hors d'oeuvres and welcome drinks in separate locations?

Re: hors d'oeuvres and welcome drinks in separate locations?

• jessicabessica member

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  I think it would be weird to have food at the church and then drinks only at the reception place (is that what you're suggesting?).  If you're going to feed guests at the church, and then have everyone wait while you take pictures at the reception place without anything to eat or drink, guests will be bored and annoyed.  Can you have a slightly longer hors d'oeuvres reception in the church hall while you take pictures, and then by the time the guests leave the church hall and get to the reception venue, you will be done with pictures and ready to start the reception?  Sorry if this isn't helpful, I'm just having trouble understanding exactly what you're saying, so maybe you can clarify a bit. 

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• cac7777

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  Yeah, sorry--we'd have welcome cocktails at the reception venue to greet guests while they're filtering in after the hors d'oeuvres at the church. We're working around some non-American traditions here... my FI is British, and over there, it is pretty common practice for only the close family and friends (and any out-of-town guests) to be invited to the dinner reception, and then all the wedding guests come for the evening dance and a late-night buffet. Weird, I know... but FI keeps assuring me it's what they do... We wanted to serve something nice to all the guests (esp. the ones who aren't coming to the dinner), but also wanted to have something small to greet our dinner guests as they're filtering into the reception venue before dinner. We're hoping people will feel comfortable to stick around at the hors d'oeuvres reception while we're taking photos (you're on the right track there). Blending 3 families and lots of international travelers... yikes!

  
  

  
  

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• MilitaryBride2Be

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_hors-doeuvres-welcome-drinks-separate-locations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:23Discussion:2dd9a062-28bc-40d0-8221-a20f28388f48Post:0cc67d5f-5a43-45ac-9ff1-0f32980ccaff">Re: hors d'oeuvres and welcome drinks in separate locations?</a>:
  [QUOTE]Yeah, sorry--we'd have welcome cocktails at the reception venue to greet guests while they're filtering in after the hors d'oeuvres at the church. We're working around some non-American traditions here... my FI is British, and over there, it is pretty common practice for only the close family and friends (and any out-of-town guests) to be invited to the dinner reception, and then all the wedding guests come for the evening dance and a late-night buffet. Weird, I know... but FI keeps assuring me it's what they do... We wanted to serve something nice to all the guests (esp. the ones who aren't coming to the dinner), but also wanted to have something small to greet our dinner guests as they're filtering into the reception venue before dinner. We're hoping people will feel comfortable to stick around at the hors d'oeuvres reception while we're taking photos (you're on the right track there). Blending 3 families and lots of international travelers... yikes!
  Posted by cac7777[/QUOTE]
  
  If you have guests that will be filtering in that weren't there previously then it might be ok. How long would you be serving drinks. If people were arriving and then going right to their table that could work

  
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• jessicabessica member

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  I am not familiar with the traditions you're working with, but I think that people will stay at the church reception a while.  Especially if you make it clear that the dinner guests should not go right away to the dinner location.  You will need to have separate invites, right--the ceremony, the dinner, and the evening reception?  It seems like if you made it clear what time each event began, people would not rush out of the church reception and onto dinner.  I still think that it'd be weird to have a longish period of time where people are drinking without eating (at the same time, I get that they will just have been offered food at the church) before dinner.  I think the scenarios posed by MilitaryBride could work, though. 

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• cac7777

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  I like your suggestions. I had thought about doing two invitations, but then thought that I could always use one general invitation and then just insert a separate little dinner invite card into the invitations for the dinner guests. I'm thinking of maybe wording the invitation with something like, "Hors d'oeuvres reception immediately following", and then on another line have something like "Please join us for cake and dancing at seven o'clock in the evening..." (not exact, but you get the idea). This will let the dinner guests know that the main events are the hors d'oeuvres reception, the dinner, and the evening dance--that way, as they're filtering into the dinner reception, the welcome drink will just be a pleasant surprise to sip on as they're waiting to be seated. Again, I still feel it's a bit weird to not invite everyone to everything, but all the reception venues have packages for that kind of set-up, so I guess it's okay... and honestly, I'm glad I don't have to feed a $92/head meal to 200 people! 

  
  

  
  

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• TurtlesAllTheWayDown member

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  Wait, you have people not coming to the dinner? Why? That's not acceptible in the US, if that's where your wedding is.

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• cac7777

  

  March 2011 edited December 2011

  Yeah, I know it's totally unacceptable here. The wedding is in the UK. I thought the whole thing was weird too but the wedding coordinator and FI and his family and our friends there just assumed that's what we would be doing. I'm still getting used to the idea!

  "He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at."

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