Wedding timings

I think your timings seem good. I take it you are getting married in the same place as the reception? We are having a church wedding ceremony at 2pm and we don't have the meal until 5.30pm. If people think they will be hungry they will have ample time to eat something before the ceremony, or you could offer canapes with drinks if you were worried?

I think this is fine as long as you clearly state timings on the invites - maybe say something like "the bar will be open" so people expect to drink but don't assume there will be canapes?

If you can I'd strongly recommend some form of snack, even if you just have bowls of crisps about it'll really help people not get too drunk/hungry before the meal if they aren't drinking on an empty stomach!

That leaves 1.5 hours for photos, mingling, chatting which is the time that most weddings have between the end of the ceremony and everyone being out and people being called in to sit.

State on the invite the timeline of the day so people realise when food will be served.

I don't think you need to do canapes. If I was going to a 2.30 wedding I would have a big lunch/brunch to see me through, and you are doing a meal at 4.30 and evening food. you don't want to pay out for them if not needed, nor do you want people to fill up too much and not eat the main meal. Our timings were the same, except our ceremony was at 12 and reception at 3 in a different location an hour apart, so we did provide snack bags for the journey which just had crisps, biscuits, chocolate bar, haribos and bottle of water, we did it all from Costco for about £100, so you could do that if your budget is tight, andif you have some outside space is nice for pople to sit and eat whilst mingling and watching you have photos done

The 1.5 hours was enough for people to mingle and be involved in group shots, regards food to be honest the day guests didn't eat much in the evening as were quite full still from the meal! We had 50 day and 100 evening guests and only catered for 75% of our total evening guests which worked out just right. You may want to put an order of the day as Bill suggests to let them know there is a sit down meal at 4.30 so they will eat accordingly before attending.