Brides Helping Brides ™ - longer cocktail hour?

kimpup Posted: Mar 18, 2015 02:05 PM

longer cocktail hour?

Anyone ever have that or inquire about it? I'm wondering if that'a lot more money.

Ruste23 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 02:25 PM

longer cocktail hour?

Just not sure why a longer cocktail hour is necessary? If anything its common to add an extra hour to the reception but the cocktail hour doesn't offer much.. the reception is where the party is at!

kimpup Posted: Mar 18, 2015 02:31 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I was asking a few of my friends about their weddings and they said a longer cocktail hour would have been nice since they wanted to attend and didn't get enough time.

FutureMrsGomez Posted: Mar 18, 2015 02:34 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I heard of people doing a longer cocktail hour if they were jewish. They do cocktail hour first then ceremony cause usually the ceremony is longgggg.

i think the longest cocktail hour i went to was 1.5 hours

Ruste23 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 02:39 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I feel like that has more to do with your photographer and you and your FH then anything else. My photographer mentioned it helps him out a lot when the bride is ok with letting her FH see her before the ceremony because more pictures can get down before the ceremony and cocktail hour and than everyone gets to enjoy every aspect. My venue is making sure that I attend the cocktail hour they want me present at all the points of the wedding so I can enjoy what I paid for.

My ceremony starts at 6p.m. so my photographer is going to be at the hotel with me doing photos from 2p.m on - we are doing a 'viewing' which is where I surprise my FH before the ceremony and we take all our pictures early otherwise we would be pulled out from the cocktail hour to do all of this. That isn't really fair to the bridal party nor everyones parents because now they have to sit around taking pictures and not enjoying the food and company.

It's just food for thought I mean anything's possible but a cocktail hour is normally called that because its just a spot to fill a space to get the reception stuff ready. If you do the sneak peek before the ceremony you shouldn't need more time at the cocktail hour. I would assume adding time to anything will cost you. I considered adding an hour to my reception but really after 4 hours of drinking and dancing do I really need another hour of that before going to the hotel bar and doing more drinking? It sounded like overkill so I left it at a 4 hour reception.

kimpup Posted: Mar 18, 2015 02:55 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I liked the extra hour for Viennese but it was so pricey since your adding an extra hour of what they call overtime. I was thinking 1.5 hr cocktail hr - my family loves to eat and that's their fav part lol.

Ruste23 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 03:06 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I mean if you want it, do it! But it will most likely cost you. Remember you also want people to eat at the Reception you paid for the food there as well - you don't want your guests eating till they explode at the cocktail hour and then pecking on stuff at the reception...

FutureMrsGomez Posted: Mar 18, 2015 03:18 PM

Re: longer cocktail hour?

Posted by Ruste23

I mean if you want it, do it! But it will most likely cost you. Remember you also want people to eat at the Reception you paid for the food there as well - you don't want your guests eating till they explode at the cocktail hour and then pecking on stuff at the reception...

I agree
you want people to dance and not be so stuffed they dont wanna move lol

kellynicole91 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 04:35 PM

longer cocktail hour?

My cocktail hour is actually an hour and a half. Our venue gave us the choice of an extra half hour on the cocktail hour or reception I chose cocktail hour so that we don't have to rush with family photos after and can enjoy ourselves and hang out with our guests before all the dancing and fun starts!

kimpup Posted: Mar 18, 2015 04:38 PM

longer cocktail hour?

kellynicole - was it more?

kellynicole91 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 05:30 PM

Re: longer cocktail hour?

Posted by kimpup

kellynicole - was it more?

Not for my venue. It's included. They're package is a 5.5 hour wedding instead of 5. (Can choose to add the extra 30 minutes to the cocktail hour or reception it's up to the couple).

Lorelei Posted: Mar 18, 2015 05:32 PM

longer cocktail hour?

We're doing a 1 1/2 hour cocktail hour. I think an hour goes by so quickly. Plus, everyone loves the cocktail hour anyway, so why not? For us, it was a no-brainer.

NoLiesJustLove Posted: Mar 18, 2015 06:29 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I wanted to do a longer cocktail hour because of people who need to check into the hotel after the ceremony. But then I thought about it and honestly the reception is where the party is really at. So I just pushed the cocktail hour time down by 30mins (giving everyone enough time to arrive) and they gave me and extra hour at the end of the reception anyway. So all in all I think everyone will be happy.

Brittney22 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 07:29 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I wanted to do this but everyone thought I was crazy! I love cocktail hours so if its in the budget I say go for it

FutureMrsPonce Posted: Mar 18, 2015 07:31 PM

longer cocktail hour?

I attended a wedding in November at the north ritz and they had a 1 1/2 hour cocktail hour. It was good for the guest who were late but for me it was long. I was sitting next to random people who fh and I didnt know. It was awkward because they didn't speak much. I also felt my reception dinner went to waste because I stuffed my face during the cocktail hour. We had nothing else to do so we kept eating lol.

jdm5256 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 08:35 PM

longer cocktail hour?

We wanted to for the same reasons as above, to not rush through our pictures and to eliminate some of the gap between the church and cocktail hour. At our place it was a price per head, not a lump sum amount so it would have been a few thousand extra to which we said no thanks and never thought about again lol

jdm5256 Posted: Mar 18, 2015 08:38 PM

longer cocktail hour?

We wanted to for the same reasons as above, to not rush through our pictures and to eliminate some of the gap between the church and cocktail hour. At our place it was a price per head, not a lump sum amount so it would have been a few thousand extra to which we said no thanks and never thought about again lol

Vimaheri Posted: Mar 18, 2015 08:46 PM

longer cocktail hour?

We are doing a 1.5 hour cocktail hour for two reasons. For one, we want to be able to enjoy it after we take our pictures and two, we just love cocktail food! It was an extra $750 for the half hour.