY BABY BABY WHEN YOU TOUCH ME LIKE THIS….ITS ALL COMING BACK TO ME NOW!”

I don’t even like Celine Dion, but yet I had that song on repeat in my head all the drive home….sigh….. but it will be a very good memory!

See More Great Weddings At The Westin Great Southern Columbus