Those serving a huge cocktail hour

We are going to do a cocktail hour and a plated meal. However, I have seen weddings recently that go insanely overboard with the cocktail hour (like seven times more food than the actual meal!). We will definitely not be doing that. We will be doing a traditional cocktail hour with open bar, charcuterie, and a few small passed hors d’oeuvres. Literally the only purpose of the food at cocktail hour is to put some thing in the tummies of those drinking and to provide a small snack before the meal. I am definitely not spending $100 per plate for no one to eat the meal!

View Quoted Comment I definitely don't agree with wasting food of any kind. With a cocktail spread that big, it would be better to just have a heavy appetizer party or just do 1 before dinner.

As a guest I've never attended a cocktail hour, as they were either cake and coffee or straight to dinner (pics taken before ceremony so no wait time). Most of our guests are in the same types of circles so most of the "traditional" stuff is a novelty.

View Quoted Comment I agree. If you are going to have a massive amount of food at cocktail hour, you just as well do a cocktail party. Having a few light hors d’oeuvres during your cocktail hour definitely helps with those drinking, and still leaves everyone hungry for their meals. I think of cocktail hour as the appetizer to the meal... not full courses.

We had an over the top cocktail hour because that is the norm in my area (NJ). Every wedding I've ever been to, cocktail hours have multiple stations, charcuterie boards, and passed appetizers. And then there is a full 3 course meal following. Most people eat still eat most of their meals because the portion size for the entree is usually on the smaller end (think gourmet restaurant instead of more casual dining).

Our venue gave us cocktail hour with a fruit station, a cheese and meats station and hot passed appetizers which consisted of: chicken empanadas, ham and cheese croquettes and potato balls, our venue was a Cuban restaurant ( Bride -Puerto Rican, Groom - El Salvador) so the food was well liked by our guests. We also had a plated meal which was surf and turf and our guests still talk about the food to this day. It was spectacular, people couldn't get enough. During cocktail hour, hubby and I were taking pictures so I didn't get a good chance to see the butler passed apps but everyone told me they kept flowing like water and they just could not get enough. These were bite sized and had they been bigger would have totally taken the place our meal. I think creating a good balance between cocktail hour and dinner is important, I was very worried about wasted food but really, there was none. My venue even told me not to order vendor meals in case I had no shows, I had the exact # of no shows that I had people to feed from my vendors which was 4, it worked out perfectly and even they ate surf & turf.

View Quoted Comment Balance is important. I think I would still order vendor meals or enough regular meals to cover them. They need to eat too and you can't predict or guarantee no shows.

View Quoted Comment That does make sense!

View Quoted Comment It sounds like it balances out in that case. Our guests would starve if they were given gourmet portions, with nothing else prior. So trying to find a happy medium.

We did three different kinds of tray-passed hors d’oeuvres and I kinda regret not having more food for cocktail hour. My mom complained about it too. Haha. However, our crowd likes to eat so this might be a know-your-crowd type of thing.


We did serve plated meals and have an open bar that came out to $200/pp so I was being hesitant about spending a couple extra thousand dollars for more appetizers. In hindsight, should have just done it. Oh well!

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Our vendor meals would have been hot plated meals anyways so they would have been prepared while our food was being done also. I only had to feed my videographers (2) and photographers (2), I knew about my 4 no-shows prior to my wedding and had let the venue know the morning of. Luckily no one else surprised us with a no-show and we were good to go. Had I not known about the no-shows I would have chosen an entrée for them to be prepared for their meal time to enjoy, which would have been at an additional charge.

For our big wedding we are doing both cocktail hour and a main course for dinner. We plan on having about 5 different appetizers, cheese and fruit during cocktail hour. And for dinner we will have 3 different entrees, two sides, a pasta station and a salad station.

View Quoted Comment Exactly! It’s perfect to have some passed hors d’oeuvres and charcuterie, etc. that is bite sized. Not full on meal size portions. Bite-size portions are just enough to keep people satiated, but not so full that they do not want to eat their meals.

We're having a cocktail hour (which will actually be less than an hour), and dinner at the reception. 2 types of appetizers (small bites) is good for a cocktail hour, or even a charcuterie board/grazing table that guests can pick off from. These are made of mostly variety of cheese, meats, fruits and nuts. I personally don't like it when a cocktail hour has heavy appetizers because of the exact reason you mentioned in OP (filling up).

We've seen different types of cocktail hour foods at the weddings we've been to. From a food truck, to a grazing table, to small bites. My favorite was the grazing table/charcuterie board because it had enough to feed everyone, but wasn't too filling or too much food to wear the remainder was wasted.

We had 8 different passed appetizers during cocktail hour. Normally, this might be considered a bit much, but we had an East Coast style wedding which meant that we had dancing in between cocktail hour and when salads were served. Plus we had an open bar, so enough food was a must. I don't think we would have needed as many appetizers had our entree been served right after cocktail hour.

We had three bite sized passed apps during cocktail and buffet/stations during dinner. We also had a candy bar that opened immediately following the cocktail and remained open all evening and a late night snack which was a nacho bar.

We are doing a cocktail hour and a plated dinner. My venue had us pick 14 appetizers and 2 stations for the cocktail hour. There will also be a Viennese cart going around at the reception after dinner. But although there will be alot of food there it was all included in the package. If it wasnt I wouldn't be having as much food.

We are doing a cocktail hour with two different passed appetizers. So nothing over the top, but enough for guests to snack on until dinner is served.

Most guests expect a dinner so a huge cocktail hour is an unnecessary expense