What To Serve at a 3 PM Wedding?

[punjabikudi]

Hi Everyone I need your advice,

I am in the beginning stages of planning my wedding and we are looking at the number of events and the flow of events right now. We are thinking of 2 scenarios:

1. Wedding at 12 PM followed by lunch (cholay bhaturay type of lunch with aloo ki sabzi and maybe 1 or 2 american food items); reception at beginning at 6:30 PM with cocktails and heavy desi snacks (samosas, paneer bites, chicken shahlik type of things) starting at 6:30 and dinner at 8:30 or 9

2. Wedding ceremony at 3 PM followed by the reception at 6:30 PM - same as above with cocktail hour and snacks followed by dinner at 8:30 or 9PM .

Option 2 looks more appealing to my parents because of the less cost associated with not having to serve lunch to 100-200 people - which we may not even be able to afford. I myself need more convincing on this option as I hate forcing my guests to sit through a 2 hr (hindu) wedding ceremony without serving them some kind of refreshment. What kind of refreshments are appropriate to serve that would be cost effective? Cheese/cracker fruit platter that the hotel will provide and fruit punch? That seems so bare. Or maybe a high-tea sort of set up that can be served throughout the ceremony with sandwhiches, cheese/fruit trays, cupcakes, tea, punch etc? Any ideas, input, or opinion on the matter are welcome!

Thank you!

[Sehrysh]

Re: What To Serve at a 3 PM Wedding?

Hi Everyone I need your advice,

I am in the beginning stages of planning my wedding and we are looking at the number of events and the flow of events right now. We are thinking of 2 scenarios:

1) Wedding at 12 PM followed by lunch (cholay bhaturay type of lunch with aloo ki sabzi and maybe 1 or 2 american food items); reception at beginning at 6:30 PM with cocktails and heavy desi snacks (samosas, paneer bites, chicken shahlik type of things) starting at 6:30 and dinner at 8:30 or 9

2) Wedding ceremony at 3 PM followed by the reception at 6:30 PM - same as above with cocktail hour and snacks followed by dinner at 8:30 or 9PM .

Option 2 looks more appealing to my parents because of the less cost associated with not having to serve lunch to 100-200 people - which we may not even be able to afford. I myself need more convincing on this option as I hate forcing my guests to sit through a 2 hr (hindu) wedding ceremony without serving them some kind of refreshment. What kind of refreshments are appropriate to serve that would be cost effective? Cheese/cracker fruit platter that the hotel will provide and fruit punch? That seems so bare. Or maybe a high-tea sort of set up that can be served throughout the ceremony with sandwhiches, cheese/fruit trays, cupcakes, tea, punch etc? Any ideas, input, or opinion on the matter are welcome!

Thank you!

Personally, I would HATE to be at an all-day wedding. It's tiring and starts to feel like an imposition on the guests.
Tightening up the time frame so there is minimal delay between the ceremony and the reception makes the most sense. The only way I would split up the two, is if the ceremony was for the closest friends and family (50-60 people, tops!) who don't mind committing their entire day to the wedding.

Since my preference as a guest would be a 3pm (or later ceremony invite), assuming its a summer wedding I'd keep the snack items light - pakoras and samosa, maybe a gol guppa station, aloo tikkis. If you're doing non-veg items, maybe mini seekh or fish kebabs or tikka botis and fruit platters or fruit based snacks. Have waiters circulate with the food and lots of cool drinks (fruit juices and mocktails). Maybe even have small gelato or icecream type desserts to help keep everyone cool.

If you want an early wedding time - can you not skip the appetizers and then go straight to dinner? If you need to serve dinner later then keep change up the specific cocktails/appetizers and the presentation and have an abbreviated cocktail hour.

[punjabikudi]

Re: What To Serve at a 3 PM Wedding?

Thank you for your reply! You're right, the 3 PM ceremony followed by reception is probably the most comfortable for our guests time wise. The wedding would only include nearest and dearest which im thinking would be around the 120-150 ppl mark with both sides included, realistically (hopefully less!). I guess serving the snacks during cocktail hour may be necessary because at that time our guests that are invited to reception only would be joining us.

I like the idea of juices or fruit based items - especially since it will be a summer wedding as you said. I am thinking maybe a good idea would be, for instance if we are ordering 5 items for the cocktail hour snack, just include two of those five at the wedding ceremony and then again at the cocktail hour. The people at the wedding ceremony that have already eaten those two items will have three more items to chose from but the vast majority that will be just joining us for the reception will not have had any of that 5. So 2 of those dishes (pakoras, samosas, tikkis, etc) plus the fruit/cheese display from the hotel and tea/coffee/juices. That may make the ordering simpler. Or just order two different snacks, like aloo tikki and chanay plus chat fixings - kind of in line with the chat/gol gappa idea you had. I think that may work and there won't be a hassle of bringing in an extra vendor to supply snacks during the ceremony.

Personally, I would HATE to be at an all-day wedding. It's tiring and starts to feel like an imposition on the guests. Tightening up the time frame so there is minimal delay between the ceremony and the reception makes the most sense. The only way I would split up the two, is if the ceremony was for the closest friends and family (50-60 people, tops!) who don't mind committing their entire day to the wedding.

Since my preference as a guest would be a 3pm (or later ceremony invite), assuming its a summer wedding I'd keep the snack items light - pakoras and samosa, maybe a gol guppa station, aloo tikkis. If you're doing non-veg items, maybe mini seekh or fish kebabs or tikka botis and fruit platters or fruit based snacks. Have waiters circulate with the food and lots of cool drinks (fruit juices and mocktails). Maybe even have small gelato or icecream type desserts to help keep everyone cool.

If you want an early wedding time - can you not skip the appetizers and then go straight to dinner? If you need to serve dinner later then keep change up the specific cocktails/appetizers and the presentation and have an abbreviated cocktail hour.

[supersummer]

Re: What To Serve at a 3 PM Wedding?

Isn't an all day affair standard at Hindu weddings? With a break in the middle for everyone to go home and change?

I quite like this format - one full day rather than 2-3 days...

The 3pm start will be cheaper as you can then serve heavy snacks and canapes as has been suggested above rather than those + lunch