Cocktail hour instead of reception

It doesn’t sound tacky to me since you’re still hosting something

It sounds good. The only issue is the time. If you have it during a traditional meal time, you should provide enough food to constitute a meal or your guests will be starving. If it's something that ends around 5:30 or something, a cocktail reception sounds awesome.

I think it sounds like a really good alternative. Definitely not tacky at all, in my opinion.

View Quoted Comment Totally agree. 2 pm to 4 or 5 pm seems like a good timeframe.

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Thanks ladies! its an outdoor rooftop ceremony and it will begin at 5:30 so hopefully that timeline works

View Quoted Comment If it begins at 5:30, that's prime dinner time. At that point, you would need to serve a full meal or very heavy appetizers to equal the same amount of food.

The appetizers will be like sliders, chicken tacos and egg rolls so i feel like that should be heavy enough along with cake and booze. I dont expect us to stay at the venue longer than 3 hrs

This sounds great! As a guest I would enjoy this

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Thats so good to hear! Thanks for the feedback !

View Quoted Comment You're welcome!

What you are planning sounds great because you are providing them something without leaving them stranded. 5pm is dinner so you will need a ton of heavy appetizers which will be expensive. Or ask your favorite local Mexican/Chinese/etc restaurant to cater. Nearly all have corporate catering delivery and it's a full meal and then some at half the price of a wedding caterer and better food.

No, not tacky. Cocktail receptions with heavy appetizers are common. So, honestly, it sounds like you’re hosting a complete reception to me.... food, first dance, parent dances, toasts, music and mingling. If I were a guest, I would feel as though I fully celebrated the wedding/reception with the couple and wouldn’t really feel a total need to return for a second “big event”. In other words, if I attended the wedding you described, then I wouldn’t feel as though I missed out on anything at all. So attending a second reception in 2022 would become more of a “maybe” at that point instead of a solid “yes”.

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Agreed. Most would likely not attend a second reception unless it was possibly a vow renewal in 5 years.

I love it! We thought about doing the same thing we we first started planning. In fact my family is still trying to get us to do this instead of a seated dinner because of COVID. Since our venue is a vineyard/restaurant there packages are for full dinners.

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Okay thats a good perspective. and it would save us some money too! thanks for the input

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What you are describing you want to serve does not save money unless you are heating up boxed frozen appetizers from Costco which no venue will allow you to do. Bite size options such as sliders, tacos, etc are labor intensive and you need to have 15-20+ pieces per person during a meal time which is actually more food than a plated meal, which people will insist is not true. You will not save money. Corporate catering from the local Chinese/Mexican restaurant who caters your office is the least expensive that is a full meal.

Something to consider - you will need enough seating so that people can still sit down if they want.

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Yes tables and chairs for all guests is a must.

Nope not tacky at all. Do your thing.

View Quoted Comment I would attend the second event too, if you had it. The covid brides all have my full support to have as many parties as they please