Cocktail Hour Question

anwilcox · February 2011

Our ceremony starts at 4pm and is quite short so our cocktail hour will be roughly from 5-6pm. His family is used to 2hr+ ceremonies and traditionally a long break before the reception starts, mine never has cocktail hours but a general unattended break while waiting for the brdal party to arrive (no drinks or food provided during this break on either side). We are having a cocktail hour becaue our ceremony and reception are at the same venue. We are providing drinks and I planned on a candy buffet. However, I know that ettiquette states I must provide hors' during the cocktail hour. It isn't common where we are from to the point that our venue doesn't even normally do this. Should I do it? We are having a heavy dinner starting at 6:15pm.

LauraT25 · February 2011

If you're serving alcohol, you should also have food available. I understand that your guests aren't used to having a cocktail hour and therefore presumably won't be expecting anything fancy, but alcohol without food is a recipe for disaster.

Miracle520 · February 2011

I personally wouldn't want to mix alcohol and candy ever, especially before dinner. I'd save the candy buffet for after dinner.

HoneyBee+26 · February 2011

I agree with the PPs. If there will be alcohol served at your cocktail hour, there should also be "real" food served (not just candy). I think the candy buffet would be better suited for after the dinner.

anwilcox · February 2011

I guess my gut reaction if I was going to move the candy buffet to an after dinner event would be no food during the cocktail hour. I talked to my fiance' tonight and he said his cousin had a cheese display at her wedding and out of 150 guests he thought maybe 10 people touched it. They were all afraid to "fill up" before dinner. I think maybe I'm answering my own question, thank you for all your responses though it helped me come to my own conclusion!

SD3194 · February 2011

I've been to plenty of weddings where there was no food served during cocktail hour, it was fine. Don't get me wrong...I think it's best to have hors d'oeuvres but not mandatory. You could always have a simple antipasto or cheese platter. I would not have the candy bar though.

TEA&Co · February 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_cocktail-hour-question-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:23Discussion:2294b400-3027-4207-8f00-4cda95e14657Post:f0a5c1ae-7165-4788-8a2d-3040bfc32770">Re: Cocktail Hour Question</a>:
[QUOTE]I personally wouldn't want to mix alcohol and candy ever, especially before dinner. I'd save the candy buffet for after dinner.
Posted by Miracle520[/QUOTE]

This!

frogurt814 · February 2011

Cheese/fruit/veggie trays seem to go over well at weddings that I have attended.

SuMmErKuTiE · February 2011

I would definitely wait to serve the candy buffet until after the guests have had dinner. Like pp mentioned, alcohol on empty stomachs plus candy doesn't sound good for business.

Every wedding I've ever attended has had a cocktail hour regardless of whether or not the ceremony and reception were held at the same location. They always serve light apps or hors d'ouevres and provide some kind of an open bar. You really shouldn't serve alcohol without some kind of food. Even if it's just a cheese and fruit display, just make sure you have something to hold the guests over until dinner is served. I know DH and I and our friends are always so excited for cocktail hour because we're usually really hungry and can't wait to eat and get a drink.

I Want Cake · February 2011

I don't think you need to offer anything at all. Your cocktail hour isn't going to be abnormally long, and you are providing a meal. Adults should be able to handle themselves for an hour without getting completely drunk. If they're tacky enough to get drunk over the course of one hour at a reception before it even starts, that's on them. If it's normal to not have anything during the cocktail hour in your area, then go with that. At least at our venue, it would've cost us nearly $1,000 just to have veggies/dip and spinach dip with bread for 130 people (a cheese spread would have been waaaay more), which is fucking ridiculous, so we're serving the salad before the dinner to sub in for the appetizers, which is saving us a lot of money.

LauraT25 · February 2011

I think if you're not going to offer food (which doesn't have to be much), you should just do non-alcholic beverages during cocktail hour or just skip the cocktail hour and transition into the reception right away. Either would be perfectly fine IMO. It doesn't take a lot to get tipsy or even ill when you're drinking on an empty stomach - a lot of guests won't have eaten anything for a while between getting ready, traveling, and the ceremony. I wasn't implying that people are going to purposely get wasted, but I know that if my friends and I go to happy hour after work and don't order some food with our drinks, we wind up regretting it because we feel like crap.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · February 2011

Maybe it's just me, but 1-2 cocktails on an empty stomach vs. 1-2 cocktails with an empanada and a few cubes of cheese doesn't really make a difference to me. I'd PREFER real food during the cocktail hour, but I really don't see it as a life or death situation. I just like food.

LowerEastSiiide · February 2011

I think it's weird to serve candy before dinner- sorry

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