Wedding Timing

Hi Boxleby

It's your day do whatever feels right for you. I know a lot of waiting around can be boring, but people chat to others that they haven't seen for ages. You said you are worried about the length of your day, here is the plan so far for mine (hope you don't mind)

11.30 church

13.00 get to reception venue

**** bucks fizz and photos

**** eating

**** crossing the road and getting champagne

**** champagne cruise of the lake

19.25 all back in to thr venue

19.30- until the last person leaves. Night do.

Thank you so much! I like how you've broken it up with the champagne cruise. Our date is bonfire night and our venue has a rooftop bar so you've just given me the idea to have champagne and sparklers up on the roof while we watch the fireworks!

Having married in an iconic building myself, I obviously think your wedding already sounds awesome! I son't think 3 pm is too early to start a reception. We were forced to have the 'day' events early due to the fact the room we used for the meal needed to be handed back by 5pm so they could turn it round to be used by the public in the evening (it's a public restaurant). So we had a lull like yourselves where we worried about it being rude but so far we have only heard positive comments from our guests.

Here were our timings:

12:30 ceremony

1:15 (ish) drinks reception in top floor bar

2:15 seated in restaurant and start speeches

3:00-5:15 (ish) 3 course meal

5:15-7:00 mooch time. Most guests went for a walk round the quayside, some went back to hotel for a disco nap/freshen up, some stayed for a coffee or other drink in the room where we had the evening do. My aunties used this as an excuse to buy two outfits and change at this time.

7:00-2am (!) evening party

Boxleby

sparklers on the roof top sounds amazing.

xx

I wouldn't put a break in at that point - people will be hungry as they won't have had lunch, and probably won't want to wander around a city centre in their glad rags before getting fed. 3pm is not too early for reception if your ceremony has started early, if you want a break I'd put it between food/speeches and the evening.

We have the same quandary but in Manchester - our ceremony is booked for 1pm and reception for 4pm but they are a 5-10 minute walk apart - am considering moving ceremony to 2pm to keep it more fluid but at the same time a lot of guests may appreciate that time to book into their hotels (vast majority of guests will be coming from outside of Manchester). Not sure what to do! Added bonus of mooch time is we could have our photographer take some pictures of the two of us where we live :/

Gorgeous choice of venues!

to be honest, I would find a gap a little bit rude. Lots of people have 12 oclock ceremonies and there is no problem for the guests.

I think your timings sound fine, I went to a wedding in september with a 12 oclock ceremony -

12pm - ceremony

12.30pm - welcome drinks and photos

2pm - dinner

5pm - not really sure what to call this time, but we had more drinks, and games were set out but mostly people just sat about chatting having fun, the bride and groom had a few more photos

7pm - evening reception starts

Midnight - end

The day flowed really well and to be honest a lot of people commented how the time between the ceremony and dinner flew by and we could quite easily have spent another hour before dinner.

So to answer your questions:-

Would a 2 hour drinks reception in the Liver Building followed by a half an hour/ hour drinks reception be too much waiting around?

No, as long as there are plenty of apps, you dont want people drinking for 3 hours with no food in them. I would be inclined to have your 2 hours at the liver building, move people over the road, give them a glass of something and then get them sat straight down for dinner by about 3.30.

Is 3pm too early to start a wedding reception, I feel it'll be too long a day for some people?

No, because your dinner and speaches are likely to take 2-3 hours anyway and people will easily amuse themselves! It will be dark by the time you finish eating so your guests can go out on the terrace for a drink before the 'evening' starts.

I think if you start putting gaps in you risk people not coming back to the party - especially if they are not staying at your venue!

If your venue is 'oh me oh my'then awesome choice!! Been to a couple of weddings there and it's such a lovely venue!!

Thank you so much for all your helpful replies, I really thought about what everyone had to say. We've weighed it up and decided to go ahead and book the liver building and have a 1 hour break if people need to go off and do things but also hire the reception venue out earlier so people can head straight there if they like!

Pink 1986- I'm not sure how to directly reply but yes it is Oh Me Oh My and I'm so pleased you think it's nice!