Early Ceremony... Time fillers?

I think with a bouncy castle and lawn games yu will be fine. People will mingle, chat, play games or wander around watching others play games.

We're also getting married at 12, with a pretty similar timeline

To be honest, we're winging that bit haha

We have a magician, so he'll probably entertain people! I think our tog might whisk us off for some more photographs, or we might run away and have a little time to ourselves for a bit!

Lawn games sound great - I don't think you need to worry! I also doubt that people will be drinking that much until the evening. Wine with the meal, champagne for the toasts... there should be plenty of food to soak that up

Thanks ladies

Magician is a great idea. We were thinking perhaps a band during the canapés and drinks so we could stretch it out a bit... But it's all so expensive!!

I would have agreed about the drinking until we went to a wedding with all my OH's friends at the weekend and they started doing tequila shots at 11.30am and a "wine wave" (which I had never heard of) during the wedding breakfast! The most ridiculous bunch of 35 year old I have ever met haha.

x

Ouch! Unfortunately I don't think providing more entertainment will stop the people who think that sort of drinking at a wedding is appropriate behaviour from doing so.

Welcome & congratulations!

How about someone playing some acoustic music in the gap? It does seem to work out cheaper than a band, as you're paying for less people's time - that's what we're doing.

Bouncy castle & lawn games sounds great though - we're thinking of doing similar & praying for good weather so it's not a waste of money.

Unfortunately drunk guests are always a problem with early weddings.

theres a lot of hanging around so people get bored & hit the bar.

I think a 3pm wedding is better.

are you serving canapés? I think you should do as people won't have time for lunch so they will need food to soak up the booze!

I think a magician is a great idea.

Oof shots? That early? Crikey

I don't think anything will stop them from doing that (unless your bar is extortionately priced!)

I'm glad you all like the sound of our magician, h2b isn't lmao

We have deliberately organised our day to include a similar 'gap'.... we wanted to give local people time to pop home to sort out animals/get changed/ whatever they need to do and folks that are staying time to check into their rooms, have a rest or whatever they need to do.

I have noticed over the years that those weddings that have no 'break' at all through the day seem to end up with people 'disappearing' at some point through the day to do whatever it is they want or need to do and we wanted to avoid people missing anything- especially photos!

I guess it's a bit different for us tho as we are 'older' and therefore our guests are too- very few young hipsters who will feel the need to drink themselves to oblivion on our guest list... more folk that will appreciate the chance to go and have a lie down for an hour!! ?

I think it's better to have too much time than not enough time. What time of year is your wedding? I think maybe you could stretch out the drinks & canapés slot a bit more, especially if you have lawn games, say 12:30-3, and have your wedding breakfast 3:15-5:30, cake and coffee 5:30-6 then you'd only have an hour to kill before the party starts. Magician is a good idea, or like you say a band/singer.

Thanks for your replies ladies, luckily we aren't having a bar during the day so we can restrict a little but equally don't want people there wishing they could get a drink and not being able to. It's all so complicated ?

As it's all being held in one location, 10 min drive from hotels, we don't anticipate people will be popping off to go and get changed etc.

Wedding is in June (so fingers crossed the weather in June 2017 is better than June 2016 is beginning) I think we will have to have a marquee arranged or something in case weather isn't good as a lot of our activities are weather dependant.

Our day is going to have similar timings although we are getting married in a church at 11:30 and then it's about a 15 mins drive to the reception venue. We decided a gap was the way to go as it allows people to either go to their hotel for a quick change/ rest, have a walk around the local park if the weather is nice or just have a good catch up with people!

I wouldn't worry too much about it, people will probably like the time to have a sit down and relax rather than constantly going from one thing to the next.

I have just booked a bouncy castle and garden games package so that the children and anyone else who is 'hanging around' has something to do in our 'gap'! I may have ensured that the bouncy castle have adults bounce on it too..... ?

I have heard that some venues are getting "jittery" about about bouncy castles due to accidents so best check if they are ok with them first. What about a caricaturist.

Luckily my venue are absolutely fine with them- in fact they suggest/recommend that one is booked for weddings with more than 8 children attending...but that is a good point regarding insurance and checking with the venue first! ?

Thanks all Really appreciate the replies and I think they've put my mind at rest a little.

We definitely going to be providing some food during the drinks reception (perhaps even a barbecue so everyone can have something like a sausage in some crusty bread) and then perhaps make it slightly longer with some entertainment (magician, band/acoustic).

Luckily venue is happy to have bouncy castles providing the supplier has insurance.