Each Friday, I will give you a cost-cutting tip that we are using to save money on our wedding.
This week’s tip is Cutting Cocktail Hour (gasp!).
A recent trend in the photography world is the “first look.” Many photographers are encouraging the bride and groom to see each other in an intimate setting before the wedding ceremony. It takes the pressure off walking down the aisle and seeing each other for the first time in front of everyone, and also allows time before the ceremony to get pictures out of the way so that guests don’t have to waste time in between the ceremony and reception waiting for you to get done with formal and wedding party photos.
The Idea: We are not opting for the “first look.” We are going traditional and seeing each other for the first time at the ceremony. However, we don’t want our guests to spend 45 minutes mingling while waiting for what they really want – food. Since our ceremony is outside in a field, we are going to direct guests into the tent for the reception after the ceremony and have them start eating while we are taking pictures. That way, by the time we get in the tent, everyone will be seated at their table and ready to watch the first dances and then we will cut the cake and give them dessert!
BONUS: Mason and I are going to have a little “first married dinner” by ourselves before we go into the reception. We definitely don’t want to miss out on the good food we are catering at our reception, but we both know that once we get in there, we won’t have any time to eat! After our pictures, we are going to have a quick bite and then meet the wedding party back outside the tent to be announced into the ceremony. How much fun is that?!?
Savings: By skipping cocktail hour, we are saving money on hor d’oeuvres, which ends up in big savings. We are serving beer and wine at our reception anyway, so the bar(s) will be open when guests enter the tent and they will be able to enjoy that with their dinner. Most importantly, we are saving people’s time. We are excited that by the time we get into the reception, we can talk to our guests during dessert and then get the party started on full bellies!
I think this deserves a picture! But since I don’t have any pictures of our wedding ideas yet, here is a fun photo of Mason and me at Halloween…can you guess what we were? (We don’t go together, just FYI!)
I told Mason to enjoy the control while he could. Haha! 🙂
Happy Friday to you!
Ruffled Wedding 