All About Pre-dinner Cocktails

[xxIcePrincessxx]

hi sis xxiceprincessxx!!! that guestbook is the coolest and funniest idea ever!!!! i will include that at my cocktail-hour too ^^ sana meron pa sila on stock Thank you for sharing!!!

haha you're welcome sis! it's just too darn funny not to include it in the cocktail hour there are available copies pa naman sis last time I checked happy preps sis!

[soontobemrsmacho]

Hi girls! Thanks for all the ideas! Our ceremony naman starts at 4pm, so I was advised na pictorials at the church will end around 520-530pm.

Then the reception naman is not that far away from the church, but with traffic I'm not sure how long it will take. So cocktails will start at 6pm.

We plan on having a bunch of hors d'oeuvres, but grabe ang mahal sa Pen ha!! I did an estimate of their serving suggestion per person per hour and almost 150k na!!! wala pa drinks

Any other suggestions for games that can be played sa hotel? Im kinda nahihiya kasi to make our guests play games coz so many of them are oldies. hehe. But I also don't want anyone to leave early or get bored, or eat and run! Me and h2b only visit Manila once in awhile after all.

[tan.denise54]

Ang galing ng idea na to sis. Hehe. Funny and cute!

For us we'll have the candy buffet and chips station, interactive photobooth, wordgames and word puzzles at the cocktail tables.  Plus this really funny wedding guestbook "The Real Wedding of the Century"
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.490614241007123.1073741834.300650433336839&type=3

[120515]

I initially wanted to have super sized board games during cocktail hour. Pero million years mag-reply ang Supersized PH, which I think is owned by Teena Barreto (based on the email's signature), and they just sent the rates with no explanation or apology whatsoever for the super delayed response! Ano pa bang fun ideas for cocktails? I want to keep our guests busy.

hi caleeice, how about fairground games like what we're having?

we're planning 3 games:
1) shooting hoops (we'll just put up a net and 3 small balls) - person who shoots all 3 balls in the net wins a prize
2) ring toss (we'll use bottles and 3 rings) - person who gets a ring around a bottle wins a prize
3) knock cans over (we'll arrange cans in a pyramid) - person who knocks all cans out gets a prize

we're prepping all the props so they tie in with our wedding colors like painting all the bottles and cans gold :-)

[sparklingjewel]

I have a long gap between the end of the ceremony to the start of reception too. 2:30 end of ceremony, 3:30 start of cocktails, and planning for 5:30 start of program. I was hoping a few activities (wishing tree, photos, a few games (?) would be enough to tide them over two hours of waiting. But my emcee / coor advised me against a longer-than-one-hour cocktail hour. 95% of the time daw guests get bored after eating, even if there are activities around. And when i went to a wedding recently that had all sorts of lawn games, nilangaw lang nga lahat ng games nya, so sayang yung gastos sa props and materials.

After that experience, i decided to cancel the games part and just provide more food, additional seating. But still worried about the 2-hour cocktail. I dont want to start my program earlier than 5:30, kasi plan ko 6 or 6:30 serve ang dinner --- and any earlier would just be weird. Di naman namin mapa-adjust ceremony time because fiance is a budding photog and insists that 3-5pm be spent taking pictures in peak-hour lighting. Hay.

[sevangelista]

we're having 3 different food booths, a mobile bar, and a photobooth on top of the pre-dinner cocktails that the caterer will be providing. Tapos, hindi sabay-sabay bubuksan.

[rm1015]

we're having 3 different food booths, a mobile bar, and a photobooth on top of the pre-dinner cocktails that the caterer will be providing. Tapos, hindi sabay-sabay bubuksan.

hi sis ano un mga food booths mo sa wedding mo?

[belle_v2g]

Sis Sparklingjewel, i think that is a very long wait for the guests.. end of ceremony is 2.30pm then 3.30 to 5:30 ang cocktails. 3 hours mag aantay ang guests even before the programme starts.  give them something to keep them occupied otherwise they'll get cranky..

[120515]

hi sparklingjewel, i experienced a wedding with about the same gap as yours from end of ceremony to start of dinner and we had absolutely nothing to do the whole time in between. i guess what was expected was that guests were just supposed to do their own thing during the gap and just go to the reception at a later time. but we flew in to manila just to attend the wedding and our hotel was all the way in makati while the reception was in sofitel so we just decided to take the free shuttle to the hotel after the ceremony. but since there were really no activities planned for the guests, we got a little bored and cranky while waiting.
i guess the nicest thing to do is feed the guests well during this time and provide ample seating. maybe have your l/s play good music as well as have an interactive guestbook to keep your guests busy.

[j.adore]

Maybe it would help if you can put in the invites the start time of both cocktails and dinner. Guests will have an idea of the timeline that way so they'll entertain themselves.

Having ample food is a must. Activities would depend on the guests. Trip ba nila yun o kaya ba talaga nila to mingle with each other.
Maybe provide Internet connection if they are techy so they'll tinker with their gadgets while waiting?


Ours was only an hour and the caterer did a good job serving hors d'ouvres. We had some activities but not everyone participated.
I actually cut our pictorial short kasi feeling ko enough na shots (P/V wanted more pa sana). Plus, as a guest, I get bored and cranky during long wait times.

[sevenstars]

sparklingjewel, your fiance definitely won't reconsider the picture time ba? I think the difficulty lies in the fact that your wedding is out of town -- it would be one thing if you were in Manila and most of your guests were based there, kasi you could always inform them about the gap and they could choose to go home and rest or whatever. But since they're out of town they don't really have that option unless they've all booked hotel rooms, and I suspect you'll have a fair amount of guests who will be going home the same day. I honestly wouldn't be thrilled about sitting around for two hours in that situation.

[Maple19]

As a guest din, I've attended a wedding na 2 hours ang gap and it got boring even if there were lots of cocktail food and drinks served (mobile bar and starbucks booth). So with that experience I wanted to make sure the guests were preoccupied during our cocktails.

We only had 1.5 hrs in between ceremony and reception which included the travel time from church to the reception venue. To keep our guests entertained, aside from serving cocktail food and drinks, we had photobooth (which doubled as guestbook), most unique advice written on colored pads (the winner of which was announced during the reception program) and a pre-reception game (name that tune). We also had a slideshow (not an AVP) of our pictures as bf/gf and from travels shown during cocktails. Our wedding had a relaxed vibe lang so we didn't mind having these games. Gusto ko pa nga sana magpahuman bingo kaso naubusan na ako ng time gumawa. 

Sparklingjewel, I distinctly remember lang you don't like the idea of photobooths. Why not encourage guests to use your hashtag and the best uploaded photo wins a prize? That way, madami pang maupload using your hashtag. I think you can still have games before your grand entrance. Some emcees start introductions before the couple's grand entrance. You can also ask your band or strings to start na din during cocktails.

The most important thing to remember is to serve food during cocktails. My father attended a wedding 10 years ago (sa Manila Pen or Makati Shang pa nga ata) and hanggang ngayon di nya makalimutan na ang tagal tagal nagstart nung program wala man lang naserve na food at talaga naman nagutom sila ng bongga.

[sparklingjewel]

Wow, thanks everyone for the inputs!! I am definitely considering what is best for the guests in this case and making necessary changes.

I just met the AE today. From 2:30 end of ceremony, she's recommending 3:30 start of cocktails considering the travel time between church and reception. We can hand out naman a food item after the ceremony agad, outside the church so i said ok to this. Also been to weddings where this was done, and i appreciated it, para may food sa car.

Then cocktail hour 3:30-4:30. Aside from appetizers from the caterer, we will have the stylist setup extra food table and a beverage bar, and provide a photowall (good idea yang Ig contest for this Maple19 sana lang may signal sa area..although i heard someone say naman before na napakaconceited idea daw to award the best shot of the wedding---i told you, everyone just has something to say!). We'll also have those messages for the couple para lang may gawin sila. If i can, maybe the band can start playing sa cocktails nadin or i'll have the emcee come up with something more.

Anyway, we'll start ushering people to the reception right after and start the reception program at 5pm. Dinner (start of the 7-course meal) will be served mga 6pm. Of course, we'll end relatively early, mga 7:30 siguro tapos na program and then after-party dancing and DJ nalang until 9 or 10pm. We can send the guests home early as planned.

Sis sevenstars, yes unfortunately non-negotiable kay fiance i-move yung wedding namin to 3pm (to end at 4:30). Given daw that Dec wedding, by 5pm madilim na and we wont be able to maximize picture-taking sa garden venue namin. So we're sticking with the 1pm sched. Gagawan nalang talaga ng paraan yung gap.

Sis j.adore, OOT wedding kami so di sila makakauwi even if advised early about the gap. So we'll shorten it nalang talaga. And based sa nakita ko, mingling crowd sila, not ma-games hehe. Chika while eating. But i will still provide some activities just in case.

Sis 120515, yes i made sure to provide additional seating from my stylist Makadagdag narin sa look ng venue. Thanks for the suggestion, baka kailangan nga ng music

belle_v2g, i was quite expecting they'd be cranky. Hopefully maging ok na with our revised plan

[belle_v2g]

^Yes sis.. I hope masettle mo soon..

^2pm start ng ceremony namin then ends at 3.30pm.. guests will have to travel din, let's say 30 min including the traffic. Then 4:30pm start ng cocktails. 5.30 pm start ng program.. during cocktails, we'll serve 3 hors d'oeuvres, the candy buffet (freebie from my cake supplier) will be opened 30 minutes after. starbucks booth will start plus photo booth na rin. Then of course, registration for guests plus my host will give info about the cocktail games.. so hopefully the guests are pretty full and occupied while waiting for us.  Still considering to add more cocktail food but I'm thinking baka super mabusog rin sila since hindi ganon kahaba ang waiting time for dinner.. sakto lang para they can still appreciate the dinner since ang daming food na isserve ng kbyc.

[rm1015]

hi mga sis. during the cocktail hour we're planning to have the following food/entertainment for our guest.

Entertainment
On Site Studio
GuestBook Social

Food/Drinks
Margarush
Wine
Corn Dogs
Dessert Buffet
Candy Buffet
Bread/cheese Corner
StarBucks

may ma suggest pa ba kayo mga sis sa entertainment feeling namin medyo kulang pa eh. thanks.

[belle_v2g]

Sis rm1015,
You can add:
Music from your reception band
Sushi Bar
Salad station

[rm1015]

Sis rm1015,
You can add:
Music from your reception band
Sushi Bar
Salad station

thanks sis. we'll add this also. i think the guest will love it. any other suggestions that we can add?

[mdnextdoor]

We're also having predinner cocktails. Ceremony starts at 2 then most likely ends at 3 then another 30mins for photo ops. Guests will go to reception, that'll take max of 30mins. Reception is near our church and traffic would be most likely be light.. So from 4-530, cocktail food and drinks will be served. We have a problem, though. There will only be 200 pieces of canapés for 250-300 guests. My fiancé s brother said usually, each person gets a minimum of 3 canapés. So obviously, hindi siya kasya. We are having unlimited wine, coffee, tea and water station, though. Hindi ba pangit if we bring chips and/or nuts or cheese? From our package kasi, 100 canapés lang talaga ang kasama. Then we added another hundred. Medyo pricey na kasi if we'll add another hundred or two just so everyone will have something to eat.. 

[sevangelista]

hi sis rm1015, you can try Fun Filled Party (facebook.com/Rsrfoodexpress). Madali sya kausap. But, we're getting Ferino's bibingka and puto bumbong. We'll also have one of the manong sorbeteros in UP.

[belle_v2g]

^^sis mdnextdoor
Same ang timeline natin sis. 2pm din ang ceremony then cocktails ko 4:30pm. pwede ka mag add ng nuts, nachos, per table or diy candy buffet. Pwede rin magserve ng trays of donuts from krispy kreme.. mga ganon. Mag request ka na lang ng additional table from your caterer.