Reception Questions

lil_miss_latinist

For various reasons, my FI and I are needing to go ahead and book our reception location, along with decide on a basic menu. I won't bore you with the details, and I'll keep the questions as short as possible.

1. If you received an invitation for a dessert and dancing reception, beginning at 8:00, how long would you expect it to last?

2. What types of food, and how much, would you expect to be on the dessert buffet?

3. One of our venues does not allow alcohol, and we do not drink (I have a medical condition that does not let me drink, and my mother's family is Southern Baptist) and cannot afford it anyway. My fiance's family is very upset that we will not be serving alcohol, since they are heavy drinkers. How would you feel about this?

4. Finally, how formal would you expect the event to be?

We're trying to decide between an evening ceremony followed by this and a very basic cake and punch reception in mid-afternoon. We're on a tight budget, but I don't feel it is very hospitable to ask a guest list of mostly OOTers to travel for a 1.5 hour cake and punch reception.

Thanks in advance! Feel free to flame me for the alcohol thing-- I know it's unpopular, and in many ways not very hospitable-- but we just can't afford it.

EDITED for spelling.

danieliza1127

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_reception-questions-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a8510005-ee6b-4a63-858a-c71943cb62cePost:846fe7fc-ec9f-4b65-b661-f06210a9b4d6">Reception Questions</a>:
[QUOTE] 1. If you received an invitation for a dessert and dancing reception, beginning at 8:00, how long would you expect it to last? 2. What types of food, and how much, would you expect to be on the dessert buffet? 3. One of our venues does not allow alcohol, and we do not drink (I have a medical condition that does not let me drink, and my mother's family is Southern Baptist) and cannot afford it anyway. My fiance's family is very upset that we will not be serving alcohol, since they are heavy drinkers. How would you feel about this? 4. Finally, how formal would you expect the event to be? We're trying to decide between an evening ceremony followed by this and a very basic cake and punch reception in mid-afternoon. We're on a tight budget, but I don't feel it is very hospitable to ask a guest list of mostly OOTers to travel for a 1.5 hour cake and punch reception.
Posted by lil_miss_latinist[/QUOTE]

For an 8pm dessert reception, I would expect to have lots of dessert selections and alcohol and a DJ and dancing.  I would expect it to be semi-formal/cocktail attire.  If there was just dessert and no alcohol, at 8pm on a Friday or Saturday night, truthfully I'd be disappointed.  We probably would leave around 10 or whenever it started to get boring.

If you only want to do cake and no alcohol, I would have an afternoon reception and be done with it.  If you start the reception around 2pm, it will be over by 4:30 or 5 and people can eat lunch before or go out to dinner afterward, or both.    Even though you have oot guests, this is still a valid option.  They can all go out to dinner afterward if they want to keep socializing, or they can head home and save themselves needing a hotel room.

danieliza1127

Also, I think it's okay to let your FI's parents know that your parents are against alcohol and won't pay for it, so if FI's parents want to have it, they are more than welcome to provide it.