Evening Wedding

We’re going to an evening wedding this summer and I think it’s a great idea. They’re having a mid night lunch and dance seems like a good way to save some money for sure

My cousin had a 7pm ceremony. It was outdoors but in the summer so it was still light out! The reception was inside and they served apps. It was immediately following the ceremony. They had done most of their pictures before so there was only about an hour before they joined us (I don't even think it was that long as the photos done were on site).

Once they joined, they had a few speeches then started the dance. Their venue was a little awkward as there were two rooms and neither one could hold all of the guests so some people missed out on the speeches. There weren't tables to sit at but they had chairs for people who needed to sit and tall tables for people who wanted to set their plate down while they ate. It was nice for their guests who knew a lot of people (and for them!) so it was easier for them to mingle.

You could do stations with late night snacks. Stations I THINK are less expensive than waiters passing out food, but it depends on the feel you want.

You could do a slider station, a desserty sort of station, fruit and cheese station, I've even seen soup in shot glasses!

If you don't have a venue yet, I'd work on this right away depending on the day of the week and the month you're hoping for. Many venues as previously mentioned have a minimum spend and may not want to accommodate a later evening wedding.

I think that if you stick with some hors d'oeuvres and then a late night snack you should be fine. People will be drinking so there has to be food of some sort or else it could get messy lol.

My friend is having an evening ceremony next year. Advice wise, I am not sure sure! for her she found a neat vendor for the late night food since it was after dinner would normally be. This way she could skip out on it.

I went to an evening wedding ceremony and it was pretty and very intimate, plus it was winter and snowing. Made the atmosphere very special.

I'm assuming you probably won't be having children at the wedding? I feel like evening weddings aren't for children. Parents may only stay for the ceremony and not reception since there is no meal. Or they will opt for the babysitter option, that is what I would do. Or are you having children? Definitely make sure you have lots of things to keep them occupied especially since there is no sit down meal to help with that.

Yes! We are having an evening wedding, our ceremony is at 7:00 pm. We are still having lot of long tables available for guests to rest their feet. We also have 7 tall standing bar tables for mingling. We aren't interested in having a 12 hour event or formal dinner. Make sure to still have a lot of food available if you are having an open bar. Not sure what type of advice you are in search of, can you be more specific?

Ours isn't quite as late but similar in other ways. Our ceremony is at 5pm with 120 guests and no sit down dinner. We are instead doing a cocktail/action station dinner - so lots of hors d'oeuvres and then two dinner choices served by chefs - but no formal seating. Although cheaper than a sit down at our venue, it is still not a cheap option by any means, but our goal was to get away from the formal dinner and create a fun, mingling atmosphere.

My suggestion (unless you've already done it) is to find a venue that suits your needs, likely one where you can do everything in one space (ceremony & reception) and will let you only do a late night snack or hors d'oeuvres. I'm not sure about your location but a lot of the nicer venues in my city have minimums (ie. $10k food bill) especially for a summer wedding so you'll have to find a space, maybe a hall or a lounge, that would be okay with a simpler menu. As the summer is busy season for a lot of venues it may be difficult to find one that is willing to lose a premium Saturday wedding dinner but hopefully someone will be willing to budge without a penalty for you

Another option if you haven't set a date yet is maybe to consider a Friday wedding! By having it later it would allow most guests (unless travelling) to still work and a venue may give you a discount (or let you away with a later night menu) and it may be easier to book vendors! Could be super fun and a great excuse to have a later wedding.

View quoted message That’s definitely a lot. Good luck with planning. I’m sure it’s going to be great since who doesn’t love an evening wedding? Lol

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Our guest list is 140 guests..

View quoted message That sounds like a really good idea! How many guests are you expecting? I’m facing the same issue with our guest list too where it keeps growing and there’s no open we can appropriately cut lol.

That sounds awesome! Great alternative! My ceremony starts at 4:30 so I can't offer any tips but it sounds totally doable. Passed hor d'oeuvres maybe? Sweet table with lots of finger friendly treats. Love it!

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We would do our ceremony around 6:30. We are finding dinner so expensive because our guest list is so long.. and we can not agree on where to cut it.

So we would not do a seated dinner, we would just do a late night snack.

Haven’t done it but it sounds good! What time were you planning on doing your ceremony? Are you thinking about doing a seated meal reception or something completely different?