S/O: Waiting to leave a wedding until after the cake cutting

NYCBruin

I'm a huge fan of the trend to cut the cake at the beginning of the reception.  Honestly, I hate when the party gets interrupted for anything: spotlight dances, tosses, cake cutting.  Every wedding I've been to where things are spread out it ends up making the event less fun because the party keeps stopping and starting again.  And once people are sitting, it takes a while for people to get back up dancing.

DaisyMaeMommy

At my cousin's wedding, (the only non-casual wedding I've attended) they cut the cake about the same time the last few guests were sitting down to eat.

They had a cake to cut and serve, but mostly they had cupcakes. So they cut the cake pretty quick and set it out for guests to just grab as they pleased. I think it worked out pretty well.

climbingsingle

I think about 90% of the weddings I've attending, the couple cut the cake after dinner. Maybe it's just common to do it that way in my area? I don't know. What I do know is that I NEVER leave before dessert is served because I freaking love dessert/cake. 

Maggie0829

NYCBruin said:

I'm a huge fan of the trend to cut the cake at the beginning of the reception.  Honestly, I hate when the party gets interrupted for anything: spotlight dances, tosses, cake cutting.  Every wedding I've been to where things are spread out it ends up making the event less fun because the party keeps stopping and starting again.  And once people are sitting, it takes a while for people to get back up dancing.

This 100%.  I like when all the spotlight stuff is done all at once and then the party can get started and keep going until the end of the night.

Simply Fated

I'm not a fan of dancing so maybe that's why it never bothered me that the dancing gets interrupted lol.

lolo883 said:

I have never seen open dance floor dancing before dinner at a wedding, and only maybe 2 couples' first dance done then. I would probably take a bite out of someone's arm if they tried to dance rather than eat. Feed me!

Oh gosh, this might be a regional/area thing (although I'm not speaking for everyone in my area), so please please please don't take this the wrong way, especially since I'm terrible at explaining things sometimes...
It's super common to have huge ass cocktail hours in my area. MOST of the time, people make comments about how they don't even know how they will eat dinner.
It's not even a cost thing. Even the more less pricey venues offer large cocktail hours that fit most budgets.
Again, not an etiquette thing. No one with half a brain would side-eye a smaller cocktail hour. It's simply a tradition, is all. It's an "expected" thing, but certainly not a "must have" thing.
Ugh that sounds awful and I'm sure I phrased it terribly.
I guess it's like the money dance, where it's expected in some cultures/families/whatever and some people might be disappointed if it's not there, but it's certainly not something anyone HAS to do. But it is common around here I've personally never been or seen a wedding (in my area) without a cocktail hour with plenty of food.

I really think that the timing of wedding events depends on what is common in your area. What would work in one case, might be a trainwreck elsewhere.

Also, salads/appetizers are almost always served ahead of time and are sometimes even at the seats as the guests walk into the reception.

iloveotters2014

We cut our cake right after being introduced into the reception and before dinner. Then we did toasts....then dinner. Then first dances. Then the dance floor was opened up. It made the flow really nice so we could just eat cake and dance the rest of the night away.