Stressed! Ceremony -> Reception, No meal!

Hello & Welcome to Hitched!

It's not uncommon to just have an evening reception and buffet its a great way to cut down costs.

Things I guess to consider is the distance from your church to the reception venue as this may have some effect on your timings.

Are you having a photographer? if so you will need to allow time for photos and if winter wedding will it be too dark to have photos that late.

Have you got a particular venue in mind? There are lots of alternative to having a three course sit down meal in a hotel. If you are planning a summer wedding could you find a venue where you could have a BBQ or hog roast?

x

All of this post is wise words......

Peter

From a photography point of view, I second what funky said about leaving about an hour for couple photos between the ceremony and reception, if that's something you're having. 4pm and 5pm sound very close to me, especially as it's pretty common that things run late.

If you aren't having formals in between the ceremony and reception, I would say go for 4pm and 5pm, simply because, that way (again this is just my toggy mind) you'll get a beautiful range of light of guests arriving when it's nice and (hopefully) sunny, but you'll be out in time for the magic dusky hour, and then 5pm is like an early dinner. From my foodie state of mind, notably people would've had lunch before the ceremony so they will be comfortable and not hungry, whereas for me 7pm-8pm is smack in the middle of dinner time and further away from lunch than I'd like!

Thaaank you! You've all set my mind at ease.

Yes, I have a venue in mind, a beautiful little church in Ayr (Scottish Bride, yaaaayyy!!)

All the Hotels I'm looking at are either 5, 10 or 15 minutes away by car.

Perhaps the Ceremony at 3pm, Photo's at...4/5pm and the Reception at 6/7pm?

I think that'd be okay. I mean, they will be getting fed at the Reception even though it won't be a full meal.

Could I recommend Martin Pettinger if you are after a photographer....He is based up that way....

He is a good tog and a really nice guy....

As Marianne has mentioned, good light is important. "Ayr hours" means that the light will dip earlier than down south where I am. (Mind you, quality of light is always more important that quantity)

Happy planning....

Peter

Those timings sound good to me, still enough time for people to get their sneaky lunch in before the ceremony

Thanks for the recommendation, but as it's a small budget wedding, we're going to ask a friend to do our photographs

I was thinking similarly to you in order to keep costs down,

in the end though our hotel were very flexible.

We are marrying in january at 3, then pictures done some in hopefully still light at 345 ish and some as its getting dark which is also what i wanted.

then having a hog roast buffet for my day guests at 5pm and then evening reception starting at 730 with a supper of bacon sarnies at 10pm for evening.

so still able to have 2 food times for same cost as just the day meal would have been, and i also didn't want hours of hanging around, so the day will flow straight into night do

Hi

I'm planning on having the having the exact set up as you, same timings, my only worry is, what will the other guests do while you are having photos taken, just head onto the reception venue after ey've been in photos and then maybe have a drink on arrival until you get there?

someone suggested we do a hot buffet for the day guests but I think there will be a buffet at the evening reception so seems like a waste of money?

what kind of venue is your evening reception? I'm yet to find somewhere and not sure whether to just go for a kind of function room or something more social, but the more expensive places insist on their own caterers and we will save. Lot more moe sing our own!

Thanks for any help!x

I assume that you have a veggie option too?

Mr.Sadie is vegetarian so we'll be having a veggy option, just for him

Usually when there's couple photos, the family/friends do their bits and then slink off for a drink. It's usually something they're happy to comply with hehe! Maybe if you're worried about it, make sure your photographer isn't planning to overwhelm your day with the formals, they should be able to give you a decent estimate of how long it'd take them if you give them a list of group shots that you want.