My fiance and I ended up picking a venue that does not allow any outside food (we must order all food from them, except the cake). The dinners are pretty expensive, so we thought instead of providing full dinners to our guests, we would change the time of our ceremony to an hour later (changed from 6pm to 7pm), and instead have an "appetizer only reception". We would have a full bar with cap, a couple different butler passed hors d' ouevres, and have appetizer bars provided by the venue. The bars we picked are a mashed potato martini bar, which includes fixings, "comfort food" bar, which includes mac n' cheese, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes, and a cheese tray and fruit display, which includes seasonal fruit, 6 different cheeses, and crackers. We are ordering enough for each guest to have 2 servings of the mashed potato martinis, and 1.5 servings of the other stations. As well, we instead opted to have a small 2-tier wedding cake (just for cutting purposes, and to save the top for 1st anniversary) and we are ordering large cupcakes from a local bakery. We will be ordering 8 different flavors of cupcakes, to make sure everyone has a flavor they like and to accommodate some family members with diabetes and sensitivity to sugar. This is saving us $1500+. I feel like what we are providing is plenty for our guests, being that the wedding is later in the evening, and the invitation would state "appetizer only reception". What i'm wondering is does this seem rude? Has anyone been to an appetizer only reception? Were there any issues? Did you like it better than a pre-selected meal? Opinions?