Invitation wording...do you mention cocktail hour?

It definitely isnt a stupid question. I have t done my invites yet but I will be saying "reception to follow". I think that will pretty much explain it to them. Then when I make my wedding website there will be a more detailed timeline.

Ours just said reception to follow. I think most people know a cocktail hour comes before dinner at weddings.

I think reception to follow gets the point across. I also like “drinks, dinner and dancing to follow” if the invitation is a bit less formal and more light hearted.

Agree about "reception to follow" on the invite. Daughter put a more detailed outline on the website, but I agree most people would assume there will be a cocktail hour as part of the festivities. (Daughter's RSVPs were online, so all guests had to at least go through the website to get to it. If they wanted to, they could read about any possible detail they might want to know more about, and if they didn't care they could skip it and be surprised! )

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I just want to make sure my guests understood that we would be having a cocktail hour, not when it would be occurring.

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I'm not sure how many of my guests will end up looking at my website so just wanted to cover all the bases traditionally. lol

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That is fun too!

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I need to attend more weddings! Lol Ive honestly never been to one with a set cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres, but I guess that's the fun of weddings, doing what makes sense to you!

I didn't mention cocktail hour. I put "reception to follow" on my invitations.

Cocktail hours are the normal beginning of any reception, wedding or other, there's no reason to expressly tell anyone that you are starting with one

I just realized I did not put reception to fellow. I did say to go to my website and put the info there.

View Quoted Comment Yeah I think most guests know a cocktail hour will be happening. All weddings have them.

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I have to disagree as the last two weddings recently I attended did not have a cocktail hour. Perhaps it is the norm, but it is not a given.

We are also going with us or additional “Reception immediately following Ceremony”

Don’t know what happened there...

sorry

we are Also going with the reception immediately following ceremony as there won’t be a venue change then I will include please join us for cocktails immediately following ceremony at bottom of program and on itineraries for out of towners welcome bags and if we decide to post an “order of events” style sign

I put it on ours. I just thought it was a nice touch. Also most of the weddings I've been to didnt have a cocktail hour before.

View Quoted Comment Oh interesting. I didn’t know that.

It sounds like a cocktail hour isn't the norm in your area/friend group, so if you think people won't expect it but that it's important that you give them a heads up, then do so. I probably wouldn't put it on the invitations themselves (unless they are pretty casual, then I think the "drinks, dinner & dancing to follow" is cute), but you can do a separate details card or put it on your website (I know you mentioned you don't expect people to go to it though) or -- and most likely -- I'd just let key people know casually. If it's not the norm, I'd guess the fact that your wedding will include a cocktail hour will be good news to guests that spreads quickly!

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I like that wording!

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It seems we are similar once again! Lol