Order of the day inspiration please!

I think you might be overestimating how quickly you can sit down for the meal.

Say you did go for a ceremony at 1pm, you won't have left the room until about 1.30pm, then 2 hours to enjoy the reception and take photos means the very earliest you could aim to sit down for would be 3.30pm.

How long the meal takes depends on the number of people being served, and whether it's hot food or not. With 100 people and a hot starter and hot main, it probably took 2 hour 15 mins until speeches could start (then another 25 mins). It was slow progress to get everyone served. When I'd finished my main, the back table was only just getting theirs. So I also thought I'd leave 2 hours for the breakfast in the timetable, but it stretched to 2 hours 45 mins in reality. You might be able to do it within 2 hours if it's small numbers. Definitely can if it's cold food.

Our order of the day is similar in that we are having an early-ish reception. However, we are having a later ceremony and there won't be a wedding breakfast, so we've advised people to eat lunch beforehand. Our OOD looks like this:

3.30pm Guests to be seated for ceremony
3.45pm Ceremony
4.15pm Photographs
5.30pm bride and groom welcome guests to the reception
6pm speeches
6.25pm cutting the cake
6.30pm comedy act
7.00pm buffet opens
7.30pm musical entertainment
8.20pm bride and grooms first dance
8.30pm disco starts - party time!

Thank you for the replies! I may go for a 2pm ceremony, after people have had lunch, although 11am sounds tempting, just means I would have to get up at the crack of dawn, but I like the idea of the lasting as long as possible. For those with a lunchtime ceremony, did you find guests got a bit antsy waiting so long for food??

We're getting married in a church, so it'll be a little different I guess, but the plan is as follows...

3pm church ceremony

4pm ish, photos at the church for half an hour or so I expect.

The reception venue is about twenty/thirty minutes away, so we should arrive there at 5ish.

Welcome drinks, canapés & photographs.

6-6:30pm we'll sit down for afternoon tea & have speeches

7.30-8pm we'll have the disco begin, first dance and cake cutting etc.

8:30-9pm bacon rolls to be served.

We're having a small wedding (30-40 guests, no extra evening guests)

Do you think this sounds ok? xx

Ours is all in one place, starting with ceremony at 2.30pm. Plan for the day is this:

1400 guests gather for ceremony

1430 wedding ceremony

1500 drinks and canapes / photos

1615 announce wedding breakfast

1630 wedding breakfast

1830 speeches and toasts

1900 bar opens

1930 evening guests arrive

2000 cutting of cake, followed by first dance

2100 evening buffet service

2300 last order

2330 bar closes / music finishes

2400 carriages

We just went with the example timings that the venue provided!

Don't worry about having the ceremony over lunchtime. People aren't stupid. If they know the ceremony is at 12 or 1, they'll have a fair idea that they won't be eating until 3ish, so will either have a late breakfast or an early lunch beforehand. If they don't, that's their tough luck.

I have about 70 day guests and 100 for night and my reception venue is about 30 minutes away

My OOD is as follows:

11.30am - Guests arrive

12pm - wedding ceremony at church

1pm-2pm - Guest to arrive from church to hotel, drinks reception maybe canape's and guests staying over to check in.

2pm -4pm - Photgraphs

4.30pm - 6pm - wedding breakfast

7pm - evening reception starts

9pm - Evening buffet is being served.

1am - bar shuts!

My MUA is arriving at 6.30am too get the 5 of us having make up done by 10.45am, so early start for us but definitely making sure we fit breakfast in first!

Ours is as follows. I just went with what the venue and caterer suggested as they have done it hundreds of times before

2pm ceremony

2.30 drink, canapes and photos

4.15 guests seated for dinner

6.20 speeches

7.00 coffee and petit fours

7.30 eve guests arrive

8.15 cutting of cake and first dance followed by band first set

9.30 eve food served

10.30 band second set

12.30 bar closes

1pm carriages

Hi DrBuffles,

Have you asked advice from your band about their set times?

With a 1am carriages time a 3 x 40 minutes band set works well.

A recent wedding we played would have been completely different if we had gone with the venues suggested times. Playing through the buffet?!

James

Hi James,

Yes we met with them on Tuesday. They said it works best to play our first dance into the first set of approx 45 mins then disco through the buffet then a longer set later in the evening.

We trust them as they have played that venue lots of times before.

Hey DrBuffles,

That's great.

The more communication between everyone the better.

Have a great time!

James.

We had a noon ceremony and it worked great. People ate at about 3pm.

My one question though - if you're having drinks at the ceremony venue how are people getting to the reception venue? If they're driving that might limit the amout of people wanting to partake there. Is there a reason why you'd rather have the drinks at the ceremony venue?

ETA: We didn't have canapes but everyone sat down at about 2.30pm and there were edible favours for everyone.

We are only buying in enough champagne for one glass per person (maybe a second for H2B & I)

We will also be offering something non-alcoholic, but most of our friends and family feel fine to drive after just one drink, so I don't think that would really be an issue

We will be spending 2 hours at the ceremony venue overall, (half hour of it to be the ceremony), because it is too beautiful to pass up on photos and exploring, and just generally soaking up the gorgeous atmosphere and scenery of it all. Plus the guests will get to explore the court & the castle ruins

We don't really fancy just going there for the ceremony and then leaving straight after.

Of course, if some of the guests want to leave any earlier, they are more than welcome too, so they can settle into our reception venue, have a drink etc. or pop home to freshen up - whatever!

This is ours:

4.30 pm Ceremony

5.15 Drinks reception and group shot photos

6.00 Guests seated for dinner (speeches, cake cutting and tea and coffee)

8.00 Evening guests arrive and bride and groom photographs taken

8.30 First dance and bands first set (1hr)

9.00 BBQ food available for guests

10.00 Band second set (1hr)

11.30 Bar closes

12.00am Carriages

Ah gotcha

I think you'll be fine with a noon wedding! I'd just pop a note in the invitations advising people to have a good breakfast as they won't be eating until 3pm.

If you went for noon I'd go with:

12.00 - ceremony

12.45 - champers and photos

14.00 - depart

14.30 - arrive reception venue and head straight in to dinner

15.00 - Everyone seated

15.30 - wedding breakfast

17.30 - speeches

18.00 - evening reception

(we started our evening at 6pm too -it worked really well and meant the evening guests could make a proper night of it.)

Don't worry about canapés if your budget doesn't stretch. Most people will have lunch then come along. Long lasting might sound lovely but I went to a wedding the other day and the ceremony was at 2.30pm so great timing. I was shattered by 10pm. It's a long day of drinking and dancing and talking and better your guests stay later rather than leave earlier. I'd say go for a 2pm ceremony but that's just my opinion xxxx

Thanks kharv! Our ceremony is booked for 12:30pm. Those timings sound good :-) thank you!

Excellent time