How long is your caterer/bartender at your reception?

LBug24

Hi ladies!

I was looking over the initial contract with our caterer (also providing the bar service) and it says that they will be there 4:30-8:30.. Our ceremony is at 4, so I said that cocktail hour would probably begin at 4:30 with the actual "reception" (after our entrance) beginning at 530. That would only leave 3 hours for drinking, dancing, cake, and all of those other reception formalities? That seems short!!

Is this normal? I know receptions are typically 4 hours, but I always thought of it as 4 hours PLUS the cocktail hour?

Correct me if I'm wrong.. wanted to get an idea from the girls before bugging the caterer about it How long will your bar service be there?

amanda14lynne

We aren't having a bartender, so I'm not much help.  We are purchasing our own beer and wine for the reception.  We won't have liquor or a cocktail hour.  It does seem like a short time, but you don't have to stop dancing and celebrating when the bartender leaves.  By that time, everyone will have had several drinks... Our reception will last about 5 hours. 

bpphoto785

In my experience receptions are typically 5 hours including cocktail hour. But if you don't want to change your contract and feel like you can get all of the important stuff done in 3 hours without being rushed, I think that would be fine. Just see if they can leave out pitchers of water or something for people who will need a drink from dancing.

leopardgurl831

Our reception is 6 hours and we have our bartender the whole time.  I think they may cut off alcohol 30 mins before the end.  I think 3 hours sounds short, maybe even if you could add a half hour and then have 30 mins w/o a bar?

AurorasEnvy

Our cocktail hour (and a half...) starts at 5:00pm, dinner is served at 6:30pm.  Our reception ends at 12am.  There will be booze flowing for 7 hours =]  Normal where I am from (Wisconsin), but I realize this is probably not the case for most locations....

careydes

Our cocktail hour begins around 5, with the reception being 6-10.  It's all through the venue, and my package includes 5 hrs of premium open bar.. so I sure hope those bars are open for almost the entire time

classykat22

Our cocktail hour starts at 5:30, dinner around 6:45 with reception ending around 10:30.  The venue package came with 4 hours and we added another hour to cover the cocktail service.  It was only an additional $300.00 so we felt it was well worth the added cost to have service for the full 5 hours.  HTH

LBug24

Thanks girls, I'm going to see if we can add an extra hour to cover the cocktail hour for an additional fee. Thanks for the input!

scrufffmgruff

Hello,

I currently work with a beverage catering service n San Diego.  From what I've seen, typically the cocktail hour is thirty minutes after the ceremony and then the reception is 4 hours.  5 hours is our typical timeline to be at any wedding.  We are usually there 2 hours early to set up and are set up before the ceremony but don't serve drinks until the ceremony ends.  We do last call 30 minutes before the actual end time of the bar as well.

If need be, we always offer the client more time at the wedding (at additional cost) if they request so you might want to check with your company to see if they would do that.  Lots of wedding parties continue to go on even after we leave.

Let me know if you have any more questions, and good luck!

SunshineShades

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2012-weddings_long-catererbartender-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:f0ca0bc1-9255-4120-8042-b40e7f3e99c5Discussion:9f5b3ddb-aae1-424e-8277-60e839eb0e6aPost:9a3f5160-40b1-431f-8b9c-e2036290880a">Re: How long is your caterer/bartender at your reception?</a>:
[QUOTE]Our cocktail hour (and a half...) starts at 5:00pm, dinner is served at 6:30pm.  Our reception ends at 12am.  There will be booze flowing for 7 hours =]  Normal where I am from (Wisconsin), but I realize this is probably not the case for most locations....
Posted by AurorasEnvy[/QUOTE]

Something Similar. Bar opening at 5:00. Dinner hopefully 5:30 or 6:00. And the bartenders stay til we shut it down... so probably at least 12 am. I think last call is like 1 am around here now. I dont plan to kick people out, and the venue lets us stay as late as we want (well to a point). They put down 1 am as the time I have the venue for. But we can stay later if we wanted to.

It must be different around here (Southern Ontario Canada). The only weddings I have been too that ended around 10 or earlier were dry weddings. Every other one we stay until about 12 am, and the bride and groom are still there.