Time to have the evening do?

Hi there what's happening at your reception? I think evening guests arrive after the wedding breakfast is done and over.....

not sure - we;re having an afternoon-evening 'do' so same guests.

We asked out guests to come at 7.30,,,, its a suitable time for arriving at an evening do..

if your ceremony is at 12.30, finish about 1ish, photos etc for a while, i reckon you could be eating about 4pm. Take 2 hrs or so for your meal.... an hour to turn the room around.... pencil in 7pm/7.30 into your itinerary.

HTH

Thanks! 7.30 sounds like a plan! Hopefully my Dads speach won't go on tooo long and we should be finished!

OMG this is so arghh its getting too close to the big day, im going mad!

Your venue should confirm times for you....

12.30-1.10 ceremony.

1.10 - 2pm meet and greet and fotos.

2-3pm more photos..

4pm bride and grooms arrival at venue.

4.30 - 6.30 meal......

put that to your planner, afterall the chef in the kitchen will have organised when you are being fed.

good luck!

I tend to work on an hour and a half for the meal, half an hour for speeches (a rough guide only) and half an hour to an hour for turn around. So the time of the sit down meal (depending on whether the speeches are before or after the meal) tends to determine the timing of evening things.

9 times out of ten the evening guests turn up before the room has been turned round, so they just join you in the bar or area of the venue that has beend designated for your use during turn around. I've never noticed it being a problem.....and I've seen very few weddings that have run to time too!

Hope that helps.

Hi ya

If I were putting together your time schedule for the day it would be something like

12.30 Ceremony

1.15 Finish ceremony, photos outside church

1.45 leave for venue

2.15 Arrive at venue - allow a bit longer than 20 minutes if you're in an older car, photos and pre reception drinks

3.45 called in for wedding breakfast

If you are having a receiving line add another 30 minutes for approx 100 people

3.55 Bride and Groom announced into room

4.00 Food served - timings allow for a three course sit down

5.30 Cake cutting - this could be done after speeches, depends if you want it taken away and cut to be served with coffee after the speeches

5.45 Speeches - try get them to stick to 10 mins each max

6.15 Coffee and cake served - to save time - serve cake with the evening buffet and have coffee poured during the cake cutting or in a different area where guests can help themselves to help clear the room.

6.30 End of daytime, room turnaround - this depends on how long your disco or band take to set up, disco approx 30 mins, band up to an hour with sound check

Now is a good time to throw the bouquet as it helps get people up from the tables......or you can wait till before the first dance where you will have your evening guests with you too.

7 if disco 7.30 if band Evening guests arrive

Just be aware of the quiet time between the day and the evening. If guests are left too long to their own devices, they may wonder off to freshen up or go off to different areas and when the evening guests arrive the atmosphere has gone and can feel a bit flat. If you don't need long to turn the room around I would say 7pm. As Sandy said, if guests arrive before it's ready, it's not too much of a problem unless there isn't another area for them to go into.

HTH

Ruth

x

A very good breakdown there. I would add one other thing....ask your band or DJ how long they take. I've seen some bands walk in and be ready for a sound check in 30 mins.....but i also know of DJs that take an hour or more to move in the gear and set up.