Lunch reception vs Dinner reception

I've been to a few 11:00 weddings, on a Saturday morning, with a lunch reception. In general, they're a lot of fun, and you never have to worry about dark pictures. I also find them to be lighter in feel, less formal than an evening wedding. I was leaning towards this type of wedding myself for quite some time.

I've been to a few lunch receptions, and like @Zaz I felt them to be much less formal (but still lovely!). If you're really trying to save money though I would look into having your reception at a non meal time.

One of the best weddings I've ever been to was a lunch wedding at a local arboretum. They had the ceremony on a Sunday at 1:00pm so people had time to get off from church. It was beautiful and people still dressed nice so it didn't lose any formality. For apps they had shrimp cocktail, meatballs, mini pigs in a blanket, fruit display (which was gorgeous), deviled eggs, and spinach dip amoung others that I don't remember. For the meal they had salads, rolls, chicken marsala and shrimp scampi. It was absolutely delicious. Dessert included cake and pies. They had an open bar. They didn't do the typical dj and cake cutting. They just had someone play acoustic guitar in the background. It was really sweet and beautiful.

One of my favorite weddings was on a Friday afternoon. It went from 10am-5pm and was just as fun as a night wedding. They had a DJ, open bar, cocktail hour, a buffet, and cake. Everyone still wore what they would have if it was a night wedding.

I'm doing a champagne brunch reception back home 2 weeks after our destination wedding. We invited everyone to the DW but we know a bunch of family can't go do we're doing both. I like the idea because it's less formal, but still incorporates all of the best parts of a night time wedding.

My reception is a lunch reception at a restaurant. It was less expensive and I think it is more acceptable to only have beer and wine at a lunch reception (and a lot less expensive than a full open bar). I also like the idea of going to bed early. We are flying out the next day after the wedding and just wanted a good night sleep in a hotel before we go.

The vibe will be different for a day time reception though. I am not planning for a party vibe. My wedding is small though and I am happy just to have a few hours with my friends and family and a nice meal.

I've photographed lunch receptions. While it's a different vibe, the guests were very much enjoying themselves. Ceremony and luncheon reception maybe 4 hours total.

Lunch receptions are fine! Make sure you're hosting well with food, bar choices, coffee etc.

We will be doing a lunchtime reception for a few reasons, cost being one of them.

That said, we are pushing the envelope. We are having a HUGE lunch, meaning the menu will be as substantial as dinner. We are also having a shorter reception, 3 hours instead of 4, because our guest list is small enough that we can't expect a dance party atmosphere. We are still having a full open bar.

Our reception has to end by 4 to qualify as a lunch reception, IIRC. Therefore that is our planned end time. That puts our desired cocktail hour starting at 1:00, therefore our ceremony should be around 12:15-12:30.

As long as you are still hosting properly (appropriate meal, alcohol, etc) and take into account that a lunch reception is less conducive to a party atmosphere, you should be just fine. We have debated bumping up the package for a 4-hour reception just to have the extra time with our guests, but we haven't come to the conclusion as to whether or not that is a good fit for us yet or not, as we are also hosting a private fireworks dessert party that evening for any guests who wish to come, which is a whole separate entity from the wedding itself, and a nice way to end the night with our guests.

I just signed a contract to have a lunch reception on a yacht. It was just so much cheaper to do it on a Friday afternoon that I couldn't pass it up. Reception starts at 11:30 and ends at 4:30. However after we are planning on going downtown after and dancing the night way with some of the younger party crowd