No full meal - Thoughts

I wouldn't be offended, but I'd expect there to be a meal at a decent hour. If soups are your meal, that's fine, but I'm not sure why you'd order pizza after serving a meal. I think warm soups and bread could be fine as long as you have a variety of them. I'm personally not a huge soup person, so at least I'd opt for some bread sticks and salad. I'd probably skip out early though to opt for some other food.

Why so late on ordering pizza? Why couldn't you just serve pizza, salad and bread sticks as the meal? Are you having kids at the wedding reception? I don't see many kids being excited about soup and salad.

I wouldn't be offended but I'd prob end up leaving early to get an actual meal since 730 is dinner time.

I personally would be kind of annoyed if I showed expecting a meal and then there wasn't a "real" meal, however, I would include it on a details card with the invite if I were you so that people know (not everyone will look at your website) not to expect a lot of food.

I wouldn’t be offended but I would be hungry and a little confused. Not having a plated meal is fine but there needs to be enough things to consist of a full meal so people aren’t hungry.

We are planning 5 soups, salad, and breadsticks/cheddar rolls as the meal. I just figured since the party doesn't get going until well after dinner hour we could do soup and salad as the meal - plus a few hours in pizzas are arriving.

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No kids on the guest list

I don’t see soup and salad as a meal and even if there were multiple soups, I’d imagine most people will stop at one bowl of one kind of soup. I obviously think this depends on your crowd but we have plenty of people in our social circle who don’t eat dinner until 7 or later and when we go out on date nights without my daughter we usually eat around 7-7:30 because we do her nighttime routine with her before leaving the sitter with her.

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Yeah, soup doesn't fill me up. Is there any reason you can't just do the pizza for dinner?

I'd be a bit confused as well. And hungry lol I wouldn't want to wait until 10:30 for pizza... And at that, 10:30 is really late for meal-type food. Soup is fun but I don't know that it makes sense as the main course. 7:30 is pretty much dinner time if they've been with you since 6:30 or earlier for the ceremony.

"Would you be offended if you showed up to a wedding reception and there wasn't fried chicken and pasta and cold vegetables to choose from ? "

Haha you clearly have some strrooonngg feelings on this topic. How will the soups be served - family style, buffet, by waiter? I think as long as you make it clear that is the main food option, you should be ok. Otherwise you run the risk that folks won't pay attention and think it's the warm up to an actual meal. Then you would have some grumpy guests.

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I would still serve a meal at the dinner hour. If you want to have a late night snack food I think that would be fine. Most people I know would eat one bowl of soup and some bread and be done with that. I'd be hungry afterwards and probably leave soon after dinner for a real meal - before 10:30. I don't eat that late and I can't help but to assume most guests wouldn't eat their main meal so late. By 10:30, the party should be in full swing or even slowly ending so I'd say the meal should be before the party starts so people have energy to party.

I wouldn’t be upset, but I would be hungry. 7:30- 8pm ish is dinner time for me. Why not order the pizzas a bit earlier ?

Could you have the pizza there earlier than 10:30, or serve it along with everything else?

I would reverse the order if I were you. Soup and bread is more of a snack whereas pizza is more of a meal. Serve the pizza and salad at 7:30. Then, if you want to provide a late night snack, you could do the soup and bread at 10:30. (Or some other type of food that is more snack-like.)

View Quoted Comment I agree, I do think the how served and presentation matters. Like if it’s a salad course then a served soup course you can make it a bit more clear that soup is dinner. But if soup is dinner, I’d encourage large bowls and hearty soups (especially if people will be drinking). I do eat soup as meals sometimes (with a bread-y side), but would need a substantial serving and is also need to know in advance that’s all I was getting, in order to know to fill up. If it’s soup and salad on a buffet , I think there’s a lot more room for under-eating and or people not realizing that this is all that’s being served, as soup is often treated as an appetizer.

We weren't planning on a "Dinner" - smaller meal items to be available if people would like to have something to eat. We can move the pizza up earlier if needed I guess. We were going to do an early "dinner" event at a local restaurant before the party. And put open invite out to everyone. I forgot to mention we also have appetizers before the party starts as well. Thanks all for your feedback.

Offended isn’t the right word, I would be more confused as to why there wasn’t a full meal being served at dinner time. I think soup, salad, and bread would be appropriate for an afternoon wedding. But at 7 PM, I would expect dinner food.

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I went to a wedding a few months back where it started at 7pm and there was no food at all - just desserts. But they let us know up front - and they planned an early dinner at a restaurant. Everyone was on their own checks and I was ok with that idea too. Our doors open at 7:30. Entertainment starts at 8pm so we figured it was late enough to not have to worry about serving a full meal. Sounding like that's not the case.

I saw on your other post you're going for a "party atmosphere". Honestly, in no way do soup salad, and breadsticks say "party". I'd reconsider. Are there other things your caterer can offer?

View Quoted Comment I guess this is just a different approach than I have ever seen. Whenever I am invited or have been invited to a wedding, I’ve always had dinner provided at a night time wedding, and I did not have to pay for it myself. I have been to weddings where the food was not good. In that case, we usually left earlier than we normally would in order to get food elsewhere. I think you may experience that doing soup and salad. People will leave early because they are hungry. Just food for thought.