Evening Ceremony and Reception sans dinner?

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Hi Megan, we actually ended up going a different route for our wedding, serving a full dinner (with less guests). Still love this idea though. Goodluck!

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Hey Megan, Im doing exactly this next month!

We will have our ceremony around 6h30 but my family and wedding party are having dinner at 4h30-5h45. Reception starts at 7h and we will have a poutine/nacho bar around 9 pm To make it work we are having a first look around 2 and all our pictures done in the afternoon.

I am thinking of doing the exact same type of timeline, did you decide on anything or found any helpful tips?

View quoted message That’s most likely what we will do as well. We are getting married in downtown Moncton NB and there are a bunch of great restaurants as well! We’ll most likely do a late lunch/ early dinner before heading to our venue!!

View quoted message I am also glad to hear that I'm not the only one thinking this is a great idea! My partner and I have chosen Canmore AB as our location. As there are many incredible restaurants in this beautiful mountain town, I am just thinking of having a late lunch somewhere wonderful for our clan how about yourself?

That's what we are doing as well. I'm glad to hear the comments on doing this because I have only experienced this once before!

I'm planning a ceremony at 6h30- until 7 p.m. And then we will go take pictures while our guests head towards the reception area. We are getting married in a hotel but we have a separate space for the ceremony. We will be doing the toasts and the first dance from 7h15ish to 8 and then appetizers and food will be served while we mingle with our guests.

One question - what are you planning as a meal for you, family bridal party before the ceremony ?

My cousin did this. It worked well. They had a weird venue though where the dance area was in a separate area from the food and not a whole lot of people danced. They did put on the invitations “appetizer reception to follow at this time” as a way to make sure no one expected a full dinner.

LOVE this idea & am planning on doing the same for ours! Like you, wanting to trim off some of our budget but also really love the less formal/more interactive vibe that comes with this.

We’re thinking of having our ceremony for 6pm (go to 6:30ish), cocktails, and bringing out heavy hors d’oeuvres for 7pm+. Wanting to do a dessert table too with pies, squares & cookies 👌 Who doesn’t love to try different types of tasty foods AND still be able to bust a move on the dance floor without being stuffed?!

We are hosting an evening wedding that starts at 7:00 pm. Our budget was $10,000 and we still have all the bells and whistles without the $20,000-30,000 price tag. We've never been to an evening wedding, but so far planning has been pretty simple. IMO, weddings are such a long day for everyone, the best part is when the meal is over and you can move around. So that was our inspiration 😆 We are doing a first look and all of our pictures starting at 4:00 pm. We hired a high end photographer, but we only need her servixes from from 4-8, so we save there as well.
Once the ceremony is over, B&G will do sunset pictures for 15 minutes and then we will head inside and enjoy the evening with everyone.

I think that it's a great idea especially because you could put the wedding on a Friday (given your guests are in the same city and don't have a long after work commute) and it will save even more!

It sounds like a great idea! I'm sure your guests will appreciate it starting later too (since all day weddings can get to be a bit much lol).

My sister did this for her wedding, I loved it!!! It wasn’t an all day affair so no one was exhausted. There was plenty of food for everyone, and it was great!

A sunset /evening ceremony would be awesome but I definitely agree on doing a first look so you can be sure to get some good daylight photos! What a great way to cut down on some costs though

This is what we’re doing. We’re planning on having plenty of apps and our venue suggests 10 pieces of food per person. So still works out to about $4200 for food for about 200 people.

Great idea as long as you are having a first look-- or your pictures will all be in the dark. Jump that hurdle and I think you have a winner!

We would have done similar if it wasn't for the lighting issue.

I think it's a great idea! Late enough people can grab a late lunch or early dinner and then drinks and snacks at the reception!! I love it!