Planning the days running order

OK I'd start by thinking "am I feeding guests once or twice?". If twice, you need time to fit in a buffet later. If you start at 3pm you may not need to, depending on the rest of the timings. How important is the party and dancing to you?

For a 3pm start and 10.30pm finish, I'd probably allow until 4pm for the service, then until 4.30pm for photos. Guests can then get drinks while you're doing that, and you'll be ready for your meal from about 5-5.30 (say 5.30 if you want to have a natter to people). By the time you've had a 3 course meal it will be 7ish. Then you want 30-45mins for speeches and the cake. Then maybe half an hour for the room to be set up for the evening. You'll probably be able to start the disco 8-8.30ish which gives you 2hrs dancing. if that's enough, then leave your timings as they are. If not, move the ceremony forward. As for throwing the bouquet - not done so much now but if you want to save time, do it as you leave the reception

The time the meal takes will depend on how many guests you have and the ratio of staff that will be serving it but our venue said to allow 2 hours for speeches and meal and we will have numbers of 60-70,

Are you having an evening buffet or just the meal ?

We are having our ceremony at 3.30pm and finish at midnight( although residents can continue to use the 24/7 bar) and I had a wobble about time restrains. So I'd advise you to think of starting your ceremony at 2pm.

Ask the advice of your venue. They will know how long it takes on average for meals and how many staff they have to serve.

We're getting married at 1pm, eating at 3.30pm, evening starts at 7pm (we think) and finishes at 12. We haven't worked out proper timings for everything yet but I'm working on 2 and a half hours for breakfast and speeches which takes us to 6 so then an hour to mingle and freshen up before evening guests arrive.

As you have a definite finish time, I'd work backwards from there. It's fairly early, so I wouldn't bother with a buffet, personally - you won't have muich time to fit it in! (This is assuming that drinks and dancing are important to you, of course.) Whatever time you invite evening guests to arrive, it's highly likely that some will come early. You don't want to still be having your wedding breakfast or doing the speeches when evening guests arrive, so allow a margin for that. I'd allow at least 2 hours for a 3-course meal, plus speeches. Suggestion:

10.30pm - finish

7.30pm - evening guests invited to arrive (early ones may arrive around 7pm)

6.30pm - finish wedding breakfast and speeches

4.00pm - wedding breakfast served

3.00pm - welcome drinks

2.00pm - photos (depending on how many you want, where you want to have them)

1.00pm - ceremony

This has made me realise I should probably bring my ceremony time forward by half an hour!

The cake cutting is usually after the wedding breakfast and the speeches, but you might want to leave it until later so your evening guests can see the cake as well. I can't remember a bouquet toss at any of the 10 or so weddings I've been to, so if you think it would be odd just leave it out. And yes, the first dance is usually the sign for everyone else to hit the dancefloor!

A civil ceremony usually only takes around 15 minutes max depending on how may reading etc you have (if any).

Best talk to your venue with regard to timing of the breakfast as others have mentioned it depends on numbers of guests and amount of staff serving....Also consider what photos you want taken and how many people are making speeches.

When I booked my venue my wedding organiser told me to work it out backwards and work out how much time you want for each thing. As we are only having 35 guests for our ceremony and w/breakfast it should only take about 2 hours to serve us. My rough timings are -

12.30 - Our photographer arrives at the venue

1.30 - Guests start to arrive

2 to 2.30 - ceremony

2.30 to 4.00 - canapes, drinks and photos

4 to 6.00 - wedding breakfast

6.00 - speeches and probably cutting of the cake

6.30 to 7.30 - mingle in the bar to give the venue time to turn the tables around in the room and for dj to set up

7.30 - evening guests to arrive

7.45 - Disco start / first dance

8.45 - Evening buffet

11 - bar shuts

12 - time to depart

Thats our rough guide so far hope it helps xx

If you really want to give your guests food in the evening but dont have time for this maybe ask your venue if they could do them bacon sandwiches to take home or somthing along them lines

Thanks so much this was really helpful! I will speak to the venue and as the dancing is v important I will aim to bring it forward to 2 to allow a bit more time on the dance floor. Its in 4 months and after having been together 14 years it all seams like a bit of a rush now!!!

A good point about feeding them. I had only planned to feed them once as I always find that no one eats the evening food anyway, and still think if I start at 2 I should get away with this.

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks. I will speak to the venue to see how many staff they will have on.

Thank you!