Hors d'oeuvres receptions

That’s definitely not enough food to serve at an all night reception, people will be starving!

can you cut the top shelf bar and serve wine/beer only?

I think it's more expensive if you actually serve the proper amount of appetizers because it requires SO many to fill up your guests. I'm not a fan of them, I've only been to one and didn't realize it was appetizer-only until halfway through and was still starving. I'm not sure if it affects how drunk people get, we had plenty of drunk guests and served tons of appetizers at cocktail hour then a full meal at the reception. I would just not do top shelf bar, just do a standard open bar, and serve a full meal.

It can work only if you have your reception at a non-meal time (between 2 and 4pm, after 8pm). If it's over a meal-time, you really should serve a full dinner, or have enough appetizers per person to constitute a full meal - which often is more expensive than just having a dinner.

View Quoted Comment I thought about that but with my family and his, plus us wanting a full bar, we can't opt out of the bar option.

View Quoted Comment Thank you Lady I didn't think about the time aspect. Much appreciated.

Hey! Does your venue offer stations instead? When we first started looking, a venue we looked at had a stations only option. It wasn’t as complete as a full dinner meal but it wasn’t as small as an appetizer. If your venue provides that, I’d look into that. Stations are still typically finger foods but they’re fuller foods. Some of the options the venue included was cheesesteak rolls, salad, pasta or sliders.

They are more expensive than dinners and less food

It’s definitely not enough food and often more expensive than a meal. If you need to save money, you can have a 2 pm ceremony & light reception then serving light appetizers is fine (or just cake & punch). Or brunch is a lot less than dinner.

That’s basically what we’re doing, but we are only having a three hour reception instead of an all night ordeal. We will have a top shelf open bar (that was on our must-have list) and lots of hors d'oeuvres. We will also be having some sort of food station. Trust me, there will be plenty of food.

We did this for a few reasons. First off, neither one of us wants a big, typical wedding where people are herded around. We wanted something simple and fun, with more of a party atmosphere than a formal reception. I adamantly refuse to make a seating chart, and for all dinner options it was mandatory at our venue. We are also not having a huge guest list, so all these things are easily obtainable. Neither one of us have any concerns about how much our guests will drink. I’m 37 and he’s 52, so we’re both past that stage in life where our friends can’t handle their liquor or don’t know when to stop.

I should add that we’re having a destination wedding in Key West. The ceremony will be on the beach at two, so we will be able to watch the sunset as or reception ends. Our wedding invitations clearly say that it’s a cocktail reception, so our guests will know what to expect, aside from us telling everyone we’re having an elaborated cocktail hour type reception.

We didn’t choose to do it this way sheerly to save money, although we will in the end. While our food cost may not be much less, we will save on other things. We are keeping our ceremony musician for the entire time so won’t have to also pay a DJ. We won’t need menu cards or seating assignment charts/cards. We also won’t need any special lighting or a dance floor. Also, the extra time for the open bar for a full night event would be almost double what we’re paying. I could keep going with all the little things that won’t be needed, and these things add up quickly, so in the long run it is saving us a lot of money.

I don't know that you'll save money on all hors d'oeuvres reception but we did this and it was a HUGE hit. We had nearly 20 choices and originally it would have been $1200 but we added 3 additional options for our vegan future daughter-in-law so we paid another $200 all for 50 people. We also chose protein options and used mac and cheese cups, potato puffs, and sweet potato drops to keep the food filling. Our guests loved it so much we've had a couple ask for our caterer's info and guests actually applauded our caterer when we gave our thank you speech. We partied long into the night after a 2pm ceremony and no one went hungry.

I agree with many people on here that you will likely spend more money than a nice buffet and not get as much food. I would definitely compare all options.