Wedding timetable - help!

Hi there, our wedding is at 1.00 pm. We're having the ceremony, breakfast and reception at the same venue, with 102 daytime guests and 130 evening guests. Our reception is scheduled to start between 7.00 and 7.30 pm, pending on how long it takes the band to set up.

Going off my timings, you may be a little bit pushed to get the getting ready pics and the first dance pics - why not ask your TOG and see what they say? You may only need an additional half hour to be on the safe side?

Hi, I'm marrying in Lapland and only have my TOG for one hour for the actual wedding. Would love to have getting ready pics but too expensive. My witness is taking some for me. Probably not the same but if you absolutely can't fit it all in and can't afford TOG for longer then that's an option. I would definately fit your first dance in when you have the photographer there. I am. Mine is in the snow in the dark so he can take the pics.

Thank you steph,

Whats a TOG? sorry I'm a new W2B so new to all the acronyms (and there seems to be many!) ?

Wow that sounds amazing, all the best for your wedding (and now I understand what a TOG is ?)

I did think it wasn't a big deal the getting ready pics, Im not a fussy person so my mum could take a few snaps for me I'm sure.

Thank you Jayne❤️

Sorry photographer! Takes a while to cotton on lol.

Totally off topic but wow - I can't wait to see your pics! Please come back and flash them!

And sorry my lovely, TOG is photographer!? good idea though to have someone else take a few of the getting ready pics ?

Thank you. I will be back to flash all that snow. X

If it it was me I would be with you at about 10am -- 2 hours before ceremony, room shots / flowers, dress/ shoes ? plenty that can be done even before you start to put the dress on.

12 ceremony would mean that by 12.30 you will be mingling with drinks, 1.5 hours after that start to call in to sit down - eating by 2.30. then allowing 3 hours max for food and speeches = 5.30pm end, so eve guests would in that case usually come for 7.00pm with a first dance at 8.00 pm.

May be guests could come for 6.30 with a 7.30 first dance but even that would be 10 hours by the time first dance is done and a few shots after until 8.00pm

Some getting ready shots and info here

I avoid any of those kind of issues as I don't book by time but I book by event eg up to meal or up to first dance, I always include the getting ready time even if actually getting ready is not wanted as that is the best time to get the flowers and other details, ceremony room. And I can also get some groom and the lads shots as well.

If you need to drop anything but want both getting ready and first dance shots then I'd drop the first dance ones as ALL your guests will be snapping the first dance anyway so you'll get plenty of those.

If it helps, I recently googled for timings and made a rough timing plan, then we had our meeting with the venue and they ran through timings they would suggest. We're having a 2pm wedding and this is our timings at the moment:

9am - Bride & Bridesmaids arrive (getting ready at venue)

12.00 - Photographer arrives

1:30pm - Guests arrive

2pm - Ceremony

2:30pm - Reception drinks & canapés

4:15-4:30pm - Call for dinner (No receiving line)

4:30pm - Speeches

5pm - Dinner

6:30pm - Photo booth & casino tables to get set up

7pm - Evening guests arrive

7:30pm - Cake cutting & first dance

8:30pm - Evening food

11:15pm - Last orders & music to finish at 11:30pm

This is what the lady at the venue suggested based on our preferences and what we have planned so far! Obviously all subject to change as our wedding is in July next year But hope it helps give you a rough idea. Think we have our photographer for 8 hours as well, so will have to make sure we do have the first dance on time!

We're getting married at 2pm and have similar schedule to one above. Except our evening buffet is around 9.30 and bar open till 1am

Can you do the first dance before the meal? The last wedding in the UK that I went to they announced the bride and groom as they entered the reception/wedding breakfast venue for the first time and they went immediately into their first dance which was just played from a recording.

8 hours for a photographer is actually the norm in my country because we don't have separate evening guests and they manage to get everything in. Most likely because we do something similar with the wedding party being announced and then the first dance and parent dances followed by the meal. I find that most of the shots of the party later in the evening aren't that great anyway. For his brother's (British) wedding my OH had the idea to set up Go Pros in each corner of the dance floor and set them to take photos every 10 seconds to get shots of the evening reception. So if you can borrow them from friends that might be an option too, although not great for the first dance. You want pro photos for that.

Hello

My wedding was at 12pm. The photographer arrived about 10am. It wasn't just getting ready shots he did beforehand, but also photos of the grounds, the table decorations and details like that.

We had evening guests arriving from 6:30. We did our cake cut and first dance at 7:30 and he stayed the whole time. 10 hours in total. I would say the tog photos of the dance and the cake were much better than anyone else's as he had the experience and equipment to deal with the disco lights.

Will your tog let you add a couple of hours for a fee?

For me its never just about the first dance because there is so much more that you can do. If its a summer wedding then staying later can mean that you can get some lovely shots as the sun gos down

Thank you all for replying, your advice has really helped. Bill you clearly have quite a passion for your work - if only we were closer and I met you first! (for photography of course ? )

The time table has helped me so much too!

I think i'm going to have just a small amount of time for the getting ready pics (if I'm already ready I can fake it lol) and I will be bringing the evening do forward so my TOG is there for first dance and surprise dance me and my boys will be doing for our guests.

Thank you all for your very kind advice - ?

From my experience, you'll definitely struggle to get all of that done in 8 hours. It's possible, but you don't want to feel rushed on your wedding day!

If possible try and save a few more pennies, and have the photographer for one extra hour. Having the photographer for your preps is a great time to get comfortable with the camera/get to know your photographer a bit better. And photographers usually get some really nice intimate shots during preps.

Or... just have a really early first dance, then have a break before the 'proper' dancing starts!

If it was me, id probably see if i could extend the TOG

this is my timetable my venue did for us

Timings for 1oclock.

Ceremony 1pm
Drinks reception 1.20pm
Call through 3:00pm
Announce Bride and Groom 3:10pm
Serve Food 3:15pm

Speeches 5:15pm

Move guests into bar area and turn room around 6:00pm
DJ/Band set up 6:00pm
Evening guests arrive 7:00/7:30pm
Cut cake 8:00pm
First dance 8:05pm
Serve evening food 8:30/8:45/9:00pm
Bar Closes 11:45
Carriages Midnight

That's nice of you - glad I could help.

The main issue I see when couples are talking about times is that it is always underestimated how long it actually takes for people to move around. Also some venues are quicker when it comes to serving / clearing the meal, I have seen it before where they were so slow with each course that the top table had finished before the last table were even served, and that meal went way over time and so everything was late. That's also a reason that I don't charge by the hour.