Food

Cocktail hour is a thing pretty much everywhere for every budget. If you’re going to take photos after the ceremony then guests need something to do. You don’t have to have like seafood stations or mashed potato bars like weddings on TV but light refreshments are expected. Just do a cheese and fruit platter or other easy snacky things.

I agree with Yam. It’s definitely for all budgets. You can have display apps if you’re worried about budgets. We had a mix of passed and displayed apps

My brother and sister in love had pizza for the kids at their reception. I plan to do the same.

It's definitely a thing. While the bridal party is out taking pictures, your guests will be entertained during cocktail hour with food and drinks

My friend actually did Little Caesars pizza for her wedding in June. No one seemed to mind.

I am getting married in 16 days we are doing pictures before the ceremony and are not doing a cocktail hour.

My wedding venue included cocktail
hour in the package, almost all (if not all) venues we went to see did the same. We are doing pictures before the wedding so we can be with our guests at cocktail hour.

Thanks guys! I am on a budget but have expensive taste! Lol The piza for the kids is not a bad Idea! I would like to have alcholic beverages but I dont want to spend an arm and a leg. The venue we are looking at we have to have a licensed vendor to serve the alcohol. Any tips?

Something rich people do lol...im not having a cocktail hour just going from ceremony to reception and they can get their drinks there no need for an extra cost and take away time from ceremony i get 4 hours at my venue to have my reception or its 400 hour after that so needless to say everyone will be out at 10pm lmao ...

View Quoted Comment I didn't mean really rich people but fancy weddings on the t.v.
We get our venue all day from 9 am to midnight but nothing except for setup and cleaning are included.

View Quoted Comment I know thats why i said lol ... some venues have it included in while others you have to pay extra ours didnt have a decent price option for it and we wont be long after anyway so we went with no cocktail hour and people can still get drinks at the bar while they wait it just wont be served to them is all plus dinner is half hour after ceremony so wont be long after ...good luck

I wanted it but I realized how much more expensive it'd be so we just DIY our own

A cocktail hour doesn't have to be white gloved servers circling with apps and drinks - a table with some small bites and access to the bar before the meal is also a cocktail hour. We're doing a charcuterie spread and having nicer versions of our signature cocktails available during our cocktail hour (which will probably be more like a cocktail half-hour or cocktail 45 minutes). It just gives people a chance to mingle and grab a drink before dinner, and they won't be rushed to fine their tables. We're getting married at a distillery, so we're also going to offer a short tour for our guests during that time.

Cocktail hour is for taking photos after the ceremony. We aren't doing that because our event is split into two days so we don't have to worry about doing that, but it's a nice and easy way to keep people busy & Chatting while the bride & groom are doing their thing

If you are doing an hour of photos between the ceremony and reception then you need to expect to have a cocktail hour. Cocktail hour doesn't necessarily have to mean expensive fancy food and expensive drinks but your guests need something to do and will get bored and leave if they are just sitting in a reception hall with no snacks/drinks or are stuck in a limbo of no where to go. If you want to avoid cocktail hour then consider doing all pictures before the ceremony. When I did wedding photography it was a good mix of both.

When we had our wedding we had about 20 minutes of photography between the ceremony and reception(we didn't know about this). The venue put out the fruit tray and anti-pasto platter while we were taking photos. We actually asked the photographer to hurry up and finish because we didn't want a bunch of posed photos in the first place and just wanted to get in and enjoy time with the guests.

I'm not planning on a cocktail hour, but we are doing more casual and will have food trucks coming shortly after ceremony that will stay for 3 hours to feed guests.

View Quoted Comment What!!! Thats awesome. Thats just way out of my budget lol but congrats That will be cool.

View Quoted Comment Oh thats awesome!!!!

View Quoted Comment Well I just hunted around and found some pretty decent priced food trucks. My food budget will come in under $5000 for 85 guests. That's not bad for NJ prices.

They aren't necessary if you get your pictures taken care of before the ceremony, otherwise you will definitely need to provide something for your guests. We are just doing fruit, vegetable, and meat and cheese platters while we get pictures with our family. We're doing a first look before the ceremony so the cocktail hour shouldn't take long at all.

You can have catered veggie, fruit and cheese trays at cocktail hour. It can be simple