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Night Weddings?

SuzieBlevsSuzieBlevs member
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in Iowa-Des Moines
What do you all think about doing a night wedding?One of the reason why we want to do this is because food cost sooo much $ and me and my fiance are footing most of the bill. I just don't see why I need to pay $18+ dollars for semi crappy food! So what I'm thinking about doing is having the wedding at 6pm, then doing Cake & Desserts at our reception that is right after the wedding. Then like at 8 having fruit/cheese/meat trays and maybe some apps that the Country Club has for people that have the munchies. We already figured we'd do pictures before the wedding and we'll be able to have some nice fall picture's taken at dusk. Or do you all think that people will know I'm being cheap?
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Re: Night Weddings?

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    nataloo314nataloo314
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    i don't think people would know/think you are being cheap. i do think that you would want to make sure to call out that you are not serving dinner. a lot of catholic and orthodox jewish weddings i have been to have started at 6 with a full dinner afterwards. if i received an invite to a 6 PM wedding i would assume that i was getting dinner. i don't know the proper etiquette, but i would somehow say "cocktail and appetizer reception to follow" or something like that. otherwise your dance floor might be empty bc peeps left for some food. JMO
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    MrsEmJayMrsEmJay member
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    edited December 2011
    I agree with Nataloo that its fine as long as you're clear ahead of time that you will only be serving light appetizers. :)
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    estrella27estrella27 member
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    edited December 2011
    Yea, if you don't serve dinner you should at least serve appetizers.  Just serving cake probably won't be enough.  That is if you want people to stay for a reception.  If you're not planning on having a reception, then just doing cake might be ok but you might plan on people staying only an hour or two (IMO).
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    kellidanaekellidanae
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We are having a 6 p.m. wedding. I think it is fine. Does your venue offer a buffet you could choose from taht offers say salad and sandwich trays, etc? Not so much formal, but should be cheap. I know that pasta buffets are sometimes cheaper also. Again they will be in the $18 range I am sure. Though with ours, we talkeda bout heavy appetizer stations throughout the night so guests could simply mingle, and it was going to cost as much as a nice buffet with two entree choices. Just some other ideas, though the ones you have also seem fine to me. GL.
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    ScarletGemScarletGem
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    edited December 2011
    We're having a 6pm wedding with a full cocktail hour an dinner after that.  I'd think that if you're having the wedding at that time, you should at least serve heavy apps.  I mean, guests have dinner at 4:30 or 5, then get ready and went to your 6:00 wedding, then have some drinks and do some dancing, they'll be fairly hungry by 10 if there isn't something real substantial to eat.  Just watch the price with the apps - we wanted to do a reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres, and it turned out that it would be more expensive to feed everyone that way than doing a regular meal.  If you want to save on food, you might consider doing an early afternoon wedding (1pm or so?) and then have the cake/dessert reception after that.  Then once your reception is over, people can go and get dinner. 
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    SuzieBlevsSuzieBlevs member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks for all the advice. As of now we are planning on having some trays of Cheese/Crackers/Meat/Fruit. Plus we are going to have a dessert table- cake/mints/cookies. The trays of apps are going to cost about $75. I'm thinking that not too many people will stay after the cake cutting. But that is ok with me. I would rather it be the people I'm closest too. Opps... did I just sound mean!?I'm going to figure out a way of putting it on the RSVP card or something that it'll be cake and lite appitizers!
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    Molly JeanMolly Jean
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    edited December 2011
    I had a 6pm ceremony too (good call Nataloo on the Catholic wedding thing).  I also had a cocktail hour and a full dinner.  If I saw a 6 pm wedding on an invite I would assume I was getting fed a full meal. I agree with the previous poster who said apps can be more expensive than a meal.  This is absolutely true.  Especially at dinner time.  Keep in mind that if you're serving 'light apps' and booze people will likely be drunk sooner also.  So it might be worth your buck to spend some cash on their belly.Just figure out what type of reception you want first.  If it's a minimal family group, great.  If it's a big party group, great.  Know your crowd and you'll be fine :)  
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