How long for Wedding Breakfast

4.30pm ours starts and we have said 7.30 for 8 for the evening guests, so yes, about 3 hours

Think ours starts about 4, I would leave at least 2 1/2 hours - think ours is 3 too.

We're allowing about 3 hours too ?

Is that just the meal and speeches?

So far I have 4pm Church Ceremony which we have been told takes about 1 - 1 and a quarter hours, minimum photos outside to speed things up, travel to venue, drinks and photos, that means we wont sit down til 6 then the 3 hours, then they need to change the room - we wouldnt be able to start evening reception til 9.30?!

So flippin complicated, just when I think we finally get the church ?

Could you have drink and photos between the meal and the evening ? would that work ? will nearly dark when you get there anyway so it won't make a difference to the photos. Also are you having people just come for the night or is it everyone there all day ? (forget PM you before - will do later ) x

You're pretty much there with your proposed timings:
4.00-5.15 ceremony
5.15-5.30 photos at church
5.30-5.45 travel to venue (assumed only 15 mins)
5.45-6.30 photos & drinks (bare minimum)
6.30-9.30 meal & speeches (could cut down by 1/2 hr if under 60 guests & set meal)
To be honest you won't have time for an evening do as well but if you only plan to have one set of guests, that'll be OK. If not, no guests probably wouldn't want to arrive after 9.30 for an evening do.

Yes we were having seperate lot of people coming for the evening so that is what I thought we cant say come at 9.30!!!

Did a costing before to have everyone there for the one and it took us 1k over budget!!

I did think to do the speeches at the evening, we are only having 50 people to the meal and its a set meal with no choices so going to speak to the venue, on Thursday - no-one around to help me there til then!!

We sit down around 6pm and aim to finish at 8pm but we're not having speeches or toasts.

'Top Tips' from my experience!

Moving from Church to reception always takes longer than you would imagine! After the ceremony EVERYONE will want to talk to you and take photos of you, it is highly unlikely that you will be ready to leave after only 15 minutes. You will be carried away by the moment, not looking at your watch and hurrying people along. Even when you are ready to leave, it takes ages for people to actually get into their cars and get going! I have seen this 100 times, and it always makes me laugh when people tell me they will be starting their drinks/photos at the reception 20 mins after the ceremony as it is only a 10 min drive! In reality, I'd say that if you have a 10/15 minute drive, allow at least 45 minutes for all guests to get to the reception. To put it into perspective, if we are playing music for both church and reception we can usually pack away in church (including PA system), load the car, drive to reception, unload the car, set up equipment (including PA system), and have a cuppa before any guests arrive! 9 out of 10 times this is fine as most people allow 1.5 - 2 hours for drinks and photos, but if you haven't got that long you could be cutting it fine.

Sorry for going on so much, but in my experience this is the most common mistake with timings, meaning that photos at the reception end up very rushed, or the meal having to start late, which would really annoy the chef!!

On the plus side, I would say that the average church ceremony only takes 45 - 50 minutes (unless Catholic, which takes around 1hr 15mins), so you could gain some time there (as long as you are not late!).

As for the meal, I'd say that the average time would be 1hr 30mins without speeches or toasts, 2 hours is the longest I've ever known. I've usually finished work by the time speeches start, but I often have to hang around to pack equipment away - this can be the unpredictable bit as I've known speeches to take anything from 10 mins to 1hr 45mins!!

How sad am I?!!! Think I've been to too many weddings lately!

Anyway, that's enough typing practice for today, hope it helps!

?
Steve

Sounds like your timings will make it really difficult to do a separate evening do. I'm worried that we're on a bit of a tight schedule and these are our timings:
2.30 Ceremony in barn
3.00 Drinks & photos in house
4.30 Sit down to eat (plated starter so all already out) in barn
2 hours for meal and speeches (although not including coffee)
6.30 Coffee in house
7.30 Start of evening reception in barn
7.50(ish) Band start and first dance.

If you did the speeches in the evening it could possibly work...I think it could easily feel rushed though, especially as if the church service is that length sitting down to eat at 6 will be tight. I would say as an evening guest I wouldn't expect the reception to start any later than 8pm.

Could you abandon the formal wedding nreakfast for a hog roast / buffet or similar so everyone can be there for everything or so that you have certain guests to church and longer drinks reception, then more people to the evening reception starting at around 6.30 - 7ish and including food? I think that's what I'd do in your position.

Forget the wedding breakfast, go straight from drinks reception into evening reception and have a buffet for all.

Sdaisy - for what it's worth, your timings sound spot on to me! At least you have 1hr between meal and evening guests, so it won't matter too much if things run a little late.

Another point I forgot to mention is 'line ups'. These can take a good 15-20 mins or more. No problems if you have allowed 1.5 - 2 hours for drinks/photos, as you can use some of that time for the line up before the meal.

Many thanks for all your posts. Basically it has confirmed that we cant go with the Vicars time, it would just be too rushed. Unfortunately we are tied into the contract with the venue, so have to have the wedding breakfast and buffet.

Musicman - what is it you do?

Hi, I'm also struggling to organise times. I haven't been to a wedding in this country for years and have no idea what a 'line-up' is! Somebody please tell me, what is a line up?!

Thanks!!

Ours was about three hours or so.

To be honest, I'd think it quite unusual to see both a wedding breakfast and a buffet for such a late wedding. I tend to imagine the 4pm-ers are doing an evening meal for all guests (either sit down or buffet), with no separate evening reception.

I'd agree with this I'm afraid. It's a shame about having to have a sit down meal as Melancholie's suggestion would have worked well.

Is there anywhere else you could get married earlier? Could you have the ceremony at the reception venue and maybe have a blessing afterwards (either on the day or after)?

The line up is the receiving line where the bride and groom formally receive their guests. It's not compulsory by any means but can take a long time and the more guests the longer it takes. It's nice though because it's the one guaranteed opportunity for people to see the B&G and congratulate them. We prob won't have one as there's only 28 of us and we will see everyone. X

1-1 and a quarter hours for a ceremony? I was told it would be around 45 minutes.

We have allowed 2 hours for ours.

A line up is where the bride and groom formally greet each of their guests before the wedding breakfast. It is also known as a receiving line.

Church services with communion are often longer.

Odd to bump a post from 6 years ago. Why not just post a new thread? ?

Just a quickie as at work but our timings were:

4pm ceremony at church

4:50 left church for reception for 25 min drive

5:20 arrived at the reception

6:15 sat down and speeches first followed by 2 course meal (no one missed the starter at all)

7:50 all done

8pm evening guests arrived

8:15 first dance and cake cutting (although this got put back to 9pm so we could have some pics)

It worked perfectly for us I have to say - we had evening hog roast just after the first dance.

But I would possibly have moved it to 3pm wedding if I could just to have that extra time for drinks reception to mingle more.

We had sit down and evening meal as we only had 60 to the day and then another 60 in the evening and it did work really well I have to say.

Good luck with the planning!