food for 9pm reception?

Yes, the why DOES matter. People will be traveling at a meal time to be at your wedding, which is a long one. They may grab something first, but to be at a 7:30 wedding, I doubt they'd actually sit down to a full meal first.

You could choose to treat your food as a big fat 'after party' with stations and passed hors d'oeuvres, but in the space between 7:30-12:30 people are going to be starving.

I have a 7:30 wedding in a few weeks; they are doing a shortened cocktail hour and they will be eating dinner by 8:45, which isn't out of the question here, but I think anyone invited at that time of day expects that there will be actual food, not just some hors, cold food and desserts.

What people tend to forget when they look at time lines is that you need to build in getting ready/travel time before hand; that can be 1.5 hours-3 hours depending on your guests and their locations.

A vast majority of our evening ceremonies start at 6:30, end at 7:00 and are followed by very heavy cocktail hours leading into dinners or more stations and more hors.

My personal feeling, not that you asked, is that 7:30 is too late to start a ceremony that will be an hour or more. And I do think that most people coming to a wedding expect an actual meal,in some format, no matter what time of the day it is.

Op your expecting your guests to attend for what 5/6 hours? You got to feed them more than apps and dessert. People are going to be hungry. They will be traveling to your wedding at dinner time. Even if they eat their dinner before like 5 or 6 im sure they will be hungry by 9 or 10.

I would highly encourage feeding them actual food and not just apps.

You could have dinner at like 9 or so.

This is so much based on your family and crowd, it seems late to some, but to others, that might be normal. My FH and I work 3-12am, so we're night owls. Going to something that late wouldn't even phase us. She may have people leave early, but she may not.

You still need to serve dinner or at the very least, heavy apps.

A 7:30pm ceremony would be a giant pain for me, since that's when we normally have dinner. I'd serve a full meal.

Hi OP. i would still do a regular dinner.

i'm catholic and i have been to late weddings like this. they typically still do a full dinner i believe.

Why is your ceremony so late? I'd rethink that. Seriously. I agree with Celia.

You said that the time is normal for your family/culture. What have people done at other weddings then?

I will tell you my timeline and some of the food served at my wedding that took place on Thursday 5/25 of this year.

7-7:30pm ceremony

7:30-8:30pm cocktail hour

8:30pm-12:30am reception

Cocktail hour: consisted of 10 passed apps, 3 chef stations with 8 different types of food, 6 gourmet chafing dishes.

Dinner was a 4 course meal:

Appetizer: fresh mozzarella

Intermezzo: lemon sorbet

Entrees (10): chateau briand & shrimp oreganata duo, chateau briand, shrimp oreganata, norwegian salmon, eggplant terrine, chicken piccata & shrimp oreganata duo, chicken piccata, duck a l'orange, branzino, homemade manicotti

Dessert: 2 different types of dessert, as well as the wedding cake (two different flavors)

Towards the end of the night, the venue brought out a chocolate shot bar.

I believe my guests started eating around 9/9:30pm.

If you'd like I could list the food served at my cocktail hour. But I think you'll need to serve more than a few pieces of food. Making guests sit through an hour ceremony (no matter what time of day), then only feeding them the bare minimum is not good hosting, IMO.

My ceremony is 7pm

Cocktail hour 7:30

Reception 8:30-12:30

That is pretty much the standard timeline for Saturday evening weddings around here. I am serving a full 3 course sit down dinner plus an after party with more food and desserts. I would suggest you still feed your guests. While it is later in the day it is still considered meal time for some people. Are you getting married in a church or on site? Where are you located? Usually on site it shouldn't be an hour long. Catholic ceremonies in a church usually are about that but do not take place so late in the day like yours.

I just went to a wedding this weekend whose timeline was pretty much identical to yours but i will tell you no one around me complain about dinner being late because cocktail hour had sooooo much food it was a meal within itself.

Full meal! People won't have time to eat prior as they'll be traveling or getting ready. I would still expect a meal.

My wedding reception will be staring at 8pm. They will be served a full meal.

Fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, potato wedges and dinner rolls.

I'm on team "wedding = food" no matter what time of day it is. I would never think to eat a meal before a wedding, because I'd assume I'd be provided a meal and wouldn't want to not be hungry, if that makes sense.

I still consider that around dinner time. Because if I were getting ready for an 8:45pm wedding I wouldn't have time to cook dinner or grab anything other than snacks before that. I'd be looking forward to eating dinner at the wedding. I think the only time it's ok not to serve a full meal is if you're wedding is in the middle of the afternoon and won't last but a couple of hours.

@Gymrat

I wish I could have eaten at your wedding!

I have no advice on time frame or food. My wedding is at 1800 hours and I'm serving a full meal.

Full meal, without a doubt.

The only time it's acceptable to not serve a full meal is if you're hosting a maximum of 2 hours from the start of the ceremony until the end of the reception AND it's in the middle of the day or late at night (non-meal times).

You're going to be hosting your guests for 5 hours. You have to feed them.

My dinner starts at 8pm because my ceremony starts at 6:30 and Cocktail hour (they will get lots of food) is an hour

I think heavy appetizers are fine. Maybe do a mashed potato bar and some heavier apps. for the people who didn't eat before the ceremony. I prefer apps to a regular meal anyways. Happy planning!

My reception is also not until 9pm. The ceremony is at 7pm (Jewish wedding on a Sat after sunset). I had to the same worry that guests will be hungry so I'm having heavy appetizers during Cocktail Hour as well has a seated dinner directly at 9pm (before speeches and first dance).