What to do between the end of the wedding breakfast and the evening do?

Just open the bar and they can all get hammered! Then I doubt they'll even notice time passing!

Ditto!

Hi esser

i have the same...2 to 2.5 hours between brekkie and and evening do. My venue has a lovely bar which opens onto a patio overlooking a fab lake and golf course so I am just hoping everyone goes there. i am not putting anything on for guests cos it's just added cost. Also those booked into the venue's rooms will have chance to freshen up and stuff.

Oh be honest I think sometime people appreciate a bit of a break before the evening, esp if they have just had a large meal. Also the gap may be shorter that you imagine if you go slightly late with speeches or anything...

We were running slightly behind and eve guests were arriving just as we were getting up from tables after the speeches but some of our guests still found time to get in an impromtu game of cricket! That was not what I was expecting to see out the window when I came back from having my bustle tied up!

Having done a lot of all dayers< I've seen bigger gaps between the end of the wedding breakfast and the start of the evening entertainment and they never seem to be a problem. After a big meal people are happy to relax and chat. The gap that sometimes causes the problem is if there is a huge amount of time between ceremony and meal....then folks appear to get restless. If you have children attending have a drawing table for them with a purpose (ie they have to draw pictures of the two of you that get put in a little album) and encourage guests to contribute to the guest book during this time. Having background music can easily be arranged and helps with the atmosphere.

We had the same problem, or at least we thought it was a problem...

To be honest, our guests loved it, it was such a nice day they wanted to get back outside and enjoy the sunshine. Everyone just mingled, had a drink or two, wandered around. It was actually the fastest part of the day for me. I thought 'great, it gives me time to speak to everybody'! Nope! I spent most of it talking to two or three out of our 100 guests!

Claire xx

Your guests will be quite happy as long as there's somewhere to sit and have a drink and chat before the evening do starts ? At every wedding I've worked at there's been a fairly substantial gap but it's never been a problem and I've never seen anything 'official' organised other than music occasionally ?

Meant to add - it's also a good time to get your videographer to get some comments from the guests if you were thinking along those lines? I have done this a few times and just find a quiet corner somewhere and get one of the ushers to round people up ?

As long as they still have somewhere to sit, and there is a bar open, they'll be fine left to their own devices, so don't worry.

I went to a wedding 2 years ago where the wedding breakfast finished at around 4pm, and the evening didn't start til 7.30pm ? and we weren't allowed to stay in the room as they were rearranging it for the evening and the band were setting up. The only place we could go was the very small hotel bar, which wasn't staffed - so we couldn't even buy a drink! Most people went home or to the local pub. Very weird day!

I cant see this as being a problem, so don't worry.

I think the guests will be quite happy to have a little bit of a breather to be honest before the evening starts. I'm not sure how long you have booked your photographer for but,this will be the time he will be taking some informal shots of your day,you will be surprised how much time he does need to capture your day. I'm not sure if you are have musicians booked or not, but that would be a great to have them cover this time ,to give a little atmosphere,but if the budget to straight to that , don't worry.

I hope you have a very special and memorable day

Elizabeth

Ive got a gap of 1.5 - 2 hours till the evening starts what i have done is allow 30 minutes as a bit of a buffer time as im sure the Wedding Breakfast will overrun. Our venue has got amazing grounds and lakes etc and is in the middle of nowhere so most guest will be staying and as we are having a small wedding, im going to invite the evening guests to arrive from 6 so they feel more involved and will be doing something called nearest the pin, jenga, coits etc all sorts of garden cames so people can come and go as they please and then the evening will start from 7ish - 7:30ish

The below is what ive put in the order of the Day

5:30pm – Free-time for guests, use this time to check in to the hotel, wander round the grounds or freshen up ready for the evenings entertainment.

6pm - Join us playing nearest the pin on the terrace

Evening guests start to arrive

7pm – Evening Receptions starts in the Bistro

Thanks for all your advice. Much appreciated x x

We are having our coffee and cake after the meal, served on the lawn (if its nice), then we are hoping that people will just have a walk about and a chat. Also like others have said, sometimes things run over and the gap is less.

Are you my date twin?

We thought we had a 1.5hr gap, but we overran and some evening guests (who arrived a bit early) actually arrived whilst we were still sitting down, albeit mostly finished. Everyone decamped to the bar whilst the room was switched around and it was no problem.

Ooh Zippy looks like I am .... cool x

How exciting! I had a couple on the 2010 list but I havent seen them on here since they joined. How are your plans going?

I have a gap of about 1.5 hours I think and I was thinking that it might be nice (and quite english!) to have a mini game of cricket in the grounds or something! Obv this would be weather permitting but we are getting married at a castle so i was thinking it might be quite cute for guests to be stood around drinking champers whilst some of the others indulge in a little cricket match!

I havent actually asked the venue if this would be ok yet but i cant really see it being a problem! Also, although i would love to play a game in my wedding dress (imagine the pics!) i think i would be mostly pre occupied with talking to all our guests!

x