Wedding reception after getting married abroad

OK, I'm doing pretty much the same.

We are having the wedding abroad with no friends or family. So the reception will be a full normal reception.

BM will be in her dress with corsage. Ushers will have matching ties and buttonholes and will need to help out loads on the evening. Best Man unfortunately can't make the change of plan/date, so will do his speech by videolink.

Basically, guests will arrive and be served welcome drinks. We will have speeches, cake cutting etc. Our attendants will be in charge of making sure people are welcomed and have a drink, helping us with venue set-up (we are using a village hall), collecting the cake, flowers etc on the morning. Generally being attendants / assistants, and will get their thank yous in the speeches.

They know we are getting married in Vegas but we would like to involve them in some way. We have had a really tough year and without the support of our friends and family would have been a lot harder. The bridesmaids and best man and Ushers did such a great job with our hen and stag do's we just want to find a way to say thankyou

Thanks for the helpful post! Hadn't thought about having welcome drinks, thats a great idea! We too need to set up on our own so extra pairs of hands would be very helpful indeed! Do you think others will think its strange we are still having bridesmaids and ushers? x

Well, we are "advertising" ours as our wedding reception. I will wear my dress and OH will be in his suit. Given that, I don't think it will be weird that we have a "bridal party" although the roles will be a bit different. Instead of them just looking good and walking the aisle with us, they will be there to direct people to the bar (our hall has 3 rooms - the huge main hall, a bar, and a side room where we will hopefully loop our wedding video) and sort out things like the video links, cutting the cake after we've ceremonially cut it, moving tables to allow for dancing afterwards, etc, etc. Basically they are "hosts". The fact that they will have matching ties and buttonholes should mean that anyone who needs anything or wants to know anything can identify them as someone who can help. And definitely the evening before and the morning, we'll need their help.

I'm not specifically labelling the wedding party though. It will be a matter of "2 middle aged men and a few men our age will have matching ties and buttonholes, 2 middle aged ladies and one girl my age will have a corsage, and the girl will be in a long evening dress". To us, the "roles" are sort of honour positions in return for the help they are giving us, and on the night, they will enjoy themselves but expect that if we need help, they will provide it. As to what other people think - to be quite honest, I care not. I think family and friends will understand, and if not, it's their loss!