[lnbcpk]

I am having my reception at a county park next year in September. There are three event barns where they have receptions. It is the "hot" spot right now in our area. My problem is that I just found out that all three barns are being used for wedding receptions on my date. Should I be freaking out? I have been thinking the worst; parking, "wedding crashers" from the other receptions, I have even considered changing the date. :( I really want to have my reception at this location. My date has been picked since August, and the date has some significance to me and my fiance. As for the "wedding crashers", I had thought about having a special stamp made, maybe one with our initials or something that had to do with the wedding. I thought I could send vouchers with the invitations, with a cute message explaining what to do with them. I figured the bar tender could stamp everyone's hand that came up for a drink with the voucher. I ran this by my mother and she said that she would be embarrassed if I did something like that, saying that it reminded her of a bar. I am so lost. Should I change my venue or my wedding date? Is there an alternative to my stamp idea?

Thank you for your help. Lord knows I need it!

[Wedding Queen and MOG]

I don't think there's anything you can do about having this park all to yourselves. Even if you changed your date there would be no assurance of privacy. I'm afraid that's just the way it is when you choose a public venue to host a private reception.

If the barn has doors then why not ask guests to bring along their invitation and post a security guard at the entrance, allowing only those on a list or holding the invitation to enter?

I agree with mom. Hand stamping seems a little too much like the bar scene.

[Panache by Erin]

I agree. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to keep others from crashing your party, especially in a public area. If you are extremely worried about crashers and would like to relegate it some how I think it's a great idea to have the guests bring their invitations. I, personally, have had to "check" guests in at an event when it was a sit down dinner, instead of a buffet, and I needed to make sure there was enough room for everyone. For example, in the instance that someone forgot to RSVP or it got lost in the mail. You didn't mention if you will be having guests RSVP, but it may be a good idea if you'd like to keep the wedding private.