Pro and Cons for skipping a cocktail hour !

View Quoted Comment This is a super old thread so you will get more feedback by starting a new one. To answer your question, what time do ceremony and reception start and what kind of gap is between them? Dinner in many circles at a wedding starts anywhere from 5-7pm. How does dark outside relate to when the reception and dinner start?


Because your dinner is heavy, keep it on the light side with a cheese and meat platter and whatever else your caterer suggests. That is substantial enough to soak up alcohol so guests don’t get sick and drunk. What does your caterer offer that you enjoy?
On the flip side, we have been to many weddings that didn’t have a cocktail hour and went straight to dinner as soon as guests arrived and found their seats. The couples took all photos beforehand so there was no gap to fill with a cocktail hour and it wasn’t missed.

View Quoted Comment I regret not going with my first mind and not having a cocktail hour. I specifically told my planner I wanted one and she advised me against it saying guests would be ready to eat after the ceremony. I just gave in to her suggestion but it was a bad one for the following reasons.


1. I had a very short ceremony 15-20 minutes max-guests weren’t sitting there for an hour + for that to be over, they could have waited for food
2. We had passed horderves in the catering already and an open bar, there was no additional cost they wouldn’t have been without food at all, just the main dishes would have been waited upon. We had 5 different types of passed foods.
3. Because we did not have a cocktail hour, but the time we finished with photos and a private eating session, some of our guests had already left. For them it felt long waiting on us, that buffer time would have haloed. I feel as if if we’d had held off on food, they would have waited.
A year later I am bummed about this decision she made as well as others, I feel like an idiot for not going with my gut. I regret it, have the cocktail hour.