Should you have h'orderves?

If you can afford it i would. even though it starts at 4 a lot of people will be coming in and traveling in and im sure they will be hungry. and i feel like on the wedding day of the timeline is always late no matter what. can you do a simple buffet for snacks? that would be cheaper

Thanks everyone!

If the bar is open, I would definitely consider hor d'oeuvres, especially if your cocktail hour is actually 2 hours long.

If you’re opening the bar two hours before dinner, you should have some food as well.

I would agree with the others in that since the bar will be open at 5 that there should be food served. I don't know the logistics of your ceremony and reception but if they are at different locations and are close to resturants then you can avoid this altogether by not having a cocktail hour and on your invitation clearly state the start times of your ceremony and dinner. So ceremony to start at 4 and dinner is at 7. Your guests should gather that there is a big enough gap and they are responsible for their own snacking. Also could you possibly move your dinner time to 6, there is a big time gap btwn 4:30 and 7.

It is fine to skip! We got them solely because the bar would already be open and I wanted to ensure people were not JUST drinking but having some food too! I didn't want anyone to be too drunk before the wedding actually began lol

I would also say yes because you are having the bar open before your reception, so there is usually something. You can do super small snacks if you don't want to go all out for a huge selection.

If you don't plan on doing it, then make sure you let your guests know so they have a little snack before coming!

I think it's expected, but if it's not within your budget, it's completely fine to skip them.

I think it depends how much time you have in between everything. If it's a long day you won't people to starve. We had snacks and cocktails between our ceremony and dinner.. It was going to be a few hours before dinner would be served. Especially when you have alcohol flowing you don't want people drinking too much and having no food.

I would say yes, but if you decide not to, as long as you let your guests know there will be no food at cocktail hour they can plan/ eat accordingly before coming. You also don't want people to get too drunk in that 2 hour cocktail window without snacks. Ask your venue what they can manage in the cost of your dinner. Our venue had 5 appetizers included in the price of our dinner and if you pick the more vegetarian options it will be cheaper than protein.