All glossary terms

Cocktail Hour Station

A high-volume catering setup designed to serve passed or station-style food during the 45–90 minute cocktail hour of a wedding.

Cocktail hour is the highest-density service moment at most weddings: 100% of guests are present, all are hungry, and the window is short. A cocktail hour station needs to be designed for throughput — small portion sizes, fast assembly, queue-friendly placement away from the bar line, and enough staff to plate continuously for 45–90 minutes without backup. Food trucks and grilled cheese pop-ups excel here because the format is naturally finger-food and the production cycle (4–6 sandwiches per minute) maps cleanly to wedding cocktail hour math.

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