Evening Reception Munchies?

My only issue with that would be, for those who are coming just to the reception, is a slice of cake and ice cream going to be enough to sustain them for the evening? Some people might prefer a buffet, especially if they've missed dinner.

Guests who've been to the ceremony won't need as much, as they'll have already eaten a substantial main meal already, but I think if you want to go down the cake route, you might need to let people know so they can eat before they arrive, but it defeats the object of inviting them to your reception if that's the case. You also need to think of diabetics and the like too. They may not be able to eat cake!

We're thinking of maybe having the cake as dessert but haven't made up our minds yet....

Hi, would you consider a sweetie cart for night??? You can pick sweets up cheap and place them in a nice dish for people to enjoy xx

You'd be surprised! The food at our wedding was demolished in the evening! People who were there all day still ate, and as a guest at weddings I've been surprised at how hungry I've been in the evenings too.

also, for those guests who are just evening guests, cake and ice cream may not suffice. I know if I was a guest I'd be starving if all that was offer was cake.

Plus, that's sweet overload. Personally I'd need something savoury....especially if I was drinking, something to soak up the alcohol

you don't have to go all out with a buffet, we did hot pork rolls with salads (and Brie and cranberry baguettes for veggies). Went down a storm. A wedding I went to last year did bacon rolls, sausage baps and chips in e evening. It was great....not too much, but enough to keep people going, and not much was wasted

Personally i'd ditch the ice cream idea and have some food instead. Even pizzas / rolls / cold buffet whatever.

Evening guests will always expect food on the go unless being told otherwise and could skip dinner so you'd have to make it clear to everyone there's no food.

We're having rolls on potato scones / bacon / eggs for evening and then cake will be served with teas and coffee.

If I was drinking I like some food to soak up the alcohol and fill me up a bit and ice cream and some cake probably wouldn't do that...maybe i'm just greedy tho haha.

I think it depends on what time you are having your main meal and whether you are having evening only guests. We aren't going to sit down for the main meal until 5.30pm and have no extra evening guests so I am erring towards cake rather than evening food - particularly as the caterer seems renowned for good sized portions.

We're not sure whether to have separate evening guests, as there would only be approx. 20 or so of them, we are contemplating just having everyone to the whole day, I think then that would make it easier too with having just the cake in the evening. We're getting married at 1.30pm, married by 2-2.15.. outside (weather permitting) for drinks and canapés so I would think we would be sitting down to eat around 4pm ish?

We have for the cheaper evening buffet option of bacon butties and chips. We really wanted cheese boards but our venue want to charge a lot for these so instead we are having a 'cheese' cake and a wedding cake. If you wanted to lose the buffet you could go with the 2 cake ideas?

We did consider the option of having a cheese board and there is an amazing specialist cheese shop in Stamford which we go to quite often and they can do us something for around £100 which is super value, the venue are happy for me to supply the cheese but they want to supply the crackers/fruit/chutneys etc which, I'm sure will be a price per head, I am however assuming this.

If this is the case though, we're just not going to be able to afford that unfortunately but can appreciate that the guests may want something more to eat later on in the evening..

I've been to a wedding where they only served cake in the evening and as a day guest it was fine, I didn't miss the fact there was no food. But if I was only invited to the evening I would expect some food, more than cake. If you tell people there is only cake they can eat before they come but I think you would need to tell them before hand.

Hmmm...if the wedding is at 1.30 your guests are unlikely to have had much lunch before they come. Which means they will be ravenous by mid afternoon and possibly peckish by mid evening. Must admit I am wondering whether a small amount of evening food would be wise.

When I went to a wedding a couple of months ago the 3 course wedding breakfast was at 4.30pm (there were some canapes at about 2.30pm too) and then there was an evening buffet (with wedding cake) about 8/8.30ish. The majority of people who went to get the food first were those who were 'day' guests rather than 'evening' guests, so as others have said its good to provide something for people to eat/snack on whilst drinking/dancing.

Personally I would be absolutely ravenous. It's a long day and you need sustenance, especially for those drinking. I can't think of a wedding I've been to where the savoury buffet hasn't been demolished. And I can't recall ever having a piece of wedding cake. To me the cake is more decorative rather than being a meal substitute.

Like most others have said, if I was going along as an evening guest I'd expect there to be food (other than cake) if I hadn't been told otherwise. I wouldn't be likely to eat before hand so if there was none then I'd be starving and the alcohol would probably hit me a bit quicker. We're having bacon butties and chips, a cheese tower with crackers, chutney's etc and the wedding cake.

We are having a BBQ with burgers and hot dogs and also serving one tier of our wedding cake. We also have a candy cart so I can't see people going hungry in the evening!

We are having our meal at 5.30pm and no extra evening guests, but will be serving cheese, charcuterie and the cake at about 9pm. I think serving the cake is a good idea but you probably do need to provide something savoury too.

DO THE CAKE!

We are, ours will be for the late night munchies. The cake is HEAVENLY amazing (my auntie is making it). Your day guests will have a had a big meal, and your evening guests should eat dinner before they come out.

Simple :p

That's a bit of a massive assumption though! I don't know of any reception I've been to where they haven't served something savoury (buffet, hog roast, bbq, baps etc). I think if the OP is going to serve just cake, she should inform her guests to eat beforehand. I don't think it's fair to your evening guests (especially the young & elderly) to not cater for them accordingly and just say "well you should have eaten before you arrived"!

If you're not going to follow the norm with regards to food, you should at least have the courtesy to inform guests beforehand.

Oh yeah I agree let them know that there is no buffet, but if the party isnt until 7 or 8, then usually people would have had dinner by then...

Ditto - matches mine pretty much. Small number of evening guests, and same timings.

Better to over feed than under.

A lot of our guests tucked into our evening food - served at 9.15pm. Certainly there wasn't tonnes left over. We also cut the cake at the same time. We told the evening guests to ensure they had dinner beforehand, and they were still the first to hit the food when it was brought out, LOL.

Based on all this, I say that you should provide some savoury evening food if you can. A simple bacon or cheese bap is fine, or the cheese board mentioned. It doesn't have to be a full buffet or anything too pricey. Although it is totally understandable if it's just not feasible in the budget - in which case I think I would temper expectations by spreading the word in advance.

What Mustard said .

people will expect some food and not just a piece of cake. By all means do the cake as the sweet offering, seen that many times, but you should provide savoury too.

x

And what about those who don't like cake, or as previously mentioned, are diabetic/gluten intolerance etc.

I think that we're going to over feed our guests, 32 all day, dinner at 1800hrs with cake of cheese and port and then cake and bubbles. Buffet at 2100hrs with a whole salmon and lots of nibbles, I think we'll have enough to feed the passing public too!

Thank you everyone for your replies, it has been very helpful.

I do think that we're going to need to re-think food in the evening now, I do like the idea of having a nice cheese board and I shall contact the Venue with regards to their thoughts on the accompaniments to go with the cheeses that they want to provide

MrsMac2be - out of curiosity, I'm not far from Stamford, what's your venue & which cheese specialist in Stamford are you referring to, I need to check that out!