Weddingbee boards

Hey guys, So we are planning a New Years eve wedding and are a bit confused as to what to do with our food plans. We are very casual and fun kind of people and we want our wedding to be an intimate party with our nearest and dearest. 

We were talking and thought it might be cool for people to be able to kick back on picnic rugs and chairs with a slice of pizza and a beer while they watch us get married. So we were planning on starting our ceremony at 6:30pm, and have a heap of gourmet pizzas and cold drinks, beer and wine for people to eat and mingle and then I would make my entrance 715ish and everyone would be asked to get comfy and enjoy the show. (I would enjoy a beach picnic with my girls and parents before hand, while my partner will be at the ceremony with the guests, but we will be doing a first look and photos before the ceremony.

The we would move on to the reception which would be set up like a dessert reception with cupcakes, mini desserts, icecream sandwiches and choc fondue... and a table of fruit, breads, dips, cheese and savory snacky stuff.

Then at midnight we would bring out late night munchie like small portions of lasagna and salad, nachos, and chicken dippers.

There would just be lots of drinking and dancing and fun. we are having a photobooth and will be letting off wish lanterns at midnight. It sounds a bit cheap and trashy but we hope to pull it of with a real homemade feel thats a bit chic and alot of fun.

What do you think of our plans, is the pizza at the ceremony a bad idea? we were thinking of wording the invites - Please join us for Beer, Pizza and marriage (ceremony details) followed by a dessert reception (reception details).

Thoughts please!!!! 

Thanks for the Feedback guys!! The weather is not really an issue as I'm in Australia and it's summertime for us!! We will be keep the dress code casualish, and just put on the invites something along the line of coming comfy/cas but pretty for the party.

Should we maybe serve a couple of salads with the pizza? I feel like this would be too hard if we plan to serve it before the ceremony,just because there will only be some seats and a few picnic rugs... it'll be more of a grab a drink and a slice and mingle kind of a vibe.

In my experience of partying we have dinner and dessert by 8ish and then pick an snacky foods until midnight when is when about you get the need for something more substantial which would be when we would bring out the midnight snacks!

People usually only really like to pick at foods when they are drinking anyway, so if i add something a little bit more substantial to the savory table at I think we should be rocking!!

I also think the reception starting at 8pm is not too early as its only four hours until midnight, which is shorter than most receptions, and once people eat, mingle, we do speeches and dancing, they get it on in the photobooth and then we start to get organised for the wish lanterns at midnight, it'll go by fast for most people. After night the olds can have a coffee and head on home and the younger crowd can party until our feet hurt.

I'm all for a wedding being about what the couple are about. We just want everyone to remember it as more of a fun celebration of us and everyone who is important in our lives. I want everyone to look back and think "well that was refreshing and such a laugh, but gee those kids are so in love" haha

I appreciate the feedback and I'm not against the criticism, I just want to use this conversation to see if there are any major flaws to my plan I haven't thought about, and if it's just a bit too crazy! I'm so excited that most of you said it would be fun, that's just what we are after!!

Fair point about half the party going on before the bride arrives! I didn't really think about that. I think im pretty sold on the whole idea now, despite the cons some people pointed out.

I understand how people might not appreciate the informality of the whole thing, but as it is going to be a small affair with only around 60 of our nearest and dearest and on new years eve, I feel like the big family celebration will suit us well. I will just have to make sure I pull off the small details well so it still all pulls past the backyard frat party it sounds like.

The older guests are all family who are laid back enough to appreciate the informal vibe as being an 'us' thing to do. The rest of our guests are our siblings and close friends and they would never turn down a party!

Thanks again for the feedback. I look Forward to bouncing more of my ideas around on the boards as the planning progresses.

The don't have it on new years comments are quite interesting to me! Im in australia and all of our new years eve parties have been in the same sense our wedding vibe! We are only 24 and as new years falls during our summer, the majority of our past new years eves have been spent at music festivals or at lake house parties, which I guess is why we picked new years, and because it's a time when all of our family is in the one place, so we thought the would appreciate the timing. 

The groom will be mingling and running the show at the ceremony for the pizza part, I guess we know the crowd of people will be there and I think they might be a bit like "okay thats a bit different" when they read their invites, but if i pull off the details well, I really believe they will walk away from the night feeling like they had a fun time and that it all worked well.