to have an afternoon tea wedding reception?

[pinknight]

We're planning on a small wedding, under 20 people including us. The ceremony will be at a registry office

Reception venues seem to want minimum 50 guests and insist on us paying for things like DJs which we definitely don't want (the guests will mainly be over 50).

Then if you have sit downs you have to pick the same starter, main and dessert which isn't ideal.

I've found a hotel nearby that does afternoon tea receptions which sounds nice, but I'm thinking, will it be enough food? It says sandwichers, cakes, champagyne, tea etc are included.

What would you think if you went to something like this, and do you think it's enough to fill people up?

It depends what time the wedding is and what time you expect people to leave. It does sound nice but I can’t imagine it will fill everyone up.

If it’s an afternoon do and you think it will be over after a few hours, then yes.

If earlier and / or you want people to stay in to the later evening, then no.

Went to an afternoon tea wedding last year, quite a big one (100 or so guests) - it was absolutely lovely. More choice than at a set meal, everything set out nicely. It's a wedding I will have no difficulty remembering.

Yep sounds fine. Would love to attend this kind of wedding.

We had 20 guests at our wedding last year and had a champagne afternoon tea reception. It was a wonderful day, everyone had fun and there was more food than people could eat!

Make sure you check what the afternoon tea consists of though. For example do they offer as many refills as guests want on the sandwiches, cakes etc? I think it’s really important that they do otherwise people could potentially go hungry.

Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding.

Sounds perfect for a smaller wedding, you could ask the catering staff if for a few pounds more per head you can have extra savouries - am sure they would be happy to do this.

Enjoy

Same. Went to lovely afternoon tea reception. Can't remember the precise times, but enough that we had early lunch, ceremony, then very filling afternoon tea (including booze, but not compulsory). We knew it would be tea and that everyone was to push off at 6 ish having waved off the couple.

Sounds like a lovely idea OP. There will be more than enough food.
Hope it's a lovely day for you all

Sounds charming and eccentric in a mad hatter type of way.

But then I find the whole afternoon tea thing totally batshit anyway.

Paying way over the odds for not much food served in a dainty way, forcing everyone to act very politely.

I have been to two larger weddings (100 guests) in the past year and both of them had a high tea for the reception food. The food was lovely, but as people had been there for several hours they were rather hungry and devoured the evening food as soon as it arrived a couple of hours later.

If you do this, I would ask for more savoury items than just sandwiches, such as mini pasties or quiches, rather than a lot of cakes and scones

I should add that I started a similar thread to this last year and got some very mixed responses. My wedding was at 12.45pm and the tea at 2pm. People honestly went on as if my guests would starve to death if not fed every 30 seconds! On the day everything went really well and everyone was stuffed to bursting. The night buffet barely got touched as people were so full!

Some people hear afternoon tea and immediately think it’s two finger sandwiches and a scone. My protests that it was bottomless afternoon tea at a Mayfair hotel fell on deaf ears

Sounds lovely. Just make it clear to your guests and have it at an appropriate time. I went to an afternoon tea wedding a few years ago, the ceremony was later than normal (2-2:30pm ish) and by the time we'd gotten from the ceremony to the venue, it was gone 4pm. The afternoon tea was just right and then there was a hot buffet in the night. We all knew it was afternoon tea and because of the time of day it was, everyone could have a substantial breakfast/lunch etc before.

We had an afternoon tea after our wedding for the wedding guests. Then we had an evening reception after for everyone else. Quite a few of the wedding guests were elderly and left before the evening do got going.

That's exactly what we did. It was fabulous. We only had 9 guests including small children, so made sense to have afternoon tea straight after the ceremony. Congratulations!

Sounds lovely. I would be careful with the timing so that guests have a chance to eat lunch first and make it clear that it's afternoon tea on the invite.

Also what do you intend to do after? We had a buffet meal and then music after all at a village hall, it finished by 10pm. If you are doing afternoon tea and expect it to finish at say 6 then I think you have to make this clear too, otherwise people might be milling around wonder if it's over but not wanting to be rude and leave early.

I love an afternoon tea, so with the caveats on timing & sufficiency of catering I'd go ahead. Do bear in mind that many people prefer savoury options (sandwiches, quiche, sausage roll etc) and don't just want to gorge on 10 types of cake/scone as a meal. I don't personally, there's only so much sweet cakey things I can eat but I love nice sandwiches.

Ask your venue exactly what they'd provide per head and whether they'd be prepared to add more if you don't think it's enough. Go have a typical afternoon tea there.

Love afternoon tea as long as there's plenty to go around

I think it sounds lovely!
Go for it!

A friend did this last year and it was lovely. She has no family and the groom only has his dad, so it was mainly close friends, we had a lovely afternoon tea in a little rural seaside hotel then fish and chips and champagne sitting on the beach at dusk, happiest, most enjoyable wedding ever.

It’s fine, as long as there is enough food for everyone.

Are you having an evening do as well?

I've been to a wedding reception with afternoon tea and most of the guests found it wasn't enough food. The wedding started at 12pm (so not long enough to get lunch before) afternoon tea served at 4pm and the evening food didn't come out until 9pm. It was a very long time to go without a proper meal.

I think it sounds fab, l would really enjoy an afternoon tea reception.

As long as you make it clear on the invitations that it will be afternoon tea, people can then make their own arrangements for lunch and dinner.

I hope you have a lovely day!

You can always ask them to add in some extras like Quiche, or sausage rolls. Will the guests help themselves from a buffet or served at a table? I would love this.

Its an excellent excuse to book in and sample the afternoon tea prior to booking if you ask me.

I have afternoon tea at the Dorchester occasionally and afterwards I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner with a gun to my head.

I am known for not knowingly refusing food opportunities

Sounds lovely, I personally quite like weddings that are just in the daytime.