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I'm so worried about this! All this time and money spent... I really hope that I don't feel like its over before it started. I built in 2.5 hrs of dancing time at the end and I honestly hope I'm sick of it by the end of the night! lol. I want to walk away feeling like "wow that was great... and now I'm so over it" rather than "OMG I wish it could keep going longer"
I had a good time at my reception, but, yeah, it seemed to drag for us. In fact, there was a long period of time where we were both just kinda standing there, thinking, "What're we supposed to do now?" All the reception activites (first dance, dinner, table visits, cake cutting, parents dance, etc...) only took like two hours... So we left and took a bunch more pictures with our photographer, lol. Everyone left an hour earlier than we expected, and I didn't mind. 4 hours was long enough!
Our reception was from 5-11, with a cocktail hour from 5-6, dinner, dances, etc.. There were things that I didn't even know happened, it's like I was in a bubble the whole time..
I was ready for it to be over in the end. It was great, we had lots of fun, but I was very tired.
@daydreamwanderer: How long was your reception? Ours is going to be on the shorter side I feel like because we have cocktais 5-6, dinner 6:15-7:15, dances, then open dancing from 7:30-10.
At the time I was so tired and just ready for bed but looking back I wish it was much longer. (and maybe i wish i wasnt thinking about sleeping so much, lol)
I'm having a morning wedding, so the whole shebang is only 5 hours. We have the Ceremony at 10am, and then "cocktail" from 10-11am, followed by lunch, cake cutting and dancing from 12-3:00pm. We have a full weekend planned for guests, but the actual wedding itself is short! I hope it goes by fast and fun but I also hope lunch doesn't take 2 hours leaving us only an hour for cake cutting and a dance!
@CorgiTales: We had it scheduled 6-11, but I think by the time we got there it was probably 6:15. We did dinner, then cake cutting, cake buffet (we cut a small cake and had costco sheet cakes pre-cut and ready to go - they were amazing!), first dance, parents dance, and then dancing. I think the dancing probably started somewhere between 7:30 and 8, because I think the first time I asked J if it was time to leave yet, he said it was only 8, hahahahaha...
We left a little after 10pm, with a sparkler send off. Everyone danced until the end (well, some folks left when dancing started - there was a recent death of a child in the family and it was understandly hard for them to feel celebratory, and we were just so glad they were able to come at all) and a lot of people seemed disappointed it was winding down - I heard plans being made to go out to a bar :)
We had a fairly long time and I thought it was good.
Our wedding was at 2 pm, we were back at the house (where we had the reception) around 3:30. From 3:30 till 5 or so we had cocktail hour and got some pictures, it was a really pretty day so all the kids were playing and everyone got some sun. Dinner and toasts and all that good stuff lasted from 5 or so -7. Then 7- midnight was dancing, cake, parent dances, bouquet, games. A few people started leaving around 10 pm but most people left between 11 pm and midnight. Nothing felt rushed or too long to me and we were lucky since it was a backyard wedding that people could hang out as long as they wanted to dance.
We had a shuttle scheduled to pick our guests up after the reception. We actually called them to come an hour earlier because the party was pretty much over! Cocktails, dinner, and dancing went by faster than we planned out and we had a good 2 hours of straight dancing! So, we actually ended ours earlier than planned.
My reception went really fast!
I had a great time and didn't leave the dancefloor all night - dinner ended at 8:30 and the reception went till 1am. It was fabulous and I enjoyed every minute.
Our reception went from 6-11. It absolutely flew by. I had the best time ever. I didn't want it to end. We were the last ones to leave. And we all went over to a friend's house for an impromptu after-party. It was so fun!
I dragged DH out of there around 2am so we could go back and enjoy our room at a gorgeous hotel on the beach.
We were supposed to stay for a while the next day to enjoy the pool. My mom arranged a late checkout. But it was gray and cloudy so we went home and ended up having an impromptu open-house/bbq at our house. So many people came by it was like another reception.
It seemed like it went at a normal pace to super fast (depends on what points in the evening). But, on the whole, it definitely flew by.
Our ceremony was over at 4:45. Cocktail hour began and guests were seated for dinner at 6:30/6:45. We had the venue til midnight and we stayed that long (I didn't want to leave my own party, so no grand exit). I remember being really sad around 11pm (when our photo booth was wrapping up and I barely had a chance to get any pictures!).
People started thinning out post-cake (I was actually surprised how many - people who had to wake up early the next morning, had childcare issues, were tired, etc.) but a decent sized group stayed til the end. I would have been happy hanging out and dancing for another hour or so... but I was super tired, by the time we reached our hotel.
We got there after 1am and hit the hotel bar for a drink and just time to decompress and talk about the day. It was a perfect time for just us.
The day of, it lasted the perfect amount of time. I remember hearing the last song and thinking "Oh, its over?" but at that point I was sort of glad - I was getting tried and my shoes were just starting to hurt. Looking back on the day though, I do feel like it went by quickly.
Ours went by WAY too fast, we feel like we didn't even get to talk to everybody, we didn't really have time to dance, and shoot, we didn't even really have time to wander over to our open bar and grab a drink! If I could go back in time I would have done whatever I could to have given us at least 1 or 2 more hours!
By the end of it I was ready for it to be over...there were a few times toward the end of the night that I really just wanted to get out of there so I could take my dress off! The boning was digging into my sides and it was hurting so badly. We also had dancing throughout the reception, so by the end of the night I was exhausted from jumping around on the dance floor.
Not just the reception, but the whole day went by in super overdrive. Even the getting ready portion of the day, which lasted over four hours, seriously went by in a flash. Every time our DOC would tell me that it was time to move on to the next thing in the day's timeline, my first thought was always, "Already? But I'm enjoying what we're doing now!" At the end of the night, I definitely wished that it could keep going for a few more hours. Reflecting back on it during the honeymoon, I remember telling my husband that I wished the whole day could have slowed down to half-speed so I could soak in every moment twice as much.
We had our reception between 8 and 11:30. We did the dinner separately and then moved to another area for dancing, cake and drinks. Ours went by so fast. A lot of people left shortly after dinner but that was already around 10pm. I worked hard to make sure there was a good flow for the music and other things for guests to do. Trivia cards on tables, anniversary cards to sign, a lounge and coffee bar outside and away from music so people could relax and talk and it wouldn't be too loud.
One thing that i am so glad i did was changed into a reception dress. When i had my wedding dress on i could barely move around without someone stepping on it and that was with it bustled! Once i put on my reception dress i was able to dance and move around. It made things so much more fun because i was more comfortable!
I am joining the "it went by very fast!" club.
Our ceremony didn't start until 7:30, so the reception started around 8:15. Once we made our rounds and such, the next thing I remember is someone handing me a noisemaker and hearing the midnight countdown!
I ate, drank a glass of wine, and suddenly it was almost 3:00am, and I was exhausted. LOL.
@hilsy85: I think, I'm not sure, but I think you were the bride with the really funny picture of how tired you were towards the end of the reception. Was that you?
My reception just flew by. I wish it had lasted at least 3 more hours! We danced the night away and I was totally shocked when the DJ called "Last song" of the night. I remember thinking, "What??!!!!" It's over??? It had to be the absolute fastest night of my entire life! It was amazing, just wish it hadn't flown by so quickly!
I remember thinking that I didn't have enough time to eat and not having enough time to get to every table.
It flew by for me.
i felt like it went by at a normal pace. i was so caught up in really being in the moment, so that's probably what made it seem normal, rather than speed by. my husband was ready to leave at 10, but i made him keep dancing and we left at 11:20 when the DJ was done!
Ours went by very fast up until a certain point. Right after the cake cutting I hit a wall. It had been flying up until that point but then all of a sudden I got really tired and exhausted and was ready to go. I told my husband at that point so then we did garter/bouquet tosses and went down to do our sparkler send off. That was the last 30 minutes of our night though. Even though it went by fast I was glad when it was over because I was ready to be alone with my husband and go to sleep!!
Yes, I remember feeling that my wedding reception went by in the blink of an eye, and I wished I had had the option to extend it a bit longer. Oh well, it was still a blast!
@bRooklynRocks: Haha! Yes, that was me :) It pretty much encapsulated how I felt toward the end of the night:
I felt like our reception was over in the blink of an eye, but at the same time I was so exhausted. We had 200+ people at our reception and we had a seated dinner. After the salad, we rushed to great multiple tables of guests. Then we ate the main course, and went table to table again. Then we had father/daughter and mother/son dances, then we went table to table again, then we danced, and cut the cake, and ate cake, and tried to see as many people as we could. And we danced and sang and had a good time. And then it was time to leave, and despite being tired, I couldnt' believe the party was over.
It really felt like a blur. I only remember small parts of it. It seemed like I didn't even get to do some of the things I wanted to do, including visit more with guests, especially some of my friends. We didn't even get to visit the tables. Of course our reception was only 4 hours long, one hour shorter than most. And we (wedding party) arrived/started about half an hour later than we had originally predicted.
However, my ceremony is very memorable and seemed to last the normal length, etc.
@daydreamwanderer: Hahaha I felt the same. It ended at 10, but I was hoping around 9 everyone would leave lol. They kinda did and I left too to clean up stuff. I was glad it wasn't just me that was tired lol. Weddings are a looooong day and if you're not tired at the reception, it will hit you when you get to the hotel!
LOL Love the pic! I think I made that same face a couple of times during my reception. It wasn't that it wasn't fun or anything but I was just so emotionally and physically drained by the end of the day. We did what the OP said and just took a bunch of pics out on the beach at the end. My BFF and her husband actually wanted to take my husband and I out to a local club afterwards and I declined. All I wanted to do was sleep!!! hehe
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Beekeeper
Another bee just posted on another thread something to the effect of "your reception will go so quickly"
That wasn't my experience at all! In fact, we ended up leaving 45 minutes earlier than scheduled, because I was so tired. I hardly slept the week up to the wedding, ran on adrenaline the whole time, and when we sat down after the wedding was over, for dinner, I think I could've fallen asleep right there at the head table.
I actually asked my husband if we could leave as soon as we were done with the first dance, hahaha... he said no.
(Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed myself and danced the whole night, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting the minutes until we got to leave and just have 'us' time instead of being around so many people!)