Late afternoon wedding, no wedding breakfast.. Thoughts??

We looked into this. We looked into having a late wedding, inviting everyone to everything and just having a hog roast.

But it actually worked out more expensive than having a sit down meal for 60 and a buffet for a further 80.

I think you need to do your research first and work out which is cheapest, as everywhere is different.

Hey!

I'm actually Canadian and living in the UK I had a lot of pressures for the "english" wedding but in the end- I had only an evening wedding (7pm) no party prior, and just fingerfood and and cake at the reception/ disco and it was fine. We spent about £3K on the whole wedding with 100 guests and thats including food, venue and outfits, flowers etc. so I think its fine- wholelly support it!

We're having our ceremony in Spain and as much as food is *really* important to us, we've chosen to go down a similar route to you. Despite you being worried about people being disappointed about missing out on a three-course meal, in my opinion, that kind of meal is so very often a let-down, anyway, especially for a larger guest list. Even if the catering is exceptional (which is rare in my experience!), then you still have the problems of people not liking certain things. I went to an amazing wedding a couple of years ago where we had a seven-course menu and it was heartbreaking to hear people complain about the food not being their taste - things like foie gras, duck breast, quails eggs, with different wine for each course. I can understand it, don't get me wrong, but I would be distraught to see all that food wasted at my wedding!

So, we decided to go with the cava and tapas on the lawn after the ceremony, and later on, a buffet-type affair. My main gripe with buffets is the "bun fight" you can get when the food comes out, so we've decided that, rather than have everything presented at once, the food will come out throughout the night so everyone can pick as they wish. We'll have things like whole roast hams and sides of beef, whole poached salmons etc which work out great value for money if you find a good supplier. Then, slices of beef Wellington, prawn crackers filled with chicken caesar salad, shot glasses with melon and mint soup .... loads of "miniaturised" dishes from both England and Spain. That way, everyone will have something that they like and we can cater for the different dietary needs - with 130+ guests, we have two vegetarians, one Muslim and one celiac.

Because all our guests will be travelling a fair way to get there - including some from the States and Canada! - we're making it a two-day affair and one the Sunday inviting everyone back to the venue for a pool party/BBQ. We're even thinking of starting the day off with bacon sandwiches for anyone who wants to kill their hangover! In the afternoon, we'll have a hog roast, paellas and traditional BBQ for everyone.

Even with all that, it still works out a LOT cheaper than the kind of formal dinner we'd be happy with - and which a large percentage of would end up in the bin!

So, don't worry about what people think - it's your day and it can be as formal or informal as you like. I think it's more important to find solutions that suit your personality than to stiffly conform to tradition. Take those parts of the tradition that are important to you, and personalise the rest!

I've sent you an email with a breakdown of the quote my friend received from them. You'll find costings for canapes and cakes in there too.

Thank you missmandymoo!! xxx

That sounds absolutely lovely, and just the kind of thing I was imagining when I started thinking of this type of wedding. I'm certain the Spanish weather will be far nicer than our British "summer" but hopefully I can achieve that same feel. Thank you!!

xxx

Hi huni,

I have been having the same idea it's so expensive trying to sort out a morgage and a wedding. We have been thinking of having a late afternoon wedding and going straight to the evening reception.

We have been tossing the idea around of myself and my bridal party going out for champagne breakfast before being pampered for the evening and the partner and his groom's men going for a burger and beer before the ceremony so the main guests still be fed but before the ceremony instead.

Our evening venue is allowing us into the venue from 6pm, so the main guests at the ceremony will head straight there for a drinks reception before evening guests arrive at 7pm.

A lot cheaper plus more time for pampering rather than rushing around first thing in the morning.

Good luck with the planning

Karena x

We're also doing this - chatting to a caterer about a venison spit roast instead of hog (or as well as maybe), and then just setting everything else out like a high tea buffet. ?

Much as I've had some good sit down meals at weddings, some have been awful, and I find that after cocktail hour the sitting down and gorging on food makes me sleepy! So we'll have a couple of hours where people can feed as much as they want, drink, chat and relax before hitting the dance floor. We will probably do some hot pies for late night snacking.

We're having a 4pm ceremony, and currently looking into doing fish & chips for the "day" guests and having a buffet a bit later on. I haven't ever been to a wedding with that sort of arrangement, everyone's done the 3 course meal so I'm a bit worried as to if it will work out ok and if people will like it. We are on a budget though so a 3 course meal really wouldn't be feasible and I think would be too much with the late ceremony anyway xx

I attended a wedding at Christmas a few years ago, myself and my friend didn't have any breakfast as we were running late (typical women!) and as the ceremony was at 1 we thought we could power through. We didn't eat until 5.30, we was starved and needless to say very drunk!!! By the time the evening food was then served at 8 we was stuffed and a lot got wasted.

Point I'm trying to make here, if the wedding was a little later (and we'd eaten breakfast) then there wouldn't of been any need to feed guests twice so think yours is a lovely idea.

Thats exactly what I am doing!! June wedding. No one really wants to sit down quietly for a slow meal after a wedding ceremony!!