'Empty' time between ceremony and reception...?

Here's our timings if it helps:

2-2:30pm ceremony

2:30-4pm drinks and canapés and photos

4-6:30pm sit down meal with speeches + cutting of the cake

19:00 evening guests arrive, welcome drinks, first dance

20:00-21:30 evening food

disco until midnight

I would be tempted to have photos after the ceremony, you say you plan to do it before hand to avoid people hanging round but sounds like that's going to happen anyway so may as well do it after? People will be mingling and drinking while this goes on so it shouldn't be a problem. I like your idea of beachside games though. I have seen giant chess boards and giant connect 4 games etc which I think would be good fun.

Exactly what the last post said! You are not getting married super early, photos take time and do them after the ceremony so everyone is still looking their best.

You don't need to fill any time, the little time you have will be filled with people talking and catching up and speaking to you etc.

My wedding was actually at 12 and in an all in one venue.

There were hours where we had nothing planned before the evening, but people went and enjoyed themselves at the bar, and quite a few went back to their rooms for a nap before the evening. I had a lot of positive comments from older family about this, and they were then able to stay until the finishing time of midnight without getting too tired! :-)

I am confused, why are you doing the photos beforehand to prevent people "waiting around" for ages, yet you are asking for ways to keep them occupied....why don't you just do them after the ceremony as this takes time and will stop your guests from having to "wait around".

I honestly don't understand the problem with "waiting around" during a wedding..... you are surrounded by family and friends, just chill out and chat! I imagine spending a good few hours on my wedding day just chatting and minging with a drink in my hand in the company of my favourite people.

The reason is because of the very few weddings I've been to in the UK the bride and groom disappeared for ages after the ceremony and everyone just sat around waiting and a lot of people seemed bored. Maybe these were just isolated incidents (I've not been to many weddings hence why I'm asking advice/opinions) but the best wedding I went to was in Texas and they did photos before so they could come straight out of this ceremony and be at their wedding with their guests.

I've never been one for just sitting around for hours talking eating and drinking though, so hopefully my perspective will be different to everyone else's! I like the suggestions of giant connect 4 etc - that could work well - and there's also a boat rental place literally metres away where you can hire out kayaks so maybe I'll do that too for the more adventurous guests!

Thanks for the replies - feel reassured now!

Oh and having just re-read the post above, I should point out its not ME I'm worried about getting bored between ceremony and reception - it's that I'm concerned for my guests; many of them won't know many of the other guests (our friends are from all over the country/world) so it's not as simple as them all just hanging out with their friends and family.

The photos before is to avoid disappearing off with the family for ages after ceremony - seen this happen before.

Thats time we will use it for touch up and photoshoot session. with family and some close friends.

Our ceremony is at 3:30 followed by cake/toast and a few photos. We will then have 'free-time' until 6pm when guests are invited to join us in the bar for pre-dinner drinks. We're imagining that there will be 1-1.5 hours gap where guests will check into their rooms, freshen up then come back to the bar to mingle - in reality probably before 6pm.