Cocktail Reception?

If you're serving alcohol i think it's a legal requirement to serve some food (even bars/clubs have food on hand for people who go overboard for excessive drinking). If you are planning on passed apps or even some chafing dishes filled with food that can be replenished throughout the night i think it's a great idea!

We are doing what I would consider a cocktail reception. We don’t want a formal dinner just a really good party. We are doing food stations, so there will be lots of food, with the tent set up with a variety of tables both high top and low top. When the band is about to begin we will do our quick speeches and thank you’s. This is a second marriage for us both so we are doing away with lots of tradition.

This is what we are planning! Later ceremony (7pm) and then just apps and finger foods served throughout the reception. We thought about an open bar but felt some guests might take advantage of it so are planning to do a toonie bar (guests pay a toonie per drink and we cover the rest of the cost).

I want to throw out the misconception that a cocktail party means less food or hungry guests. I've been to cocktail party weddings where I was stuffed. Dinner doesn't necessarily mean to sit down and eat with knife and fork over a plate. Depending on what you serve and volume, it could equal a full meal for many guests.

The open bar may can work even if you're not serving a ton of food. For example, if you're ceremony is at 2pm and your cocktail reception ends at 5pm or something, you can get away with not serving a full meal's worth of food. And by limiting the bar hours, most people won't overdrink.

If you're having a typical evening reception where you're partying well into the night but trying to save money by not serving dinner, then things get complicated. If your ceremony is in the mid-afternoon, people will definitely be hungry during dinner time. I personally think it's tacky to have guests leave to fetch their own food before coming back to party with you. If you decide to power through dinner hour with just what's typical of a reception cocktail hour (3-5 pieces of food per person), guests will be hangry, getting drunk really easily or worst, ending your party early because hungry people are leaving well before the end to go get food. If you're not serving them a healthy amount of food during meal hours, you need to tell people in advance.

One couple did their cocktail party buffet style during dinner time. I want to say there was around 100 people but what sucked was the buffet line killing cocktail party vibe. And because the food was not very finger friendly (it was Asian centric and things like fried appetizers, various dumplings, sushi rolls, etc), we had to use mini plates which made eating and drinking at the same time difficult unless you got a spot at one of the limited number of cocktail tall tables. But food was plenty and they consistently replenished so hunger was never an issue. They also didn't have people collecting dirty plates and napkins so a lot of people left them on the tables, further reducing available table space for people to eat.

Another wedding I went to had servers walking around with trays of food that was easy to eat with one hand, like mini sandwiches and pastries, meat skewers, finger food, and small bites on disposable spoons so I was able to drink while eating. There was only around 40ish people here and this worked better for the cocktail party vibe. They also had a dessert table for sweets and a staff person dedicated to picking up garbage like soiled napkins, finished skewers and spoons.

I’ve never heard of a cocktail reception. But if your ceremony and reception is going to run quite late, just ensure there is enough food for all of your guests, and not just a couple pieces of finger food.

I agree with the others, there should definitely be food available to combat any effects from the alcohol. If you have your reception at times where meals aren’t often served (I.e. 2-4 PM or after 7 or 8 PM) and explicitly state that you’re having a cocktail reception, people will hopefully eat before they come (and passing that’s device by word of mouth is always helpful too!)

I agree that you need to have some sort of food available. Also make sure it's very clear on the invitations that the guests aren't getting dinner. If you have a late ceremony this shouldn't be an issue because everyone can eat dinner before they arrive. But if you're having the ceremony at like 3 or 4 or even 5 people are going to have to eat and they'll either get way too drunk or be hangry or both lol.

So I think your options are late ceremony with cocktail reception or have an early ceremony then a large enough break that people can eat dinner and then the cocktail reception. I would still serve some sort of finger foods for both though.

I think that sounds lovely, as long as you're planning on serving some kind of food (canapes or basic appetizers). This way people shouldn't get wasted by not having food in their stomachs.