Cereal, coffee bars, and short ceremonies: How to ROCK a morning brunch wedding

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You might remember Missy and Ryan's lovely early morning brunch wedding with their killer gold decor. This sweet shindig came with all the fun of a morning wedding including cereal cupcakes, Bloody Marys, and a coffee bar.

They shared their setup with us and tips for how to totally rock a morning brunch wedding for a crowd. Here's how they did it.

Keep the ceremony short

If you're dealing with hangry guests, keeping the ceremony short is a life-saver. We've even got a sample morning wedding schedule to get you started. Here's how Missy and Ryan did it:

We had a friend officiate our ceremony at 9:30 a.m., another good friend wrote a loving message to share, two of our favorite little girls read some meaningful words while yet another friend played some amazing ceremony music that we hand-picked.

The ceremony was about 15 minutes long — we didn't have a receiving line as we wanted to get our pictures done before the 11:30 a.m. brunch.

Alternately, you could do brunch FIRST, then have all your full and happy guests watch your ceremony after.

Up your beverage game

Coffee, juice, mimosas… brunch beverages are the bomb. Consider a coffee bar, hot cocoa bar, Bloody Marys, and punch to keep everyone hydrated and up to their ears in bubbly. Make sure you have lots of non-booze options for teetotalers and those who like to wait until the evening to imbibe. This was Missy and Ryan's setup:

We had a coffee and cocktail hour for our guests right after the ceremony. We had a coffee bar with flavors, creamers, and custom cups and sleeves. There was a Bloody Mary bar with mixes along with skewers to fill with meat, cheese, pickles, beans, olives, and crackers. We also had an orange juice and Sprite punch.

Embrace breakfast food, the best food

You can serve any food you like at brunch. It has to be the most flexible meal ever. Eggs and carved meat and crab salad? It's all good. Plus, brunch weddings can save some serious cash on venue fees and catering costs. We've got loads of brunch food ideas, but here's how this couple tackled it with a nostalgic bend:

We had a donut and cereal cupcake bar! We brought in our favorite bakeries' donuts and then had cupcakes made from various cereals: Fruity Pebbles, Apple Jacks, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. When we arrived back from pictures at 11:30, we had a plated brunch with ham and cheese egg bake, fried potatoes, fruit, and bagels.

Longer reception? Serve second breakfast

If you have room in the budget and will be dancing the morning and afternoon away, do like the Hobbits do and serve second breakfast, elevensies, or luncheon to keep everyone on their fuzzy feet. Or just haul out a cake or dessert for a little later-in-the-day sugar rush.

We danced the day away to our DJ and served cake and pulled pork sandwiches before the band started that night. We had booked out the hotel across the road so we all were back there around 5:00 p.m. The kids swam while the wedding party freshened up and headed back to the ballroom for the band who played us a special song to dance to before continuing on the night.

Vendors

Photography: Amy Ekren • Cake: Cakes by Debbie, Alexandria, MN • Donuts: Brooten Bakery, Brooten, MN • Cupcakes: Cupcake Co, Minneapolis, MN

About the Author: Catherine Clark

@enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits

Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.