So my fiance and I are planning the wedding, but staying with our unsaid budget is hard. My MOH and I are trying to do as many DIY projects as we can and with the early head start in planning we've found a lot of great deals. Currently, my future mother in law wants to invite A LOT(!) of people to the wedding. We've established that feeding the previous head count of 200 is crazy expensive for catering and rentals, so we cut it down to 140-160 guests, which is still pretty expensive. Also, the arrangement of my venue is that it fits about 120 people tightly per side and the other side of the room is not visible.
He came home from work with an idea from a co-worker about doing a private dinner with the bridal party and immediate family before the reception to cut costs down. I figured that was rude and we compromised on the private dinner and hors d'oeuvres at the reception. I searched similar ideas and I can't figure out if that would be rude too? Everyone still gets to participate in festivities.
Also, how could I fit this into my timeline?
Original timeline was
- Ceremony at 4:30
- Cocktail hour and photos at 5
- Dinner at 6:30
- Champagne toast at 7
- First dance at 7:30
- Cake cutting at 8:30
- Event end at 10
we could just do pictures and dinner during the cocktail hour. Add in some games for guests to do and more photo booth time to kill time.
What are your thoughts?