Post # 1
Member
1413 posts
Bumble bee
So our wedding is in September 2014. We are having the ceremony hopefully outside (weather-dependent) and it will be brief – 20 minutes at most, I’m guessing… and then the reception will be right afterwards in an adjacent building – no driving, just walking across a little park. If it rains, we’ll be doing the whole thing inside.
Trying to figure out when to book the venue for – the default is a 4 hour block, but we can pay for extra hours if we want to. Does 4-8 make sense? Sunset will be around 7 so it will be light out for the ceremony and most of the party.
My fiance was wanting to have the ceremony in the afternoon but I don’t think people want to eat dinner much before 5, so that’s why I came up with the 4-8 window. We need to book so I wanted to see if others had thoughts/perspective. Is 4 hours a good amount of time?
Thanks!
Post # 3
Member
10454 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
It depends what you want. You won’t fit dancing or a big party into that 4 hour slot, so if you’re ok with that then 4-8 sounds fine. Are you doing pictures before?
Post # 4
Member
1413 posts
Bumble bee
@Pinkmoon: Thanks! We do want people to dance… I guess I thought four hours would be enough time for dancing. Is it not?
Wasn’t planning to do photos beforehand but I don’t want a bunch of posed photos … I’d rather have candids of people having fun at the reception, you know?
Post # 5
Member
10454 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
@HannahGrace: Well if you aren’t eating until 5, say that’s done by 6:30… that doesn’t leave a ton of time for dancing. It’s also fairly early, and I’m just basing that off my own opinions – I wouldn’t feel like dancing much at that time because I need to be liquored up before I display my horrible dancing skills!
Post # 6
Member
1413 posts
Bumble bee
@Pinkmoon: Haha, true, it’s not like we are feeding people jello shots when they walk in or anything. Would you push the whole thing later?
Post # 7
Member
10454 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
@HannahGrace: I think what I’d do is make is 4-10, or 5-11 or something. Those extra 2 hours would make a big difference I think. Is the extra cost reasonable?
Post # 8
Member
544 posts
Busy bee
@HannahGrace: I agree 6 hours for the reception is probably best. Do you need to reserve time for set-up and clean-up as well? While our wedding was 6 hours, we had the space for 8 hours to allow for set-up and clean-up.
Post # 9
Member
1413 posts
Bumble bee
@kenziemt: Yeah, we did realize that we need to ask about setup – if we need to pay to come in to set up / clean up (or to have someone else do it, more likely) then we will need extra time for that.
@pinkmoon: The extra cost for extra hours is not too bad – I think it’s $100 an hour – I just don’t want a long, dragged out event. We are having a tiny wedding – 50 people – so no matter how long it is, it won’t be a big rave or anything. 🙂
Post # 10
Member
1570 posts
Bumble bee
@HannahGrace: We are doing a 20 minute ceremony as well outside (weather permitting) and the reception will be held inside the wedding site. we are elotting 6 hours from Ceremony to end of receptionand it still doesnt feel like enough time.
This is out time frame (this is just an estimate)
5 – 5:30 – Ceremony
5:30 – 6:00 – cocktail “hour” (open bar)
6:00 – 6:15 – Entrance and get ready for dinner
6:15 – 7:15 – Dinner, Speeches, Cake Cut
7:15 – 7:30 – First Dance, Mother son dance, and Father daughter Dance
7:30 – 8:30 – Dancing
8:30 – 8:45 – Garter Toss and Bouquet Toss
8:45 – 9:30 – Dancing
9:30 – 9:35 – Groom/Grandma dance (fiance’s request)
9:35 – 10:55 – Dancing
10:55 – 11:00 – Good bye speech and last song.
Post # 11
Member
1413 posts
Bumble bee
@Waitingbee57: Thanks, that’s really helpful! We aren’t doing any formal dances, speeches, or tossing anything. Just having dinner, hanging with people, and hopefully dancing a bit. I guess that’s why I thought the 4 hours could work, but it seems I am being unrealistic.
Post # 12
Member
1570 posts
Bumble bee
@HannahGrace: If you dont have to squeeze in all of those annoying things I wish I could do without, I think 4 hours is perfectly doable (not counting the ceremony. I would plan it like this (you can obviously change it up)
4 – 4:15 entrance
4:15 – 5:45 – If you are doing a cake cut you can do it in this time.
5:45 – 7:45 – Dancing
7:45 – 8 – Good bye speech (if you want, or you can always nake rounds) and last songs and dances if you would like.
I think 4 hours would be perfect for that kind of a wedding and honestly I think if you provide liquor from the start enough people will get liquored up enough to dance 😉
Post # 13
Member
1413 posts
Bumble bee
@Waitingbee57: Thanks 🙂 Ha, it would be pretty funny to like hand people champagne as they got to the park … “grab a seat, drink up, the dancing starts soon!”
Post # 14
Member
1570 posts
Bumble bee
@HannahGrace: lol. I always have to make schedules to know if it is going to work or not so excuse my whole schedule thing. lol. But yes I would love to go to a wedding that hands me booze the second I walk into it…
Post # 15
Hostess
8584 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
Ours goes a little something like this.. mind you.. we are having between 40-70 guests, and we are having food “stations” to avoid long lines so our food service will probably be slightly quicker than normal.
4:00 pm
Ceremony begins!
4:30 pm
Cocktail hour/photos
5:30 pm
Buffet style dinner.
Bar Open
6:30 pm
First dance/Wedding Dance/Dollar Dance
7:00 pm
Candy buffet, cigar bar & photo booth will open.
8:00 pm
Cake cutting & serving, follwed by garter & bouquet tosses.
9:00 pm
Late night snack – Nacho Bar
11:00 – 11:30
Party ends!
Post # 16
Member
544 posts
Busy bee
@HannahGrace: We had cocktails and snacks available when guests arrived for our ceremony. It was great!
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