Advice needed please re ceremony timings

We’re getting married at 2.30pm it was that or 12.30pm. We found out our venue has a strict wedding breakfast time of 4.30pm. So once the wedding ceremony is finished that will be 3pm giving us an hour and a half for reception drinks and photos.


If we went for 12.30pm the wedding would be done by 1pm and we would have a 3 and a half hour wait for dinner to do just our reception drinks and photos which we felt was too long.
I also am an riser and doubt I’ll sleep much on the night before, however, we have 7 bridesmaids and 8 groomsman so a lot of people to get ready for the wedding again leading to 2.30pm being a more suitable time for us.
It is all down to personal choice, I would suggest you ask the venue what time they do wedding breakfast from and go from there? Also check with the venues local registry office to see what time they do ceremonies. Some have strict times that they will not change. Hope this helps! X

@stella having the venue from 11 am need not result in a ceremony at 2pm, you could manage it for 1pm which would lead to you being called for food at 3pm (99% of the time ) by the time you have all sat you will not be eating until probably 3.30.

Depending on how many people and how many courses / speeches that section should be over by 6pm - 6.30. Then if you have extra evening guests they could come for 7pm.

The ceilidh will not be playing all night and the past ones I have shot the couple have a first dance at 8pm first via the disco and then the ceilidh takes over for a section before disco then takes over for the rest on the night.

View quoted message Thanks for the advice. I didn't even think to ask about any set times for the wedding breakfast so I'll make sure to ask that question now for any other venues we are due to see! Most registry offices give set times of 12, 2pm and 4pm for civil ceremonies so for me it would have to be 12 or 2pm. We have 4 bridesmaids and 4 groomsmen so hopefully not too long to get ready

View quoted message Thank you. It helps to know rough format/timings as this is all so new to me!

The set times of 12, 2pm and 4pm for civil ceremonies are to allow travel by the registrars between the venues.

By the sound of it my guess is that they only have 1 pair that do the venue weddings for that area. hence the 2 hour gap.

Maybe look for wedding venues with designated bridal prep areas. I have access to the bridal prep area from 8am, so our ceremony is at 12pm


There was another venue we visited and the bridal prep area wasn’t really a prep area, just an extended cloak closet, and there’s wasn’t available till 11:30am, which made me think it was probably just used for the registrar bit before the wedding, but not to actually get ready in.

My ceremony is at 1.30pm, which feels about right for me. My sister’s wedding in October was at 12.30 and as wonderful as it was, it felt like such a long afternoon - there’s only so much mingling with other guests you can do while you wait for the wedding breakfast to start.

The morning can still be a lot of fun getting ready with your bridal party!