How do you really "get out of" serving a full meal by having an afternoon wedding?

I am having a Sunday afternoon wedding at 2:00pm. We are having a mac and cheese bar, nice sandwiches, fruit display, chocolate covered strawberries, cake, beer, and wine. It is in no way a full meal, but there is food for people if they are really hungry or just want to snack. We are having about 80 people and we are getting the food catered.

Not really as long as you include it on the invitation I would think with "cake and punch reception to follow" My FCIL had her wedding from 2 to 6 and we were a tad peckish, but as long as you let them know what to expect, I don't think it is necessary

I can understand this more for a Sunday wedding because people will not stay late. That being said - I want "closing time" at our wedding to be no later than 10:00 PM (we have to do all the cleanup ourselves). We will have probably 150 people...so is what you are saying is I can get away with NOT having a full blown buffet and instead have a "grazing station"? I worry people will skip lunch in anticipation of getting a meal at like 4:00 or 5:00...

Edit, we did budget already for a full BBQ buffet, apps, cake, drinks etc. I am just thinking now maybe that is too much?

And you can always do moderately heavy horsdourves.

I don't know. I'm getting married at 2:30 (not a catholic ceremony, but with 40 guests most are staying till four for photos). Cocktail hour at 5 and a plated dinner at 6:30 PM.

I think you can only get away with it if the event is between meal times and only lasts a few hours.

If you have a long ceremony it will be tough, but with a short ceremony, you can fit it in between meals and serve snacks and close up early. You can even just do punch and cake but will probably have a shorter reception.

Easy- Our wedding starts at 12:30pm, reception starts at 2 and it's over at 4:30. We are only serving fruit,veggies, cheese & crackers, meat and sandwiches.

Then my husband and I will be having our first dinner as a married couple alone in our favorite restaurant before attending the after party that our parents are hosting - so they are in charge of feeding people a hearty supper

I'd do a fun late lunch. People can go home for dinner. It isn't your job to provide their every meal, regardless of their expectations. But I'd circulate through your wedding website/mom/MIL/MOH to people that is wasn't going to be a full blown meal.

The BBQ buffet, apps, cake, drinks etc is a meal to me. We are not doing a fancy meal just fried chicken, cheeseburger sliders and a few sides.

The reason I asked this question is because I had FOUR family members comment on the serving of food as if what we were doing was faux pas because we are having an afternoon wedding (original plan is still to serve apps during cocktail "hour" and a real meal later). I guess this harkens back to when they got married in the 1970's/early 1980's and had cake and punch only receptions...I have a venue for 16 hours and I will NOT waste a second of that time nor will I cut it early. I want people to STAY as well...I would be mortified if people came and said "oh, they only have appetizers so let's leave early and get a real dinner."

Depends.

my wedding isn't going to be during a meal time and the actual time at the venue is only going to be 3 hours total.

there we will be having a cake and drink reception (they are still done , but I don't feel guilty that I won't be serving much to eat over a 3 hour period.

once the time in the venue is done, we'll be going out for a after party with whoever wants to come along. during that time whatever eating will happen.

if it was a matter of us being at the venue for something like 6 hours or more, then I wouldn't call it reasonable to not serve food.

Typically people who don't serve a meal have quite a short ceremony..like say from 10-12 in the am. or 2-4. Some people do a cake and punch reception during that time..It's not so much "getting out of" as finding a time where you'd piss guests off the least if the couple was not to serve food. You'd have to trade off having a shorter wedding with not having to pay for food.

My ceremony is a 1, cocktail reception with Hor' dourves at 1:30-2:30, reception 2:30-6:30 with a plated dinner and cake ofc.

You can 'get out of ' a real meal if you do an afternoon wedding, keep it short, and let people know what will be served. More than 3 hours in mid afternoon, you should have a meal.

I had a Sunday afternoon wedding the first time I got married. We had two hours of passed hors d'oeuvres and a pasta buffet with caesar and caprese salad. The total cost per head, sans booze was only $32 and the wedding was only 4 hours. I had more rave reviews from people. I even had two brides copy the format.

1pm ceremony, cake and champagne afterwards, Ceremony is 30 minutes, reception is 45 mins to an hour, done.

We are doing heavy hors d oeuvres and cake reception....should last no longer then an hour to hour and 1/2. Ceremony at 3 pm (20-25 min max) and reception following till 5pm.

I will note this on the formal invite to note the type of reception as we will later in the evening be going out to a restaurant for dinner.