Noon/afternoon cocktail reception

12-1 is meal time so you either need to serve lunch or if you go with the cocktail reception serve the equivalent of a meal. Which is 15-20 minimum heavy appetizers per person. These are like your sliders, crab cakes, egg rolls, chicken tenders, carving station, etc.

This sounds like a drop-in style reception if I'm reading you correctly, so you could easily do heavy hor d'oeuvres and a bar! If it were me, I would serve a few larger "action stations" and maybe a couple of other appetizers. That sounds like a perfect celebration for a more casual, afterparty, in my opinion!

These are a couple of action station options that we had at our original wedding venue that we loved!
(Disregard these particular prices obviously! LOL)

Sounds wonderful! One thought is to have photos of your backyard wedding as guests mingle throughout the space. Have you considered light music? We had soft 80s and tropical instrumental music throughout our reception last summer and kept the atmosphere relaxing and positive vibes 🌸 Hope the restrictions work in your favor and with the increasing vaccinations, hope things are looking up ❤️

I would suggest still making sure that you don't invite more people than the max amount allowed by restrictions. You can't assume that people will arrive and depart staggeredly enough to not be over the limit at any point in time.

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Agree with this. Many will assume it's an all afternoon event and stay for the duration.

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Thanks for all the advice and good ideas, everyone. I wish I could implement some of them, but our plans have changed yet again. Turns out that this cocktail/drop-in style of party is exactly what our venue does NOT allow right now, based on current state guidelines. Surprisingly, what IS allowed is a sit-down reception with the room at half capacity and masks on at all times except when actually eating and drinking. I guess it's not too surprising, considering they are essentially following the guidelines for restaurants. So, we'll make that work. Chances are pretty good enough people will decline to bring us under the room size limit, and if not, well, we're nothing if not creative problem solvers by now!

Yeah I was just about to say that the venue will need to control numbers. They could get into trouble with the local board of health if they don't.

Please don't invite more than the room will hold even if "chances are" people will decline. You need to prepare for 100% attendance.

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Oh, we'd never do anything to get the vendor into trouble. They are the ones who suggested our backup plan: two separate seatings, with people outside enjoying the grounds and catching up with friends and family during the time they're not eating. It's a little crazy, and certainly not something I would have ever wanted to do if not forced by a pandemic, but all our vendors are on board with it and so far our guests seem happy to roll with it, perhaps understanding that it's the only alternative to cutting the guest list.