Heavy Appetizer Reception

Maybe 2:00pm or 3:00pm? i would think after that people would want dinner

If the reception started at 230 I think you should be good.

I would say either afternoon for appetizers, or have you thought about doing an evening desert reception? just another idea.

If you start at 2, you can likely be done by 6, so people can go eat. Maybe bump it up to 1:30, but much earlier and you're at lunch time.

Audra....I got the answer to my question from your other post. With a 2:00 p.m. start time, serving appies is perfectly acceptable.

Ha, the first time i read this I thought you said apples.

Lolol : )

In most parts of the US, a plated dinner is actually cheaper.

Actually my best friend did a heavy app dinner. Her wedding was at 7pm on a friday evening, we still all sat down for dinner and there was a buffet, but instead of the traditional protein/veggie/carb of a dinner buffet it was things like meatballs, chicken skewers, salads, tortellini, etc... It was fab, and fun having lots of heavy yummy things to choose from. AND, it cost her less than a normal dinner buffet. Pretty sure no one thought a thing about it. (this is Seattle btw )

@carrie- in my area I only pay $1.25 per person per app. Definitely much more cheaper!

We're doing the same thing, and our wedding is at 7pm with a reception starting at 8. Hors d'oeuvres, wine, champagne, and cake.

You can do a combo of passed and stationary apps that will be a crowd pleaser, fill everyone up, and make the reception very social and fun! We love having lots of passed apps at our events. Remember to choose an array of foods and if your budget is smaller leave off the expensive things like seafood! Hope you have a great wedding!

Have you thought about maybe adding a dessert buffet with the apps? Im doing that to save $$. I did a bunch of research on the stuff I can bake ahead and cheap desserts to fill it out (caramel corn, choc covered pretzels)

I have a candy buffet. Not the same as a dessert buffet but close.

I would say either early afternoon (maybe 2 or 3) or late evening (8pm or later).

I went to a wedding at 2:30pm. Then there was a 4 hr gap before the reception started. The wedding invites mentioned something about it being appetisers, music celebrations and dancing for the reception. So guests if they wanted had time to grab a whole meal. But the apps were good enough in my book. (though we lived around the corner so we went home for a hot dog inbetween

I'm actually having a heavy appetizer reception that starts at 7pm. But when I say heavy I mean as in a lot. We're having foods from different countries so our appetizers aren't just the regular cheese and crackers!

Have the ceremony right after lunch (like 1-2) and then appetizers, cake and punch from like 2-4. I think that doing appetizers is fine, but please keep in mind that they can end up more expensive then a full dinner. I would see if you could do maybe finger sandwiches, a salad bar and then a few tasty app's with your cake or mini desserts after. This way people can fil lup on healthy (cheap) greens and then stillget some yummy app's without going overboard. Good luck!

I'd say somewhere between 2pm and 4pm.

@Crystal S- its not $1.25 per app its per person. Indiana is real cheap lol