How to exit wedding if staying at the venue?

8pm is fairly early and somewhat unusual to finish a wedding evening celebrations - is there any particular reason (apart from the obvious that springs to mind) why "heading up to your room at 8pm" is your choice?

I don't know if it works for you, but you could have some kind of family speech, or get everyone's attention to say thank you from the bride and groom.? Then have someone announce that you will be leaving at the end of the speech?

ETA: Sorry, I completely missed you were a new Hitcher - welcome to the fun!

Hello Snailien and welcome to the forum.

I agree with ajdown in that 8pm is a bit early to be making your exit, so as the night is young in wedding terms I think you need an ending - a toast perhaps?

Im not really sure, as the others have said 8pm could be seen as particularly early to end the celebrations??

Welcome to Hitched!

An early finish always used to be the case so stick to your guns if that's what you want. You could always put something in your invitations to refer to it as an afternoon reception and mention 'the bride and groom shall be departing at 8pm'. You then have the option to make it known to your guests that they can carry on without you there if they wish.

I like CB's suggestion, mention it in your invitations and then it will be clear from the start. I think kayl's idea is great too, could you save any speeches til the end of the night? Or the two of you could do a "thank you for coming?" speech.

I think your plan for the day sounds lovely by the way.

I was always told the traditional way to indicate to older guests that the formal part of the wedding is over is to cut and serve the cake. After that, younger guests might want to stay for a drink but you will find people will start to leave then. That's why the disco (if there is one) doesn't usually start till after the cake-cutting. Hope that helps. I have also been to a wedding where the invite said 'The bride and groom will departing at 8pm' or similar and as a guest I liked it, because I knew what to expect. Another way of doing it is putting on the invite 'Carriages at 8pm'.

We know that people will be travelling home after our day, many for 2 hours plus, so it isn't a surprise to us if people start leaving at around 8pm - especially those with small children - but it is will be their choice, not ours!

I know vaguely about the tradition of "going away outfits" but I'm not so sure we'll be doing this - although I must admit my b2b might well be interested in having a short break between the end of the speeches and 'first dance' to get changed into something a little more practical than a meringue to dance in - and quite possibly some comfy shoes!

Also gives the bride a chance to make a second 'entrance' I guess...

Thanks All,

yes I think we will make it clear on the invitations. We hadn't planned on having it go into the evening at all but it seemed a nice idea to just invite a few more people for a drink at the bar.

We have not long had a baby so we want the day to be child friendly and we're not really disco people and have a tiny tiny budget of £2500!