Do people expect food after dinner at wedding?

9 ish?

There are loads of travelling van options now - bhajis &samosas/kebabs/ pizzas/ fried chicken/gyros/burgers....

I'd just go cheapest. Tipsy folk are just happy to scoff anything!

In that case I thinks that's fine . All people will want in the future evening are snacks and those snacks along with the cake sounds perfect to me as long as you provide enough

I think if you aren't having evening guests and there is something to nibble on for those that are hungry then that would be ok personally.

I also think this is a really long gap. What are people supposed to do in that time? I’m not being snarky, honestly. I went to a recent wedding at 4pm and food was at 7.30pm. It really dragged…..

Agreed! Most of those travelling won't have chance for a proper lunch and the canapes no matter how filling won't be enough for many guests who will be chewing off their arms by 5.30.

I'd bring the meal forward or push the ceremony later if possible.

I'd be fine with it as is, but then I'm not one of those people who needs a snack every 5 minutes.

Please make sure you tell your guests when they are eating so they eat a early lunch /brunch/ big late breakfast before the day kicks off as main meal at 5,30 is long time to wait/ get pissed .

The kicker for me is alcohol.

5.30-midnight is a long time on snacks if you're hitting the beers hard. Also, not everyone will finish their meal and they are likely to e really hungry come 8-9.

Pushing some starchy carbs and soft drinks on people in the interim is a good idea, I think.

I don’t understand this. How can a service provider be really strict? It’s your wedding and you’re paying them a huge amount of money. You’re the customer and you determine the timings.

I think it depends on what time the main meal is. Your guests will presumably have lunch before the ceremony. Then they’re having filling canapees at teatime and what sounds like a very big meal at 5:30. That’s a lot of food in a 6 hour window. Then they’re having filling get nothing else until midnight.
I would suggest moving the evening meal 60-90 minutes later, personally, so it will fit with most people’s mealtimes. Then you won’t need anything else.

If you can’t move it later, then I think a cheeseboard or something is called for at about 9pm. You can serve the cake then too.

ETA: Just seen you can’t change the timings, tbh I think if you just keep the snack table till later it will be perfectly fine.

There’s no way I’d be going to a wedding at 1:45 without having eaten any lunch. I’d have eaten a sandwich while getting ready for sure. I don’t think people will be ‘famished’, or if they are it’s their own fault!

Every wedding I’ve been to has had a drinks reception after the ceremony. I don’t really want to cut that tbh as there is a beautiful terrace with a gives we want to take advantage of

I think it’s an adapted version of cocktail hour in the US and I agree it can be lovely for guests to mingle and relax. Don’t rely on canapés being enough to feed people though.

If you don’t have any guests that are only evening guests then I think eating at 5.30pm will most likely take at least an hour so people will still be eating at 6.30pm - 7pm. I don’t think there’s a need to serve anything else personally if there’s cake / cookies etc whilst dancing and socialising. The hardest part at a wedding is between the ceremony and wedding breakfast I think, you have to chase waiting staff around for a canapé and it’s all a bit cringe I think. If you think of the timing of your wedding ceremony 1.45pm? People will arrive by 1.30pm and most wedding guests put a lot of effort into hair / make up / outfits and would spend at least an hour getting ready, then the travelling to the venue. Basically, they will not have had lunch and will be famished by the time your canapés are served, if anything this is the time to make sure there’s lots of food. If cost is an issue would things like nuts / crisps etc be a good option? I know you can make anything look nice these days depending on how you display it. I need to know what the canapés are really to know if it’s sufficient in my opinion 😂 my BIL law got married last year and the canapés were tiny but did sound delicious and filling so I can see why they thought there would be enough but I genuinely had two kids moaning they were starving (I take full responsibility for not carrying a snack on my person) and had to accost the waiter to get enough food to keep them going until the wedding breakfast, I made sure I didn’t eat any myself to make up for the fact that my kids had a few. We were all really hungry but then the wedding breakfast was huge and delicious so worth the wait.

What happens if it rains? My friend had a summer wedding in a venue with the most incredible terrace. Cue the worst wind and rain in about 4 years../

Since this is what's planned for the snack table, then providing you've ordered plenty I honestly wouldn't worry about providing more - especially as you're not having separate evening guests

Not sure what this "ordering food to send people away with" is about though?
I realise weddings can get crazy, but this sounds a bit much

Not the point but people will be hankering for the canapés...3.30 seems a bit late when people will have presumably been arriving from 1 and probably not had lunch? How long is the ceremony?

We had similar to you although our main meal was a bbq at 5.30pm. We then had them put out the leftovers and a bit extra, sandwiches, sausages rolls etc and it got absolutely inhaled! There wasn’t a single bit left so I’m glad we did get the extra as people were clearly hungry

This length gap before food also means more potential for people to end up very tipsy!!

There’s a long time between your ceremony and dinner, and tbh it’s not typical of weddings I’ve been to to only be served once when the wedding is so early in the day.

My wedding ceremony was at the same time and we had canapés straight after the ceremony, then the wedding breakfast, then a barbecue in the evening. The barbecue was definitely needed.

Thing is, for your 1.45 ceremony most guest will have to have missed lunch to travel and be STARVING.

What are the canapés exactly?

My advice is to give guests a timetable beforehand so they know when to expect food. If they've missed lunch and worried dinner isn't until 7, they'll be eating their hands.