How many courses is your reception?

Also to add - the venu I’m looking at does family style and has 6-8 dishes to share/course amongst 6 people.

Our sit down dinner had 3 courses. But before that we had a cocktail hour with passed appetizers and a cheese and charcuterie station and we had a dessert bar during dancing. Our venue told us each course takes 30 minutes and I didn’t want to delay dancing too long so that’s why we did ours that way!

We had cocktail hour with fully stocked hors d'oeuvres and then a 3 course meal plus cake/dessert

We will have cocktail hour with 2 passed apps and a station. Dinner will be soup, salad, and then a plated meal. Everyone gets the same, it's a dual entree (beef and chicken)with veg and potato, except for a few guests who are vegetarian/vegan/gluten free/severe allergies..they will have an alternative meal provided. Then dessert. And halfway through the dancing we get the option of a sweet of savory table and being from Buffalo we went savory and chose a pizza and wings table!

After cocktail hour, the dinner will consist of 2 different first courses (ex. Crab cakes and salad), next would be the intermezzo (palate cleanser), and then the entree which we still have to pick.

We did salad, dinner and cake for dinner. During cocktail hour we did cute little artisan pizzas for guests!

We are having appetizers during cocktail hour, then guests sit to a plated salad, then entree portion, then dessert will be at a table for people to get. That just worked for us, but I like 3 courses at a wedding. For me, 4 feels like too much.

The last wedding I went to had three courses including cake served buffet style and, if I remember correctly, it's the only wedding I've been to where I didn't stop at a fast food joint afterwards. There was a cocktail hour with snacks, but that doesn't count as a dinner course to me. It was the perfect amount of food and I went home pleasantly full.

What makes you pause over that last course? Are you worried that your guests will be too hungry or too full?