Canapés

I say not needed. We scrapped them and I'd do the same again.

We're having them but we're having a 1:30pm wedding so more of a gap to meals, and we just want people to have some with champagne and so some mingling.
I don't think they're necessary though and no one will think anything of it not having them I don't think, and £250 is a lot for just some little nibbles really so i'd probably do without if I were you

Hey, we have very similar timings to you - 2pm ceremony and hoping to start wedding meal at 4.30. We had always thought we would have canapés beforehand but after reading a very similar thread on here recently, we realised that we probably wouldn't need the canapés. I think the general consensus was that the gap between guests arriving and starting the meal didn't really warrant canapés - guests would probably get full and wouldn't eat the meal.

We have since decided on having arrival drinks and "nibbles", so maybe nuts, crisps, etc, and are just going to start the meal at half 4. It's saved us a fortune and I'm glad I'm on here to find out these things!

We are currently having the same dilemma. Our service is at 2 and we hope to sit down at 4/4.30 depending on photos etc. Most of our guests will be arriving at 1.30ish, so am wondering if we need something. Am thinking more nibbles rather than posh canapes and then the wedding breakfast. We are having a BBQ in the evening and if we can save money on canapes etc, then we can have an ice-cream buffet in the evening aswell.

I love a good canapé. For me, they are less designed to feed people, more to offer them a few small morsels of deliciousness. Mmmmm.

But if they stretch your budget too much, drop them!

I also love canapés. I just decided I didn't love them enough to spend about £800 on them! ?

I agree - our venue does yummy canapés!

Hi,

I have the same timings as you and we had we had been quoted £280. I thought it would be nice for people to have something to munch on so we are doing mini boxes of popcorn (sweet and salty). We are getting cheap boxes from ebay and then cheap tubs of popcorn.

x

I'd say ditch them too (even though I'm a complete foodie).

I think it all depends on what is on offer for the rest of the day/night. If you are giving everyone a three course meal at four oclock and a buffet in the evening, i say ditch it. We have a 13:30 ceremony, with a bbq and paella being served at 4pm then dessert and a hog roast bap in the evening with cake so we decided to keep the canapes, so people wouldn't moan we hadnt fed them enough hahaha! x

This! On your timings I think your guest will be ok hunger-wise. We are having them but they're not costing much extra and our caterer does some awesome ones. I'm more excited about the canapés than the rest of the meal!

Ours were grim!

I say scrap them.

Thanks all!

The canapés on offer, do sound lovely, but maybe not lovely enough.

Our breakfast is a 3 course meal and we are doing butties in the evening. So hopefully people will feel full enough.

Not needed ?

Really glad you asked this question! Our timings are the same as yours and I have been dithering over canapés. I'd love to serve them but they are £5.50 per person minimum (and that is for 2 mini mince pies per person only) - for 90 guests that is around £500 which I think is extortionate! However I am woried guests will be peckish and expect something (and still be starving after 2 tiny mince pies ha!). We are providing 3 course meal, truffles with coffee, evening buffet, cake and a sweet table later in the day. Is that good enough? What we save on canapés goes on a bar tab!

I always think canapes are a nice extra if you can afford them. If you need to restrict the budget or have something better to spend the money on that i would definitely say do that!!

As a guest at a wedding I would never expect canapes. If you are really unsure can you talk it over with your caterer and let them know a bit closer to the date? My caterer was very flexible with us and told me I didn't need to let them know whether we were having canapes until 4 weeks before the wedding.

We are having canapés with our reception drinks

Ceremony is 5pm, wedding breakfast is 7pm, so not a huge gap between but I thought it was a nice little touch, we're only having 4 canapés per person, and I suppose if we were having a lot of guests it's something I would think twice about @ £10 a head!

I love canapés as a guest, but unfortunately for my guests, we're not doing them either! Our timings are similar to yours only earlier, with the ceremony at 1pm and wedding breakfast at 3pm I think. Like you it was extortionate for our 80 daytime guests, the evening buffet was expensive enough but there was no way we were going to miss that out. I agree that canapés don't really fill you, they're just a nice little wedding novelty.

Thanks all.

Think we will scrap it