Information overload - need help

Good afternoon Ladies - 

I'm fairly new to this site and while I've found quite a few posts to be helpful I still feel overwhelmed by all the information SO I'm reaching out hoping to get some good insight and advice.

My partner and I plan to get hitched in April 2014 in New York City and we currently reside in the greater DC area. We are super laid back, love to travel, dance and have a great time and we definitely want our wedding date to be a reflection of us. We're getting married at one of NYC's landmarks and then having our reception elsewhere. Our problem is our lack of direction. We want a laid back casual reception filled with great food, drinks, music and most importantly laughter however I cannot seem to find any wedding ideas with a "casual" decor (does this even make sense?). We wont have table seating, we're trying to find a ground floor location so we can have food trucks cater. On the flip side we absolutely LOVE the high and low vases with flowers and candelabras, lace table runners - the works. Our ideas seem to be all over the place and I'm wondering if ANYONE has an idea or some advice on how we mesh these ideas together or how you narrowed your focus?? Will it be when I find the venue it will "come to me"? 

HELP!

first of all, WELCOME TO PW!!!  so glad you found us here!!! your going to love it. 

our reception was very laid back... we actually rented out a sports bar and had it there!! its the bar we "met" at, my friends own it, and we already knew that the food was beyond amazing. anddd because it wasnt a "typical" reception location, we got it for dirt cheap. we dressed it up and made our own decorations and CPs which was great. people dressed formal because we had a church wedding, but in all reality, kahkis and a golf shirt is all that they would have had to wear. my one pregnant friend actually changed into jeans and a sweater after church which was perfectly acceptable because we were in a bar haha. we also didnt have seating. there were high and low tables, and the bar that people could sit and eat at if they wanted to. or be like me, and just dance around while holding a slice of pizza! (yep.. other then chicken parm, meatballs, salads, etc., we had all different gormet pizzas)

i love the idea of food trucks! that sounds so fun. and there is no reason why you cant have the beautiful "traditional" CPs you want either! its your wedding, you can literly, seriously, and absolutly do ANYHTING you want! anything. check out my bio! all of my wedding pictures are public, just to give you an idea of how wedding ish a nontradiional wedding can feel! im going to search for some inspiration for you too. :) 

again, welcome and if you need anything dont hesitate to message me!!

There is no right or wrong answer to your question.

Casual  means different things to different people. You need to set the tone of your wedding by deciding how casual you want it to be. I would start with one element and bulid around that  like dress or location.

You can make the reception casual by having food that is casual as fried chicken, potaoe salad and rolls or bbq.

start by looking at the internet and saving pictures or making inspiration boards and seeing what goes together. these were listed under casual

http://www.dessy.com/shareboard/?id=74349

http://www.dessy.com/shareboard/?id=66531

http://www.dessy.com/shareboard/?id=60638

hopefully this is somewhat helpful.

do you have a theme? it may help you with some direction: If i were you, because you guys love travel and your wedding is a DW to NYC, maybe do a travel theme with new york being your highlight: You can put in your invite something about your love of travel and invite your guests on your new journey as man and wife...follow us to NYC as we embark on our most exciting journey yet...ect. 

I was going to suggest having your reception on a rooftop, just because it lends to that laid back feel, but there are tons of places in the city to choose from that are ground level....maybe try to find a place with a classic brick wall <3

A list of ideas for you:

You can put candles everywhere,

white Christmas lights

paper lanterns

empty bottles with little bunches of flowers

or if you want to add a quirky, fun, kitch feel, you could incorporate some "tourist-y items" like taxi cab and statue of liberty figures...

Maybe hire a photographer to take photos of you to against different landmark backdrops from around  the world and dress up, wave mini flags, just looking super tourist-y, have fun with it, and you can have the photos blown up and put in frames as your centerpieces with flowers and candles around the base to pretty it up a bit...I remember seeing a diy project, you place a BW photo in a jar and fill it with honey (really cool effect)

You can use atlases in your centerpieces, stack them up and put your flowers, candles photos on them ect... and maybe incorporate maps in your decor somehow...maybe a large map on display with pins in all the places you have visited...or pin the word LOVE or a heart and connect with string...or pin all the places you visited, but do something special in the location of the map where you fell in love or he proposed ect...cut your photo in the shape of a heart and put pins all the way around.

oooor a nice diy project might be to cut out pieces of a map, place in on matt board and pin all the way around, then remove the map, a bunch of these on a table might be pretty cool, you can use differant color string to wrap around the pins maybe to brighten it up

or use postcards, globes and old suitcases...

bowls full of apples...cause your in the Big Apple ;)

hummm what else lol... I'll try to find some inspiration pics for you.

<< doggie bags could be your favor!

I am doing a very informal/ casual TEA for our 20 year Vow Renewal and yet I am having nice elegant CP's, but simple nothe the less.

The over all Color Scheme is Platinum and Ice.

I am using my Great Grandmother and Grandmather's Quit peices that I ended up finishing in 2011. 5 Generations of material will be used, but with antique colorful quilts peices here there and everywhere from Quilt Square Triangle banners to Dresdan Quilt Table runners. I am making a protective covering for over them.

I am cooking and serving all of the food, so To be very 1950's I am making Tea Aprons in my color scheme to be worn over my gown and my BFF's Dress.

I find it Ironic that while I am totally a MODERN Lady, I still prefer the idea of High Heels Pearls and Aprons for this event. As I told my Darling Hubby this will be the only time I am completely Cliche right down to a single strand of Pearls and Pumps.

Welcome to PW and congrats on your engagement!!!  We are glad that you have joined us here on the boards!!  You are most definitely in the right place.  

If you don't mind my asking, what landmark in NYC where you thinking of as having for your ceremony location? 

There are many options that you can bring together using a casual theme.  I see that your wedding will be taking place in April 2013.  Do you have a specific color that you are leaning towards for your wedding? 

A few ideas (I live in NW NJ and about an hour from NYC) for you knowing the area. 

Park: National, State, City or Neighborhood – the options are endless. But thankfully your budget doesn’t have to be. I know of some parks that are free, while some are only a couple hundred dollars. Just make sure you have all the proper permits in place for your fabulous nature surrounded event!

Orchard - One of the many wedding reception place options where less is more - less decoration that is. And you might be able to pick accents for your centerpieces right off the trees!

Winery/Vineyard - One of my most favorite ideas for a cheap weddingplace, wineries evoke a feeling you might get if you were strolling through the countryside in say, Italy or France. They are getting more popular among brides as a 1st choice ceremony and reception spot, so you will most likely need to book well in advance.  Instead of setting up chairs for a ceremony, you could also place tables and have a casual reception.

Botanical Gardens – One of the best things about having your wedding at a botanical garden is the lack of decoration you will need to concern yourself with. There is natural beauty and splendor at every turn, so at the most, you might need some candles or very small arrangements on tables. Since decorations and flowers are one of the biggest budget busters, being able to eliminate that expense might be reason enough alone for you to choose this natural wonder as your wedding reception place.

Source for all of the above

Thank you all for your kind words and advice. Its been extremely difficult narrowing down all my ideas into this one event. Moreover this is the first lesbian wedding 97.3% of our guests will EVER attend so I want to be as close to my version of perfect it can be.

The visuals provided are fantastic and you all are right: I CAN do whatever I want on our special day. I think the contrast of over the top centerpieces mixed with food truck food and a love samba band will be the perfect mix (or at least I hope so). 

We both LOVE traveling and wine so I'm thinking about doing centerpieces with travel books from all the different places we've been to (maybe bound together with some kind of loveliness?) and maybe wine bottles wrapped in lace or burlap bows with beautiful flowers in them... thoughts??