Early Ceremony, what about the reception?

manna_di

I'm helping my baby sister plan her wedding and we have run into a scheduling problem. The ceremony has to start at 1:30. Because of the early time, we are really unsure what to do about the reception. We are expecting upwards of 300 guests but don't have much of a budget, so our original plan was to just serve horderves. But the bride & groom and the guests they are inviting will want to dance and party the night away. How do we pull off a low budget reception with over 300 guests and party into the night?

danieliza1127

Have an afternoon reception immediately following the ceremony with just finger foods, cake, and punch/non-alcoholic drinks.  Then plan an informal after-party for the evening where anyone who wants to meet up with the bride and groom and dance and party the night away can come and pay their own way.  The main thing to do to make this work though is to not send out a formal invite for the after-party.  Keep it informal and more word of mouth so guests know that the bride and groom aren't picking up the tab.

What I wouldn't suggest is having a 1:30 ceremony and then not having the reception until 8pm at night.  It's really rude to guests to have a huge gap.  The wedding shouldn't necessarily take up their entire Saturday.

banana468

Ditto Danieliza!

MyNameIsNot

You can really do a full on reception for 300 people in the afternoon.  If the ceremony has to be at 1:30, I'm assuming Catholic Mass?  If you have an hour ceremony, then recieving line/travel time, you start your reception around 3.  Since you're on a tight budget, it makes sense to do an hor d'hoerves reception for a couple of hours to wrap up around 6 or 7.  If you have a bar, people will dance, even in the afternoon.  Then you can do an afterparty somewhere condusive to dancing the night away.

We were in a similar situation.  Our ceremony was at 2.  The reception was 4-9.  We had a full open bar and a DJ and people danced the whole time.  Ending early actually worked out well, because the older guests were able to stay for the whole thing.  Afterwards, everyone headed back to the hotel, and parents dropped their kids with grandparents and the afterparty stayed at the hotel bar for the rest of the night.  This would also work out for your time, but the evening timing requires a meal. 

flutgrl1

I would be shell-shocked if I went to an afternoon wedding and there wasn't a full meal, dancing, and bar. People like to eat and party IMO.

Lasairiona

The reception should not start any later than 1 hr after the end of the ceremony. People do get upset when they are left to fend for themselves longer than an hour. Contrary to popular belief, no one is going to go back to their hotel to nap or shower or go sightseeing in their dressy clothes, especially in a town they are not familiar with.

Some people have way too high of expectations when it comes to weddings. The only expectations that there should be are that the couple are gracious hosts within their means. It's rude to expect anything beyond that. So some people don't want to serve a full meal in the middle of the afternoon when they don't normally eat one any other day of their lives or alcohol. Big deal, as long as they're not being outright rude and inconveniencing their guests. No alcohol is not an inconvenience. Paying for alcohol as a guest is. There is no law saying they must provide those things but the wedding industry says they are doomed for divorce and their family and friends have every right and reason to disown them if they don't, which is crap.

Serve whatever you want that (A) you can afford and (B) that is appropriate for the time of day. If your reception falls during a meal time (5-7pm) then you need to serve the equivalent of a full meal. But if it lasts any other time (1-4pm or 8pm or later), a full meal is not expected by most people nor required. If cost is a concern, either move the reception to a non-meal time where people won't expect a full meal and then skip the alcohol (which makes the bill skyrocket) or else call up a favorite restaurant and have them cater which will cost a fraction of a regular wedding caterer.

Basically you need to sit down and work out what elements are important and figure out how to go from there.