Photo by Jennifer Bowen Photography

After your gorgeous, glam wedding the night before, guests will love waking up to enjoy the lovely morning after wedding brunch you’ve planned! This celebration is more than a kindness, more than making sure guests have something in their stomachs before their long rides, or flights, home. It’s a chance to play with color, fabric, textures… perhaps use a color scheme you originally considered for your reception but ultimately didn’t choose. It’s a lot like planning a mini-wedding, which is why so many Mums and Dads are eager to host this day after soiree. No matter who does the brunch designing, you or your parents (and in some families, it’s the grandparents who host this fete!) here are 20 of the top trends and design elements to consider:

1. Bright, citrus colors like oranges, yellows, pinks — think the colors of the freshest and most alluring of tropical fruits. Even bright green and coral make the list of top brunch color schemes. Using a vibrant shade welcomes guests to the ‘bright, shiny day’ that is your very first full day as a married couple.

2. Fruits in the décor. It’s a budget-friendly way to add color and freshness to your brunch décor, when each guest table features a bountiful bowl of lemons, limes, or oranges. Single fruits like limes can be used as guest place cards to help them find their tables.

Photo by Jennifer Bowen Photography

3. Provide a tropical fruit juice bar. And include tropical fruit juices your guests might not get every day, such as papaya juice or mango juice, blueberry juice, in addition to orange, grapefruit, and grape juices. Your lineup of glass pitchers holding these juices creates a bright collection of colors that adds to your décor and to the theme of vibrancy.

4. Provide a champagne bar. That’s right, more bubbly to start the day, with champagne flutes awaiting fine champagne, plus orange juice for mimosas or carafes of raspberry juice or other splashes of color and flavor for champagne cocktails.

5. Provide a Bloody Mary bar. Guests love their spiked tomato juice drinks, so make your signature drink bar a standout with a lineup of hot sauces ID’d as mild to super-hot so that guests can build their own Bloody Mary drinks, or have a server custom-prepare their drinks in this trendy interactive ‘mixology’ bar.

6. Arrange for privacy. Some hotels will allow you to use their smaller, private rooms, which lets your group mix and mingle during the brunch; something they can’t do if you’re given tables in the hotel’s regular dining room with other guests right next to you. Arrange also for roomy seating, so that guests can easily stand and move from their table to the buffet.

7. Arrange for creative twists to the usual brunch menu items. In place of pancakes, offer chocolate chip pancakes or cranberry pancakes, or a trio of warm berry sauces. In place of French toast, offer crème brulee French toast or stuffed French toast, and so on. Talk with the hotel catering manager to create some menu flair that elevates this party over the usual fare found at hotel brunches.

8. A fresh, new cake in your custom design is always welcome, especially when served with trays of mini cupcakes, petit fours, mini pastries like little Napoleans, fruit tarts and themed frosted cookies with citrus-colored and flavored frostings. Again, if you went elegant with your wedding reception cake, this is a chance to design a bright cake or desserts collection using the inspirations you had in mind during your planning season.

9. Think music. The hotel might already have a pianist who plays during the brunch, which gives you fabulous, free background music. Or, you can arrange for free music in the form of your iPod docked in a corner, and your specially-made playlist adding fun energy to the party.

10. Set up a photo booth of sorts. No need to wheel in one of those huge photo booths… just decorate a corner of your brunch space with florals, and set out the photo booth printable props you may have had in use at your reception (or new ones you’ve DIY’d for this event). Guests can pose in groups, or with you, for an extra collection of fun photos.

Images by Jennifer Bowen Photography

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Ms Gingham says: A great way to enjoy the wedding high with a morning after brunch! Love these ideas!

About Sharon: Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 wedding books, including her newest: “The Bride’s Guide to Freebies” and “Bridesmaid on a Budget.” Her two books for the mothers of the bride and groom are bestsellers, and she has appeared on such top shows as Good Morning America, ABC News, Lifetime, Inside Edition and more – sharing tips and insider secrets to help you plan your dream wedding on a budget, personalized to your love story. Visit her site Sharon Naylor for more on her books, free worksheets and appearances. She lives in Morristown, NJ with her husband Joe and is at work on her next two wedding books.