Pre-ceremony cocktail hour

I actually just posted about this LOL I attended a wedding that had a pre-ceremony cocktail hour for guests, but the bride and groom did not partake. It was just a chance for guests to have some cocktails and mingle and get to know one another prior to the ceremony and reception. The cocktail hour and ceremony both took place outdoors, and the bride and groom remained indoors until the ceremony began, and did not see each other until she was walking down the aisle. Everything worked out great! Us guests had a great time during cocktail hour, and no one drank excessively. It was also a very upscale event at a mansion, and everyone followed proper etiquette. This may not work well for a casual barn wedding or a very young or rowdy “party” crowd

I actually think this is a pretty good idea. This gives people time to relax and adjust a bit. It also will help from people arriving late to the ceremony if they get stuck in traffic or some thing.

We’re having a champagne tower with mini pastries upon arrival followed by the ceremony and traditional cocktail hour.

I've been to a few pre-ceremony cocktail hours at black tie weddings, although I wouldn't really call them full on cocktail hours. They were mostly champagne and light bites lasting for 20-30 minutes, and the bride, groom, and wedding party did not partake.

Since we had only one venue, our bar was apparently open before the ceremony?

There are pictures of our guests with drinks during the ceremony. They did get to mingle before we started.

I have been to several that have been great. and several, awful. The difference seemed to be age/ maturity of the couple and their friends, and the size of the wedding. Younger B and G with too many who think they are macho power drinkers, in a gather of a hundred or more, always seems to produce some drunken loudmouths before the ceremony, often groomsmen. Which led to issues quietly taking a seat and staying quiet. These are the folks who often have a few belts before leaving the parking lot, and come in to more drinks. But raise the age of the couple to 30-35 and up, and people enjoy one max 2 cocktails, often will have a liqueur in coffee as a choice, and stick to that one thing. And people are sociable, like having the wedding party including the couple there, and have no problems seating or staying quiet. Heavy drinkers in the older group tend to be functioning alcoholics, not a problem til later.🙂 Though I have never been to one with pre-ceremony cocktails where the MOG or MOB was a drinker.

I attended a wedding that did this. The guests participated in the cocktail hour before the ceremony, but the couple did not. Honestly, I found it weird. Their DOC was running around like crazy trying to stop people from going inside the building (only bathrooms) or from sitting in the ceremony chairs. Then, after the ceremony, guests went to the reception area while the couple took pictures. We had nothing to do as guests because the cocktail hour had already happened.

I've been to a couple of weddings with pre-ceremony open bar (I don't want to call it a cocktail hour because I don't think that it was an hour nor were they substitutes for the post-ceremony cocktail hours), which was phrased as "welcome drinks." The brides and grooms participated in both cases and it was all very nice and relaxed. It set a lovely tone for the celebration to come.