I am thinking of having a cocktail or buffet style lunch for those at the ceremony who I can't invite to the main reception. I've never been to a cocktail reception for a wedding before so I don't know what its like. Have any of you had a cocktail reception rather than the standard sit-down? How did you like it? Did the guests like it? What kind of food did you have? How was the venue decorated?

Yep, we had one for 65 people, wouldn't have done it any other way.

From memory we had salmon skewers, rice paper rolls, duck pancakes, dumplings, gyozas, coconut prawns and a few other things I can't recall - there was enough for about 2-3 pieces of each dish for everyone - we had 10 dished in total, people were knocking back food in the end.

We had our wedding croquembouche for dessert.

Everyone has always raved about our food in the years that have followed and the fact that it was relaxed and with excellent wine to match.

I'll post a few photos of the room.

We had a few round tables with white table cloths and these in the middle.







We also used a lot of palms to hide corners, the windowsills had tea lights and shells (it was at night). TBH it was a bit sparse for my liking and had I been prepared to spend some more $$$ I might have done a better job

You can also see here where we had our ceremony and our wishing tree.

We went to a cocktail reception, and I thought it was very akward. Weddings are great getting to sit down and interact with other guests. I found the cocktail reception had groups of people keeping to themselves.

I guess that is what I am afraid of happening at my cocktail reception although Monica didn't seem to have a problem there at all. What can I do to minimise the likelihood of awkwardness?

I went to a cocktail reception in Sydney and it would have to be the worst wedding i have been to the ceremony was lovely but the cocktail reception let the whole wedding down IMO we had to stand out the front of a building on the stairs and loose pebble driveway my feet where killing me from standing the whole time. As *Lib** said i found that groups of people keeping to themselves. the cocktail food they had was terrible.

I am also looking at having a cocktail reception, the main reason is that most places I looked at for a reception charge $80 pp for an average 3 course meal and there is NO WAY we can afford that!!!! The place I have found with a cocktail menu charges $39 pp and each person should get about 20 pieces of food!
So I am going to make an appointment to go have a look at the place and try some of the food.

The room has a few lounges so people can sit down and I am going to ask if we can get a few tables as well.
Even at the sit down receptions I have been to people still stay in their own little groups and even more so because they have their seat and table and have no real need to move.

I guess we were lucky in the sense that most of our family and friends knew each other and even if they didn't, there were large enough groups to mingle so it wasn't a select few left out IYKWIM

I just think by the time you have some photos, food, speeches, cake and then some dancing, there isn't a hell of a lot of time idle.

Outgoing friends helps to, perhaps if you have a few you can ask them to encourage mingling? I didn't have to, I have a few loud mouths that just wanted to chat to and meet other people, LOL

I have been to 2 cocktail weddings as a guest. The first one provided different areas of the room for people to sit. A few small coffee tables and lounges, an area with sofas and another with beanbags. The food was generous. Noodles in a little cardboard chinese container, mini fish & chips in a rolled up cone, a whole chicken leg with a nice sauce, scewers of meat etc. Plenty of food and no one hungry.

The other had a few tables and chairs, but not enough for everyone, so elderly people were left without a seat. 5hrs in heels was too much for me too! There was a blacony area with more seating, but it was raining & all the seats were wet. Their cocktail food was more like little canapes. Dips with warm pitta bread, fried, crumbed balls of gorganzola, mushrooms, anchovy and a cheese one, a single scollop in a Chinese spoon & other little tid bits. My cousin (the bride) told us she had specifically ordered twice the recommended amount, so people didnt leave hungry.

The food all eventually came out and got left on a table for an hour (after being served around). This then got taken away and never seen of again. Needless to say, we all left hungry & ended up getting a take-away! This would work if nibbles came out later in the evening too & people know that. Otherwise by the time you actually get a little morsel, you stuff yourself incase nothing else comes around.

I agree that people did tend to stay in their little groups and not mingle very much, but I find that tends to happen at sit down meals too. I dont remember any flowers or specific decorations at the 2nd wedding except a few palms in the corner, so I guess they saved on centrepieces.

I've been to a wedding with a cocktail reception, and I have to say I was a little disappointed.

For starters, there was nowhere near enough seating for the amount of guests that were there, which meant if you managed to get a seat, you were reluctant to get up and mingle in case you lost it. Secondly, the reception began at 6pm, which for most people, is dinner time. To me, this is the wrong time to hold a cocktail reception. There wasn't ample food to begin with, but when the trays would enter the room, the people closest to the door would dive on the food and often by the time the crowds moved, the trays were empty. So there wasnt enough for the people at the back of the room. I went home quite hungry.

I do, however, think cocktail receptions could work well. I would suggest holding the reception at a better time, early afternoon? or maybe around 7-ish. So people could have something to nibble on before they arrive. I'd also make sure that there is enough seating for all your guests and avoid having people fight for chairs.

Good luck

Hi Emmyzilla, I had a cocktail reception in january this year. I thought it worked really well and we received great feedback from guests (but then again who's going to say 'well that sucked' )

A couple of things I would recommend...

We put on our invite 'Cocktail Reception', so people could choose to eat before hand if they wanted
Our caterers were great. you need a caterer that 'gets' you. and can offer helpful suggestions as opposed to just going with whats easy for them.
we had more / extra substantial stuff come out later towards the end of the night, steak sandwiches on yummy fresh rolls with relish and salad to soak up the alcohol, and cous cous salad in noodle boxes with roasted vegies and chorizo.
Go with a caterer that doesn't continue to talk about 'peices per person' - ours basically said, we pick the dishes and she keeps going until people are refusing food and its going to waste.

A cocktail reception can be great and we found it had people mingling more, I think it just needs to be done well and with thought to the guests and what type of venue it is...

Good luck!!

You have 400+ people coming to the reception, and then there are more you want to hold a cocktail reception for? wowzers, you are going to have a massive day

We had a cocktail food reception which most guests that went said was the best wedding they had ever been too

We made sure we had enough seats for all the guests and they were put around small tables or in semi circles etc

We made sure we had heaps of food - it ended up costing us about the same per head as a sit down meal, but it was the relaxed style of a cocktail reception we wanted, we had lots of variety and substantial finger food and all the guests said they ate really well, we also had a light supper later in the evening for those still there late in the night.

People moved a lot more because half the night wasn't tied up with waiting for different courses to be served to 150 people and I didn't have to allocate seats to everybody. The food was served around and placed on tables for people to help themselves. We still had speeches but that was all that stopped the flow and mingling of people on the day, our two grandmothers raved about what a fantastic reception it was so we must've done something right

We had a cocktail reception and friends said it was the best wedding they'd been to. Admittedly, everyone knew one another so mingling wasn't a problem.

I've also been a guest at a cocktail reception that I loved. At this wedding, I knew few people other than the couple. I liked the fact that I could mingle or just hang out with people I knew. IMO, beats being stuck at a table for hours trying to talk to people you don't know/don't click with.

Decoration wise, we had small little tables scattered around the room, with vases of flowers, and tea light candles on them. Lots of chairs if people wanted to sit. At the front was still a dance floor, a table with the cake and a wishing well/gift table. I found mainly the older relatives sat, as the younger people mingled.

I also got to talk to everyone for a substantial amount of time, not like at some weddings where the bride is mainly at the front with her bridal party for a large portion of the reception.

One thing I wanted to add: don't have the room too large for the number of people you're inviting. I find people hang to the edges/walls more when there's a lot more space. (not just at weddings, but other funtions that I've been to)