Hello all!
I’m pretty early in the wedding planning, but I haven’t been able to find great answers to my question about having an extended cocktail hour and reception. Thanks for your help!
We are having a Catholic ceremony at 1 pm (nothing later is offered in the area) which makes the rest of the reception planning difficult. We’ve been dating for 9 1/2 years and have a large guest list (280 plus) and most people that we’re inviting are big partiers.
Here is our proposed timeline:
Ceremony: 1:00-2:00 pm (10 minute walk to the reception)
Cocktail Hour: 2:30-4:30
Dinner: 4:30 (Plated)
Late Night Snacks: 9:30 pm
Reception End: 10:30 pm
I’m concerned that the cocktail hour is going to be too long, but we don’t want a gap in between the ceremony and the reception/cocktail hour. Also, I don’t want all of our guests to be completely trashed by dinner time. We do plan to have hors d’oeuvres during the cocktail hour.
Our cocktail hour space is a billiards room, with 7 different pool tables, 5 dart boards and tvs, which should give guests plenty to do during the cocktail hour. It could also give guests a chance to explore the area a bit (we will have about 130 guests be out of town) if they don’t want to head to the cocktail hour until a little bit later.
Let me know your thoughts!