Invitation wording for cake and punch reception?

zetamomof2

We are getting married in a park in the afternoon and will be serving cake and punch immediately afterward. My question is, on the invitation do I say "Reception to follow" or "Cake and punch reception to follow?" I just don't want people to expect a meal and be disappointed.

banana468

Ditto. 

If you have a reception at a meal time then a meal needs to be served.  However I would indicate "cake and punch to follow" on the reception cards to indicate to the guests that you're not hosting a meal.

aerinpegadrak

I think you should definitely indicate "cake and punch reception to follow".  In some circles, a meal is expected no matter what time of day, and hungry guests are grumpy guests.

Tisha.

We put "Dessert reception immediately following" on our invites.

tenofcups4me

I'd expect a meal at any time of day or night since I've never attended a wedding that didn't have a full meal (wait, I remember now that my best friend did not have a full meal after her City Hall wedding, but that's the only one I can think of). So yes, I would definitely need notice that this wasn't a fulll meal. Depending on your specifics, you could write something like:

Cake and punch to follow
OR
Light freshments to follow

I don't think you need the word "reception" in there; that's kind of a given.

DanaG01

I strongly agree with those who have said to put obvious wording on your invitation. I'm planning my second wedding now and will be doing so. My first wedding was at 7:30pm with the reception starting a little after 8. Almost everyone who came didn't eat before and all we served was cake and a few trays of fruit and cheese. I assumed they would eat and they assumed dinner at 8. There were a lot of people frantically searching for a late night restaurant at 10pm