Do you need a cocktail hour?

Cocktail hour is when drinks and appetizers are served prior to guests being seated for dinner. Typically the bride and groom are away taking pictures for most/all of cocktail hour. But if you do a first look, you can enjoy cocktail hour with your guests. If you don't need the time for photos it's not entirely necessary, but it's still very much preferred since it lets people mingle and chat--plus apps are often the best part of a meal!

What they said

Agree with StPaulGal. We took pictures during the cocktail hour. Just have simple appetizers and serve alcohol. Easy peasy.

I had the same dilemma for the longest time! According to my family traditions, cocktail hour is not a thing. But my fiance and his family believe that it is needed. We decided that we are going to have a cocktail hour since our wedding reception is about a 1.5-2 hour drive from a lot of our guests. This way, we can somewhat assure that everyone will be on time and we can seat for dinner and go on with the night I know what you're feeling but take a breath and relax! Remember, this is a day for you and your husband! Good luck!

I didn't think I'd need a cocktail hour but as I spoke more with the venue coordinator it sounded like a great idea. My guests will be busy drinking and eating snacky foods while we are off with the wedding party getting our pictures taken. Plus, it will be a nice break before the dancing begins! It's only an hour so it'll go by quick.

Agreed. It's a nice transition between the ceremony and the reception, it gives people a chance to chat, say hello and mingle in a way that a table for 10 really doesn't. You can take photos (even if you have a first look, there will still be some family pix to take). In many venues, the room for the ceremony is reset for dinner during cocktail hour.

And many people will say it's their favorite time of the evening.

We're not doing one. The majority of our guests don't drink, and so I think they would be bored for that hour, even with apps (I know I hated the hour between ceremony and dinner when I was underage). We will be serving light apps; ceremony is to end at 5:30 and dinner will be served 5:45-6ish.

With that being said, if the majority of your guests DO drink, they would probably appreciate it. It also gives you time to mingle with your guests (something I've accepted I'll have to do after dinner).

We are also not doing one. All of our pictures are going to be taken before the ceremony and then we are grabbing a few right after with the grandparents. Majority of our guest do drink but they can start drinking after the ceremony.

Prior to my wedding, I was of the opinion that cocktail hour is an unnecessary expense if you are not planning to take photos or having a ceremony to reception flip. However, our cocktail hour ended up being a savior for our wedding timeline. We were planning to take all pics including family pics before the ceremony, but we had to do a flip for the reception so we also had to have a cocktail hour. My dad ended up being more than two hours late to the venue (still a little angry about that) so we did not have time to do family photos until cocktail hour. It was really nice to have that buffer where guests had food and drink so were not standing around impatiently waiting to be fed while we did the unplanned photos.

We are having a cocktail hour so we can take photos- we chose not to do a first look or photos before.

It's a good time to get pictures with your bridal party as well as let guests sign the guest book, find their place card (if you're doing assigned seating) and everything else.

Kreestan, even if a minority of your guests drink,they should be accommodated.

We're doing a cocktail hour so that guests can mingle, drink and have appetizers while we're taking pictures so they won't just be waiting around for us

I was really torn at first. If we have one, I want to go and be there lol. But I'm also on the fence about first look (part of me thinks that I want that moment alone with FH and the other part wants to respect at least this one tradition and I want my guests to get to see us when we see each other for the first time). I finally decided that we will have one for the sake of time for photos with family. I'm hoping to get our separate bridal party and family pictures done before the ceremony and just the ones with me and FH both required during cocktail hour so that we can go for a bit.

Cocktail hour really just needs to be an open bar and a few apps. Our caterer is handling everything. It won't be any added stress for us. And it gives some structure to what could be an awkward time of waiting on the bride and groom. If you are skipping pictures between the ceremony and the reception, you can go straight into your reception and skip cocktail hour. It all just depends on your timeline.