No food at cocktail hour

I think you need food. I would be starving and crabby by the time dinner came if there wasn't at least something.

I definitely think you need food. Would the venue allow you to bring your own food? If not, and if you can’t afford both food and cocktails, could you just do food and no drinks?

I think it’s a really bad idea to serve alcohol to people who will be on empty stomachs! Not just because of etiquette but because people really may feel sick if they drink alcohol without having anything to eat

You definitely need food. I would say you need more than just chips and salsa. Are there any other places in the budget you can cut from? Can you cut a photo booth or programs or an hour from photography?

It's not really a good idea to serve alcohol to guests on an empty stomach. Most folks will be expecting some sort of appetizer during the cocktail hour and probably won't eat a lot before hand. I would try really hard to find the money to offer something to eat during that time, or it could lead to some HANGRY guests.

I think you have to bite the bullet an do whatever you can to have the food. It is an expected part of cocktail hour especially at that time. Sorry about the prices, good luck!

You need food. I just went to a wedding with an almost two hour 'cocktail hour' with no cocktails and no food, between 530-730. Aka dinner time. They had ice cream (which was delicious) but people were starting to complain a lot and get really bored. I needed something more substantial to snack on as did most people there.

Definitely more food. I would be hangry and possibly drunk since 1-2 drinks can really go to my head.

People will get drunk if there isn't some sort of food there. By the time you get to the reception you will have guests who will be wasted. Can you bring your own chips and dip?

I think you need food as well ans should cut whatever you need to make it happen. Chips and salsa is a minimum.

You definitely need to serve food during cocktail hour. Otherwise guests will be hungry, cranky, and probably drunk from a lack of food to help absorb some of the alcohol. I’d suggest taking a hard look at your budget and seeing if you can cut in any other areas of “nice to have” like a photo booth or upgraded flowers or anything but not a *need* like food. I’d also suggest seeing if you can squeeze any extra pennies out of your day to day budget to save!

I think you need food. Otherwise people will be drinking on an empty stomach and nothing to go with it. By the time dinner rolls around, people who don't have much of a tolerance could be drunk already (think 1 maybe 2 drinks on an empty stomach).

Can you bring your own chips and salsa?

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Working on trying to find that out now. Obviously would be more budget friendly and reasonable (caterer wants to charge over $300) but according to my wedding planner many caterers have clauses in their contracts about not being able to bring your own food. Keeping my fingers crossed that they don't!

Unfortunately there isn't much we can cut from our budget as we're already had to for go doing things like a photo booth, bridal party gifts, etc. We've already cut so many corners, not sure if I can cut anymore! Obviously I see the need for it as people will be drinking so we're really hoping that providing our own is going to be possible.

View Quoted Comment Completely agree! I don’t think chips and salsa is sufficient as the only cocktail hour food.

Great suggestions on where to try to cut the budget too!

View Quoted Comment Did you send save the dates out? If not, can you cut a few guests to make room in your budget for more cocktail hour food?

You arent getting your bridal party gifts? That isnt something you can just cut, unless you arent have a wedding party.

The wedding has an open bar right? People need something to snack on at cocktail hour.

View Quoted Comment Agreed definitely not a good thing to cur the gifts. They do not have to be expensive what so ever and they also cant be wedding props (things they have to wear for the wedding for example a bracelet). We arent having a bridal party for many reasons one being it saves us money.

I hope when you're referring to your wedding planner its included with your venue and you arent paying extra while forgoing food for your guests and gifts for you BP....

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Whoa, i totally missed that.

View Quoted Comment I miss nothing lol