- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Is there any flexibility on the part of the venue to provide a tropical punch for your guests rather than a traditional cocktail hour? A self serve punch should be way less expensive, but still provide something for your guests.
I don't think an hour is too long for the guests to wait for the picture taking, but it's easy to get carried away with the photographer so monitor the time.
@julies1949: Yes I totally agree with you about the time. I would have to make sure it wasn't too long.
I don't know about the punch bowl idea. It's a great idea, but to me it seems that they only offer a consumption bar. For one drink per person, that would cost us about $450. Kind of a big hit to the wallet.
Alcohol is the main thing I'm concerned about...
Instead of having the ceremony and then going down to the beach, would you rather do your photos down at the beach first? You wouldn't have to find something to do for your guests plus you don't have to rush because it is prior. As a guest, I don't like the gap.
@MissHighHeel: That's actually a good idea. I usually don't like the idea of my FI seeing me before the ceremony, but maybe we'd have to get over that.
The only hangup I have other than that is that my dress would get quite dirty before my wedding even started. Has anyone had experience with that?
Don't go by what they offer. This is a service industry. They should be willing to meet your needs. Communicate with the catering manager. Tell him you do not want traditional cocktail service. Ask for a punch.
I forgot to comment on the no dancing issue. Don't worry about it . Your guests will be fine with it. You could ask the venue to play low volume music in the background for atmosphere while people socialize. You do not need dancing to have a good time.
Hmm...so here's my (probably unpopular) take:
For a destination wedding, I would definitely expect at least a cocktail hour and some dancing. I know you're trying to keep it around $5000, but since it's a DW, some people will be spending close to that just to come with airfare, hotel, etc. Also consider that many guests will find it rude if they traveled to your destination and there's no welcome dinner/invite to the rehearsal dinner so that will add to the cost. If you're trying to keep it under budget, I would say just do it close to home and be able to do more, and do your honeymoon in Hawaii.
Edit: If you did the exact same thing but local to your guests, I think that would be totally fine, it's just knowing that everyone will be traveling to your wedding. Also maybe look into cheaper DW spots? Like Mexico or the Caribbean?
@julies1949: I'll ask about the punch then. It seems like the best option. Thanks!
@socalmeli: Thanks for your honesty. I might not have made it clear though that I'm not cutting out the dancing/traditional reception because I'm trying to make it cheaper, but because we just don't want it.
My FI would not dance the entire time, neither would a bunch of our family members, and it would just be awkward. I'm not too big on it either :)
Also, there will be a full multi-course dinner. I'm just trying to decide whether to add an extra cocktail hour or not. I wouldn't ask people to go to Hawaii and not serve them any food.
The cheaper all-inclusive weddings in Mexico for example just wouldn't work for us. FI's family is very complicated and many of his family members couldn't stay in the same resort area for a week. It would be majorly uncomfortable. With Hawaii, people are staying on different islands even and coming to Maui for the wedding. It seemed to be the better option.
@MademoiselleL: Ah OK that's fair. If everyone's kind of treating it as a vacay and going to different islands and whatnot then I think you're good! I second someone above who said that background music would be plenty.
Similar to socalmeli, I think my opinion might be unpopular as well, but coming from someone who is having a destination wedding and also has been a guest at multiple destination weddings, I think the expectations are different. Because people are traveling so far and spending thousands to attend the wedding, people usually expect more than one event, such as a welcome party or dinner for all the guests in addition to the wedding. People are going to enjoy your wedding no matter what, but I think you might want to add more events to your plans. These don't have to be expensive... it can be BYOB for a casual beach picnic or something similar.
Also, have you considered doing a first look so you can take your pictures before the ceremony? This would solve the issue of leaving guests with an hour gap.
As far as non-dancing things to do check out Mrs Pug's post: http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/04/14/wedding-day-timeline-a-la-pug/
She didn't have dancing either but did different toasts through out the night and played the shoe game. Another thing that might be fun is a DIY photo booth.
I think it sounds fine personally, it sounds a bit like my wedding. We did not have a cocktail hour between the ceremony and dinner (45 minutes) but our guests just went to the bar for a few drinks. However, the resort WAS an all-inclusive. However I really don't think an hour is a long time to wait without a cocktail hour.
We also didn't have dancing, just dinner at a restaurant. We were there about an hour and a half and it wasn't like we had much downtime, with three courses, drinking, cake, etc. It actually went by pretty fast.
@SerenaSF: Thanks for the ideas. I haven't got that far to plan other events yet, but we will probably have some kind of rehearsal dinner. I am also thinking of maybe planning an activity for everyone on a different day - maybe snorkeling or sailing or something like that.
I don't want to do the first look mainly because I want beach photos and I don't want to get dirty/wet before my ceremony.
@meerkat: Thanks for the link! It's nice to see a timeline that doesn't include dancing to give me some ideas. I will probably add some games in there and there will definitely be a couple of toasts.
@SuperKate: Thanks for your input :) I'm kind of with you that I think the dinner will take up quite a bit of time plus the cake cutting and then maybe a game or something. I think I'm sold on the no-dancing thing now!
I was so scared that everyone would be bored to tears at my wedding without dancing, but as far as I could tell, no one missed it.* The reception was SO lively and fun the whole time, with people eating, drinking, circulating, watching the cake cutting, etc.
Don't even do a "first dance" if you guys don't like dancing! I actually think that would be stranger than not having dancing at all.
However, I do think it's important to give guests something to sip/nibble on during the break, even if it's just punch and cheese and crackers.
If your guests have to wait for the photos, I would offer them something especially if it's not going to be at their hotel, where they could quickly go back to their room. I would feel like, "Hey, I spent all this time and money going to your wedding and you can't even give me a drink or veggie platter while I wait for you to take photos?!" Maybe during the down time, you could have a cash bar (free soda) and some munchies like cheese, veggie and fruit platter.
@mmsva: I kind of agree with you, although here at home cocktail hours are not the norm and wedding guests are usually on their own for a couple of hours at least. It might be different since we're going away though. The problem I'm having is that you either have to do a full-on cocktail hour with heavy appetizers and drinks, which would cost at least a thousand dollars if I did it how they are suggesting, or nothing. I will try and see if there is an in-between option but they're not advertising it.
@beachcandy: We are inviting about 60 people, but know not that many will come. We anticipate around 40. Anything else is a bonus.
@MademoiselleL: Just an FYI, the lower knoll at Gannon's is a LOT cheaper (only $250 vs. $850-$1000 for Molokini lookout. This includes 30 chairs with additional chairs costing $3.50). Additionally, holding the ceremony at the lookout requires you to rent out shuttle service because guests cannot drive up there (meaning: more expenses). If you do a search on my posts, you'll see a recap that shows pics of our ceremony on the lower knoll. Other points to consider: 1) the lower knoll has some shade from palm trees whereas the lookout has none and 2) For some reason, it felt like the ocean was closer from the lower knoll than from the Lookout (even though the view from the lookout was a more "panoramic" view) 3) The lower knoll is next to the road leading to the restaurant, so it's not as "private" as the lookout (we did a buyout though so this wasn't a problem). We didn't feel it was worth an extra $650 to NOT be next to that road.
That money saved ($600-$750) can go towards your cocktail hour during your beach pics. We did our beach pics after the ceremony at Po'olenalena which is literally a 4 minute drive from Gannon's. Also, Gannon's has 3 different tiers of "open bar" with varying price points to suit your budget. They are very flexible with determining how long you want your open bar to run for so--In fact, for us, they offered to keep a running tab so that we knew how much the bill was at all times.
ETA: As for food during cocktail hour--if you want to cut costs, you can just do buffet/chafers instead of hand passed apps--which usually runs anywhere from $4-9 per person--and since dinner will be served shortly, you don't need to do a whole bunch of apps anyway.This option does not require a minimum purchase, but rather will charge you based on your final guest count.
Hope that helps
I think it sounds fun based on your wedding being a great excuse to go to Hawaii. However, I can see how guests may feel like a cocktail hour is missing because it is a destination. But, I've attended 2 weddings where everyone ended up buying thier own drinks during this hour wait and no one complained.
Where i would really have a problem is the no dancing if your reception is more than 2 hours, I would be incredibly bored and prob. wander off to the beach or something. I was a guest at a no dancing wedding and even though they hired entertainment (A ukelele (sp?) player) and did the shoe game and showed a slideshow made by the MOH, it was pretty boring. It was also a buffet dinner and long reception so not much time was spent on meal courses. The bride and groom to this day have no idea that it was so boring and I'm sure not everyoen was bored but our table of close friends to the groom was all ready to leave early and half left as early as socially acceptable. As a guest, I would never tell you I felt this way but I would certainly notice the lack of dancing if you have a long reception. You know your guests best and if they are typically the dancing type or the sit and chat type. I may suggest having a dance option but also a seating option nearby as we did this and it really helped to bring everyone together and allow the non-dancers to socialize while the dancers still had a place to dance. It even resulted in some non-dancers getting up for a dance or two.
UPDATE: Okay so we've decided we want to add dancing, and therefore this place we were thinking about will not work. I'm now thinking about the Royal Lahaina Resort (see my more recent post) - so if you have any experience with this place let me know!!
I think we probably will not do a cocktail hour still though... :S It might be a bit better though since guests could just go back to their rooms (it's at a hotel) instead of having to hang around a golf course.
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| Rivendeler | 15 |
| Rojocameo | 14 |
| Suikerbossie | 9 |
| Future Mrs K | 8 |
| ellisrobertson | 8 |
| keranos | 7 |
| janetsnakehole | 6 |
 deborah.dehlinger |
6 |
| MrsOliveBird | 5 |
| kat2014 | 5 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| Suikerbossie | 4 |
| NaraG |
1 |
| abbie017 | 1 |
So I have been talking to a wedding planner in Maui trying to plan out my destination wedding which will take place in August 2012. Here's the place that she suggested:
http://www.gannonsrestaurant.com/overview/photo-gallery
Take a peek at the pictures. It's essentially a restaurant at a golf course. We would have the ceremony outside on the Molokini Lookout site (a grassy lawn with a beautiful view). I would then like to go down to the beach for about an hour and take the wedding photos. I'm not sure what to do with guests during this time. I can't really afford the cocktail hour that they supply at the place. My girlfriend said she wouldn't mind buying a drink and socializing for an hour, especially since dinner would be soon anyways. I don't know if that's acceptable though...
The reception would be in a private area of the restaurant (either the upper pond or the lower lawn). It will be dinner and drinks. FI is not a dancer at all, so we may have the first dance but no other DJ/dancing type thing. What else could we do for entertainment? Would you feel let down if the reception was just a dinner and not a dance?
With the wedding like this, it would cost under $5000, which I'm comfortable with, and wouldn't want to spend too much more. I would like to fit a good photographer into the budget, but still have some wiggle room to change/add.
This isn't booked yet! So if you have any suggestions or other ideas I'd love to hear them!
Thank-you