Cocktail hour food?

britneydel

Would you say that veggie trays and dip, and a hummus and antipesto dip with breads is good enough for a cocktail hour?
My FI and I are wanting to keep it more simple and on the cheaper side as my family have generously offered to pay for our cocktail hour food.

Cocktail hour will be about an hour and we are having a BBQ style dinner which will be pretty heavy and filling so we don't want to over-do the food.
Should we be adding something else for more variety?

allispain

britneydel said:

Would you say that veggie trays and dip, and a hummus and antipesto dip with breads is good enough for a cocktail hour?
My FI and I are wanting to keep it more simple and on the cheaper side as my family have generously offered to pay for our cocktail hour food.

Cocktail hour will be about an hour and we are having a BBQ style dinner which will be pretty heavy and filling so we don't want to over-do the food.
Should we be adding something else for more variety?

I think this sounds perfectly fine. As long as you have enough for all of your guests, I would certainly be happy munching on veggies/dip and bread/hummus/etc.

southernbelle0915

What is "antipesto dip"? Do you mean an antipasto platter with dip? 

I think it's fine. You could add a fruit and cheese tray to complete the food pyramid if you have the money, but you don't NEED it.

haleyk620

This sounds similar to what we are doing for our food at the cocktail hour. We are also serving cheese and crackers and a fruit assortment as well. 

julieanne912

We're also doing BBQ and we're doing chips and guac, chips and some kind of ranchy dip thing, and jalapeno poppers.  Might add in a veggie tray as well.  So I think you'd be alright... I agree w/ the other poster and maybe add in a cheese tray or something if you have the money, just so it's a bit more substantial than just veggies.

britneydel

southernbelle0915 said:

What is "antipesto dip"? Do you mean an antipasto platter with dip? 

I think it's fine. You could add a fruit and cheese tray to complete the food pyramid if you have the money, but you don't NEED it.

Ops, yes, that is what I meant.

Thank you for all of the replies.

I think I'll look into a cheese tray as well if it won't cost much extra.

JoanE2012

scribe95 said:

Sounds great. I honestly think people go way overboard on food for cocktail hours nowadays. It's not supposed to be a meal.

Ha!  This is why it's my favorite part of the wedding!  I usually enjoy the food, and the variety, much more than my meal during the reception.

That said, OP, I think what you're having is fine!

jacques27

I personally would add a fruit tray, just to have something else that's light.

Otherwise, I think it's fine - you don't need to go overboard on cocktail hour.  However, I do caution that you have enough for the whole hour for everyone (and due to lack of variety, you'll need more than you think of each thing you are having - so if veggie trays say they serve 50 and you have 100, you will need more than two if you're only having veggie trays and the antipasto platters) and you really watch your time and make it only an hour.  My friend had a very modest cocktail hour (meat, cheese, and crackers, tortilla roll-up sandwiches, and maybe one other item I can't remember offhand), and while I doubt she had enough for a full hour, she most definitely did not have enough for what turned into cocktail 2.5 hours because her pictures ran longer than she anticipated and guests were hungry, cranky, and drunk since we'd had an open bar with no food after the first hour (and it might have even ran out earlier than that). 

beautyofdreams

I think your cocktail menu is great. In my opinion people shouldnt get full on cocktail hour otherwise what is the meal for. I like your options. Im having fruit trays, cheese trays, meatballs, crab balls, and spanikopita. all very light.