what is the best time for a wedding?

Just booked ours for 2pm so im obviously going to say that is the best time.....the plan is to sit down for meal at 4 ish so thats ok!

I have got my church booked for 12.30pm. But that is because i have a winter wedding and wanted to make the most out of the day light. We will sit down about 2.30-3 for reception meal.

I think 2 is fine though, meaning you will sit down 4ish - 5 to eat...meaning the day guests wont be majorly hungry for evening buffet so you can just cater for 75% of guests?

x

I think it all depends on you... how far venue and church are (Or if its in a hotel) Just plan it out to your day.
We were having at ours at 1pm BUT we have just changed the time to 4pm to skip the sit down meal!!

xx

We are getting married in a church and the venue is a 7 minute drive down the A1 but to give people faffing time i reckon we need to leave 20 minutes, we are getting married in july so not worried about the light

Well i was getting married at 2 but then i changed it to 11, i personnley thought it was too late for me i want a full day- im only doing it once ha ha

We're having a similar dilema. We're having a church wedding, then 20 mins to venue, plus photo time etc.

I want the day to last as long as possible so I'm with other ppl re starting early. But...we have a lot of people travelling for about 1 hour so I want to give ppl time to get up/get ready/get there. 11am would be too early for me.

I went to a wedding recently and had to get up really early, didn't have time to go to the hairdressers, had early breakfast then travelled. I was tired, hungry and grumpy by the end of the church service....then drunk before the meal cos they had pre-dinner drinks and all I'd eaten was a bacon butty at 7am!

Just my thoughts and the things I will be bearing in mind

x

There isn't a best time. You just plan the day as you want it.

I am not sure as people may want to save the money and drive up in the morning as it is a 2 hour 40 minute drive and not planning on having a evening do, people are either invited to the whole day or not at all with no evening buffet which is why i think 2pm is a good idea other wise will need to organise extra food....

Exactly my thoughts your paying for it and having all the stress so you choose, when i asked my mate about it she said 'stuff the time been too early if they are real friends/family they will enjoy it what ever time it is and will not complain' lol

We opted for 12 as I'll be up at the crack of dawn anyway so wanted to get the day started!! Plus gives us a longer day and things can be more relaxed and less rushed.

It does mean we might have a break before the evening do as we've only got 30 guests in the day but I think that'll be nice to talk to everyone.

We're a 2pm wedding. Figured it gave people enough time to get there in the morning, negating the need to stay over on the Friday night. We get a full afternoon and evening with our guests. Very little hanging around and I won't be asleep on the dance floor come midnight!

We got hitched at 11.30, which I know alot of people say is very early but it was perfect for us.

Our timetable was:

11:30 Marriage Ceremony

follwed by photos on the balconary and then travel to house (bride and groom to local park for photos

12:15 Champagne & Canapés Reception

13:00 Bride & Groom join reception

14:30 Lunch

15:30 Speeches, and Toasts

18:00 Drinks and Dancing

19:00 Blessing of Wedding

12.00 - Taxi’s -

Hi Lovelygirl,

It depends on all kinds of things, distance from wedding to reception, time of wedding breakfast....and the huge factor, the time time of year with winter giving us much shorter days.

This article may help and explains some of the factors in a lot more detail. https://brianparkes.com/wedding-photography-planning/Planning-Photography.asp

I was given the choice of 2pm or 4om, and went for 2pm, as I thought 4 would be too late, as we have to be out of the venue by 11pm... (unless we cough up for a late liscence, which is... unlikely on current budget)

Our rough day's outline is as follows:

2pm wedding

3pm - end of service, drinks on lawn, bride & groom have photos taken. canapes for guests (and us if we get the chance)

4.30pm dinner

6.30 speaches!

7 - dancing till 11....

I don't know if we'll hang on to 11 or leave slightly before - Mum wants us to make a grand exit i think, but on the other hand i want to stay and chat!

Thanks for that link Brian it is a really interesting read! I am getting married at Buckden towers - in the catholic church which is part of the complex and we can use the grounds for photography. The priest/deacon will allow photography as he is my FIL2b. i need to work out a list of photo groups! There are lots of trees and backdrops of gardens, trees and buildings with arches

We're getting married at 1.30pm, I didn't want it to be too early as I didn't want to be in a rush getting ready in the morning. We're estimating 30 mins for the ceremony, then 2ish hours for drinks, photos and general socialising, sitting down at 4ish for the speeches and dinner, then out of the room for 6.30/7ish so it can be set up for the evening reception with the guests arriving 7.30pm onwards x

Very useful article there Brian, thank you!

I don't think there is a best time just what suits you for comparrison our church service is due to start at 1pm we reckon an hour for service then half an hour for a few group shots at church weather permitting.

then a 20-30min drive to reception venue where will have wel;come drinks and estimate sitting down to dinner half four to five ish then dinner and evening guests to start arrving seven to half past.

Still umming and ahhing over moving it to 1.30 pm - will have a chat with H2b this evening

I really wanted a 2pm wedding so I had time in the morning as I'm really not a morning person and as we're at the same venue all day we thought that wuld lead to less waiting time inbeween parts of the day. Turns out (sorry to bore those who've read this from me before!) that even though we booked it 15 months before the wedding 2pm wasn't available so we're having a 12pm wedding. Making the best of it (gonna have to get up ridiculously early as I'm getting my hair done at 8am and want to start tying the chair sashes around the chairs early so will be at our venue at 7am!!) but I really hope there's not much time inbetween. Still, on the positive my wedding day will be longer & I get to wear my dress for an extra 2 hours!!

I know when I was planning the wedding over here I wanted a 12pm start, so to have a full day. Then when we realised budget as OH's family is MASSIVE we realised a 4pm start would be best, as to skip the costs of a sit down meal. Not my perfect plan but his family really is huge and couldn't miss anyone out! For me it depended more on budget than anything else!! xx

We wanted 2pm (does seem to be a very popular time) but the latest time available on our chosen day was 12.30pm. Still happy with that though! If it had only been earlier slots than that still avbailable I'm not sure what we would have done - chosen a different date I guess!

I do wonder who books the early morning wedding slots! ?

well We've our church booked for 1230. then pics after, then sit down meal at 6. We will do a line-up from 530 for the guests going in to dinner and the wedding coordinator will call the people in their tables. We are habing 120 guests, so allowing the half hour for that. then evening reception is on invite at 8 (for 8.30 really just so the psople will be there on time!) we have a 15-20 minute drive fromt he church to the hotel so we have to bear that in mind!

Well i am hoping that corralling 60 people should not be too hard fingers crossed and we are thinking about putting a taxi minibus on for people who are coming with no cars to speed up the process of moving from church to venue rather than trying to coordinate free places in cars.....

Hiya we are 2 pm too which I had always wanted - didn't want to rush in the morning, or have that lull in the day before evening do which can be a pain for guests (and didn't want me and OH to lose energy - sure we won't!) but i have to say now we're so close and have worked timings out with the venue, I sort of wish we'd chosen 1 pm. Would still have been in afternoon so guests weren't in major rush, etc, but would have given us a bit more time as we're having a Catholic service it's a little longer, then we're half an hour from venue, then with pics and all that we won't be sitting down to eat til 530 and our party finishes at 12/1230 so I feel the eve do won't be as long as I'd have liked.

It's not a big deal though and I don't regret it as such, just if you have the choice now it is worth thinking about

Our ceremony starts at 12.30pm, it is all in the same place, so thinking time for photo's, amble about and mingle, then sit down about 3pm for meal, then drinks etc before evening do. My mum has kindly told me that the day will be too long and everyone will be bored and leave (charming) but I don't care, I agree with Breals - I am only doing this once I hope lol and I want it to last all day!!