What kind of food?

Why not dinner?? Guests will be hungry. Chicken breast with an optional special sauce, roasted or mashed potatoes, green beans , and a tossed salad or veg tray is a basic affordable dinner. Skip the appetizers to save more $$. Not having dinner and trying to have a variety of other foods can end up being the same price (yes, yes, it all depends on number of guests and what foods).

I have to agree with why not dinner. I'm doing a BBQ dinner and everywhere I look BBQ plate is a really good price. Good Luck!!

I would do a dinner! BBQ is always a good choice or chicken with some sort of side dishes as beverly suggested!! Who says you can't have a "dinner" because you're wedding isn't at dinner time!

We had th same issue...ours starts at 3with reception from 4 to 9:30. We are doing a veggie platter, a fruit platter, and a cheese and cracker platter, Salad, lil smoked sausages, bbq meatballs, sweet n sour meatballs, (possibly doin a marinara meatball bc of th ziti) and a baked cheesy ziti with garlic bread. Also since we have a LOT of kids...chicken nuggets!! At first I thought oh...light snacks would be fine but then I realized how long people would be there and I dont want them to leave bc they are hungry.

Depending on how long the reception lasts, I'd say that dinner is appropriate here, not just because you CAN serve dinner, but because some people eat at 5, and most by 6, so if the ceremony is at 3, reception starting around 4, people are going to get hungry fast.

Are you doing catering, or DIY? If the latter, you could definitely do platters of deli sandwiches, or the fixings for them, which would be cheap but filling.

The reception isn't going to be long because most of my guest will be driving home after the wedding and it will take about two and a half hours for them to get home. I may do BBQ but I can't decide if I want that or the food trays. Thanks for all the options.

If it were me, I'd do heavy appetizers. Simply because in my world, dinner never happens before 8 or 9PM. :-)

Guess I really didn't answer the question. LOL!

If you did appetizers, you could do things such as meatballs, chicken skewers (I would avoid wings and such as they are messy), perhaps some mini egg tarts, Pastry cups filled with either cream cheese or goats cheese with carmelized onions, a nice cheese and fruit mirror, a selection of vegetables, chilled prawns.

Geez, I just ate breakfast and I just made myself hungry! LOL!

If your guests are going to driving for over two hours after the wedding, they will definitely need some food in their bellies. And you really don't want your guests having to stop on the way home for dinner because you didn't feed them. I'd say go with a simple dinner. Then it just depends on the venue, whether you can do DIY or need a caterer. Even then some caterers will arrive, set everything up and then come back a few hours later and remove everything. They don't serve which keeps it cheaper.

Courtney's wedding is also at 3, and they're having 'Breakfast (their favorite) for Dinner!

I am a fan of breakfast for dinner... Thanks for all of the help everyone has givin me a lot of options to choose from.

@Natasha- where is your wedding going to be held?

Sunday dinners frequently are earlier in the day than dinner on other days of the week. Late brunch, followed by early dinner is what DH & I usually do -- with no lunch.

You could do a cake and sweets reception (but tell the guests on the invite that that's what's following the ceremony), or some appetizers, if you really don't want to do dinner. I would guess most people will be a little ravenous though, around 6pm.

We had burgers, hot dogs (for the kids), and chicken breasts, leaf salad, pasta salad, a cheesy potato thing, a big fruit display, and one more thing which I can't remember. We planned for 100 people and it was about $1200 (but we definitely had way more food than for 100 people. Otherwise, as suggested above, do heavy appetizers.

Have you considered heavy hors d'oeuvres? Specially if you are concerned about the budget, heavy hors d'oeuvres are usually less than buffet service. You can have a nice imported cheese platter with some salads, dips and other options on a buffet table with small plates. At the same time tray pass a variety of finger food such as mini kobe sliders, Smoked turkey and mango quesadillas, mini pizzas, Asian duck tacos, etc.

This way you can offer a variety, you guests will be full plus you don't have to rent as many tables and chairs for everybody to sit as you would for a formal dinner!

The wedding is in Richmond, KY and will be in a garden with the reception hall behind the garden. After reading all of your post I think I may do a mix of dinner food and heavy appetizers.