Heavy Appetizers instead of a meal for an afternoon wedding?

mlsadwn

I am planning my wedding for 10/10/10.  The wedding will be held in the afternoon – the ceremony will start at 3:15 and will be finished no later than 3:45.  The reception is being held at the same place as the ceremony.  Since it will be late afternoon can I serve several heavy appetizers in the place of a buffet dinner?  Obviously it will save a lot of money, but I don’t want to be looked on as cheap.  My fiancé and I are paying for our wedding ourselves so it would be a great benefit to us to save on the food portion of the event. 

caseyandlizzie

I think it is very appropriate to serve appetizers at a wedding that is not at a meal time. Your guests will appreciate it.

mlsadwn

That's what we were thinking.  Thank you so much for the reassurance. \

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borntoshop29

We went to a wedding reception with just Apps and at first when I heard it was just apps I was wondering how that would go over. I have to say it was the best food I have had at a wedding and it was nice to have so many choices, no one went away hungry and everyone was able to mingle while eating!

lichs58

I'm having a night time wedding in July and that is what I'm doing. Most weddings I go to people just pick at their meal because they are so full from cocktail hour. For cocktail hour we are having fruit, cheese and crackers, then doing heavy appetizers for dinner with two serving stations.

I'm telling people it is so we don't take away from dancing to have an hour long sit down dinner.

Nyghtreine

H'ors doerves are totally fine to serve for the afternoon! I've been to weddings where all they served was some light snacks, cake and drinks... but I think the polite thing to do, however, is say something like "Join us for drinks and desserts" on the Invitation or something, so they'll know not to come STARVED.

But if the wedding is in the afternoon, it's 100% fine to do that. I'm doing an afternoon/evening wedding and I'll be serving the same stuff!

LaureltQ

We're doing an afternoon wedding (2:30) and the invitation says "drinks and hors d'oeuvres to follow"

I usually get full on hors d'oeuvres anyway, so I figure it makes sense just to serve those and not worry about feeding people a meal. It should help keep guests mingling too.

katieanne85

We were going to do this, but we realized most of our guests will be from out of town taking time off work travelling and staying a day or two, we figured the least we could do was feed them a full, delicious meal. In my family, being a generous and gracious host is very important, I didnt feel right about asking people to go so far out of their way without provding a meal at the least. we pushed the time back enough for an early dinner. But thats my family and situation. We are spending more than we had originally anticipated and the food will be simple, elegant, not a decadent 5 course meal, but well prepared from a reputable caterer. so we decided to use homemade paper flowers instead of professional fresh ones to make up for it.

Myroni03

check several caterers before you commit.... one caterer i looked at charged $15.95 for heavy apps and $17.95 for a full dinner... so it may save a lot or a little depending on caterer