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Reception time

alexandbritain22alexandbritain22 member
in Wedding Reception Forum
So my fiancé and I are considering just having a dessert bar/charcuterie board reception. We are getting married in the summer and want to catch sunset for pictures as well as have our reception when the sun goes down so its not as hot if guest want to go outside. Also it won't be as hot for pictures then. I was thinking of having the ceremony start at 6:30 with the reception to follow. I have played every scenario in my head with different start times but 6:30 seems to be the best in regards to pictures after. Is that too early to ask guest to eat before? 
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Re: Reception time

  • banana468banana468 member
    First Answer First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    alexandbritain22 said:
    So my fiancé and I are considering just having a dessert bar/charcuterie board reception. We are getting married in the summer and want to catch sunset for pictures as well as have our reception when the sun goes down so its not as hot if guest want to go outside. Also it won't be as hot for pictures then. I was thinking of having the ceremony start at 6:30 with the reception to follow. I have played every scenario in my head with different start times but 6:30 seems to be the best in regards to pictures after. Is that too early to ask guest to eat before? 
    That is way too early to have a dessert/appetizer only reception.  Your options are to have all the pictures done at sunset and have a way later ceremony/reception or you are going to need to add a lot more food.

    Remember, your guests are going to be driving to get to your place so they'll be eating likely at least, if not more than an hour before.   That's not going to work if you have a 6:30 reception and they're going to be eating no later than 5:30.  

    I eat at 7.  If I was going to your event I'd be eating a snack at 4 and would expect a meal.  If not, I'd either be at your reception for a SUPER short time or I'd be eating my weight in cheese and cured meats. 

    A reception at a meal time needs to have enough food to equal a meal.  You don't need to have an actual sit down multi course dinner but it needs to be enough food that feeds people for the mealtime. 
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  • MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    6:30 is meal time. If you want to do dessert only/no meal, your start time should be 8-8:30. 

    Just do photos before your ceremony to catch the light you want. 
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  • climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    6:30pm is way too early to have an event where you're not serving a full meal. 

    Also suggest doing your pictures before hand, and starting your event at 7:30/8pm. 
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  • downtondivadowntondiva member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    I agree that if you're starting at 6:30 you need to serve a full meal after the ceremony.

    If the sunset pictures and doing the type of reception you're thinking of are both important to you, do your pictures beforehand and start your event around 8pm. I've never been to a wedding where a full meal wasn't served, so I don't know whether even with the late start if it would be necessary to give people a heads up about the type of reception you're having.
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  • MesmrEweMesmrEwe member
    First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Change the time of year you're getting married so sunset is at 5:00 so you can ceremony at 2 with appetizer/dessert reception and be wrapped up by 4:00/4:30 and outside for pictures in time for sunset at 5... 

    Otherwise, serve the meal since that's mealtime! (anytime 4:00-8:00 is considered meal time...)..  

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