Cocktail Hour?

tcnoble

So we are doing our ceremony and reception at the same site (it is a casino property). Tentatively our ceremony is at 5:30, with dinner at 7:00pm. We have no children attending the wedding, and because of this, our initial thought is not to have a cocktail hour because we figure with only an hour between, guests could either go back to their rooms briefly or enjoy the casino if that's their thing. Is it absolutely necessary to host a cocktail hour? Budget is a factor for us but I've been reading many boards and some members say it is totally rude to NOT have a hosted cocktail hour. Thoughts??

ktbabe530

I think having the 'dreaded gap' is less of a concern in Vegas, especially if you are at a hotel/casino. People can go grab a drink and play some craps or blackjack.  I would just make sure your guests are aware that there will be one.

Another option would be to move your reception up to 6.  We are doing a first look and pictures before our ceremony and going right into dinner at the reception so no gap or cocktail hour.

tcnoble

We planned to do some pictures before because we will only have an hour between... but did you feel at all rushed doing pictures before? What about coordinating with family members? 

ktbabe530

I haven't done mine yet.  But I plan to tell family members what time to be ready, I figure about an hour for FI and I then have the family meet us for another 45 min or so.  Talk with your photographer and see what they think.  

missmo14

We are hosting a cocktail hour but that's only because FI adamantly doesn't want to see me on our wedding day til I walk down the aisle (no first look). If you do the first look can you change your ceremony time at all?

tcnoble

We haven't set anything in stone yet, so we can certainly make the reception immediately follow the ceremony. With our ceremony being later anyways, it might be a good idea to bump the reception earlier. Doing pictures before though, I worry about guests seeing us before the ceremony? Since we will be taking pictures around the property. But on the other hand, since we do have so many guests coming in from out of town, doing pictures before would allow us to spend the entire time after the ceremony with guests. So many decisions!!! Now I'm just thinking out loud...

ktbabe530

That was one of our reasons for wanting doing our pictures before, we didn't want to miss any of our party!  I wouldn't worry too much about your guests seeing you, they will all be getting ready in their hotel rooms!  

Good luck with all the planning!!!

KikiMira

We are on the same page as KTBabe. We are doing most photos before hand, so we can enjoy our whole wedding. 

vegasgroom

I personally don't like gaps in a Vegas wedding any more than anywhere else.  The reason is because if it's a gap of more than 30 minutes, but less than three hours, you're stuck with a period of time that a lot of people will have absolutely nothing they'd want to do.

For example, when I attend a wedding, unless it's on the beach and explicitly casual, I wear a suit.  In Vegas, I try to avoid going to the casino in my suit because then I'll stink of cigarette smoke the rest of the day and I would not enjoy the reception or dinner if I'm sitting there smelling cigarette smoke coming off my clothes the whole time.  So that rules out gambling for me during the gap.  Going back to the room and staring out the window isn't particularly fun.  Going back to the room, changing clothes, going to gamble, returning, changing again, going to reception is not particularly desirable but if the gap is long enough I could do that.  Dress shoes aren't particularly comfortable, go going shopping or sight seeing, is also not typically something I'd do during the gap.  If I knew enough people that were attending and others wanted to go get some drinks perhaps we could all go to a bar that's close by and non-smoking but that doesn't likely encompass all the guests and some will be stuck fending for themselves.

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tcnoble

We decided to do all our pictures before - we will have a 30 minute gap because we have one of our dogs as part of the ceremony and he needs to be transported home by an extended family member. We figured that 30 minutes would give us some time to mingle and everyone find their seats and grab a drink before dinner. 

Thanks for all the ideas and input!!