Wedding with no breakfast?

What you are looking for is a "twilight wedding" try googling that with local venues usually between 4 and 5 pm ceremony then after about 1.5 hours mingling / drinks and photos you go straight into speeches then a hog roast or Buffett then PARTY! but I am struggling to remember if I have ever photographed a 4pm wedding in a Church let alone 5pm. So best Check with the Church you are looking at first.

View quoted message That’s so helpful thank you! Ashamed to say I’ve never heard of a twilight wedding! The church we have chosen does ceremonies up until 6pm so that should be ok… I just to think about it starting to get dark maybe?! Looking at an early May wedding and I’d rather we had photos done in complete daylight. But what you’ve said there sounds perfect for us! We even debated the church wedding and just have a huge party the next day but there are certain elements of the reception that we would like to do so I don’t think we’ll go down that route. Going to google twilight weddings now, thanks again!

I think there used to be a law not being allowed to wed by candlelight (before electricity). Which sort of carried on in the modern age with time limits for the latest you could get married.

View quoted message That’s so interesting, I never knew that! I just double checked my emails from the vicar and he wrote that we can wed anytime between 8am-6pm but no later as legally they can’t do evening weddings. Wonder if that’s anything to do with the candlelight rules 😆

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Yes I think it is.

I have always understood it to be that It was all about the people involved being able to be properly identified. Something like that but I may be wrong.

I’m having a Twilight wedding. The ceremony is at 5pm followed by drinks/canapés/photos then onto the evening reception at 7pm with a hot buffet/bbq/hog roast (haven’t decided yet). We get married May 2025 so will still be light for photos hopefully. Not only does this save on costs but we don’t want the formal sit down meal, just a big party. It’s all in the same venue too so the room will be changed round following the ceremony. It seems quite popular now as a lot of venues offered Twilight packages when I was looking!

View quoted message Oh that sounds lovely! I’m May 2025 too 😆 No I agree, we aren’t bothered at all for the fancy meal. We want to keep costs down too but are willing to pay whatever we need to for it to be exactly what we want. One place was going to be around 6k for the meals. 6k for a meal that we don’t even really want! Are you have your ceremony at the same place as reception I take it? Struggling to work out times here because we are having a church wedding so not sure what time to have it then what time the reception will begin. Thinking maybe 1.5 hours or 2. So maybe church at 4 reception starts at 6 🤔

View quoted message Yes having it all in the one place. You will need to factor in travel time from church to venue then enough time for photos etc so 2 hours sounds about right depending on the distance!

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Church weddings usually take a little longer than civil ceremonies - it might be worth checking with your vicar/minister what 'needs' to be put in and what is optional. Once you've got your reception venue sorted and can work out the travel time between the two, that should then help you work out what time your church ceremony needs to start. Bear in mind that photos always take longer than you think they will, as there's always someone who isn't listening when they are supposed to be a joining a group photo!

View quoted message Thank you! Yes we are having a sit down with the vicar in a couple of weeks so hopefully will get a better idea then. All he’s said so far is that they book out a 2 hour window so it can accommodate photos and any lateness (I feel seen) but he said the ceremony only takes around 30-40 minutes. We haven’t 100% decided on the next venue, seeing some tomorrow so we can discuss this twilight business… but the one we like the look of most is 6 mins away. I just have zero idea how long photos take really as we haven’t even began looking into our photography yet and probably won’t for a little while

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I always tell my couples for a church wedding to be out side mingling 1 hour after the start time. 90% of the Church weddings (non Catholic ) will be 40mins long but you have to allow being 10 mins late one end and then time to get everyone to filter out of the Church the other end so I can almost guarantee that by the time everyone is out it will be an hour.

Then with minimum photos at the Church - just mingling and he the two of you and confetti you will not be sitting in the car and leaving until another 1/2 hour - especially if you are having bells otherwise they will be playing and no one will be there.

Then add your travel time and then I usually expect 1.5 hours from when you arrive before people are called in for food. This 1.5 hours is when the main photos are taken but its at the same time as drinks and more mingling.

Depending on how many guest you have 1.5 hours is usually enough and if you do not have many guests then it will be nice and relaxed but if you have a lot of guests there will be a lot more pressure to fit everything in and even more so if your venue haves lots of loverly grounds that you want to make use of for the pictures.

Then it depends on how many groups you want and then it will depend on how experienced your photographer is at organising groups too.

View quoted message Ah thank you 🥰 We have actually met with a venue today, the one we thought would be our favourite and they were amazing. We told them our ideas and exactly what we would want and they’re completely flexible in letting us have our day our way so we are even more excited now! I love that idea of incorporating our tastes into the buffet, maybe like a his favourite her favourite section of it or something! Lots to think about after today 😆

View quoted message Oh thank you this is very helpful! The venue we ‘think’ we are going to go with is 3 mins max on foot from the church. So do you think say 4pm wedding 5:30pm reception would work in that case?

Oh this is so good to read as we also feel the same way .. no date set yet, but have a few years ahead of us... just really getting a general idea of all. A wedding entails... everyone I know has always had the HUGE weddings which to us is not an option! I've thought a late ceremony and then a party in our garden, hiring the fish and chip van from our village to swing by! Just a general idea so far!? Have you considered food vans at all? I honestly have no idea of the cost mind! Xx

View quoted message Aw well I’m glad you know it’s possible! Honestly we debated all sorts similar, we even thought about church wedding and then a party the weekend after at a local place. So yeah we toyed with all sorts but thankfully there are venues that are so flexible and will do what you want. For us, we can’t afford to go OTT but do have a reasonable budget, we have a 4 year old though so I think for us, our priorities have changed a lot and there’s so much more we could spend that money on! We did think about food trucks yeah… I’ve been to a wedding before that had some so it’s deffo doable. I had one in mind as it’s one our local school uses and I’ve organised them in the past to attend the schools fairs, they’ve never charged the school as they obvs make lots of money on the day, I think it would all depend on footfall and ensuring they can make a decent profit. Or maybe they’d have a minimum spend. I went to an engagement party of a relative a few months back and their venue was free but had to make sure there was £300 spent at the bar. It was easy done but had it not have been, they’d have had to foot the rest afterwards. So maybe a good truck would do similar? Sorry that’s long I’m a pro waffler 😆 xx

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Yes that sounds just right although the venue may need a heads up -for drinks that people might be arriving a little before 5.30 because its almost next door by the sound of it and some (usually friends ) might sneak off to the bar early.

If you are walking down the isle on time and only have 60 ish guests and a shorter service than 40 mins then you could be a little earlier - say 5.10.

If it were me shooting it I would leave you mingling for a few mins as people want to congratulate you and I can get some candid informal shots. Then move everyone to the Church gate for confetti whilst I get a couple of shots of the two of you with the Church in the background without guests in the back ground because they are all at the gate waiting with confetti.

Then walk to the gate through the confetti and keep walking up to the reception which would also make a nice shot with your guests following behind

View quoted message Perfect thank you! The reception venue we would be able to use from 8am - 12am so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if we tell them we will arrive somewhere between 5-5:30 🤞🏼you’ve just given me a new idea though 😂 the venue has a ground floor section for welcome drinks so we thought we could hang back at the church after photos with guests and get our own ones done whilst the party walks on to the venue and to the welcome drinks. We have our photos while they have a drink then they head up to the main reception room and we can make our grand entrance… but I really like that idea of us leading the party and how cool those photos would be 🤔 too many decisions to make here 😂😅

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A lot depends on the nature of your venue - does it have any gardens/grounds for photos.

Sounds like you are not leaving much time for a mingle and informal shots like that. And your guests will hardly see you.

If there is space at the reception venue then I would do it the way I suggested and that way you still get some shots of the two of you at the church then you all mingle with drinks downstairs whilst the group photos are done at the venue from 5.30 to 6.30. In most cases the guests are asked to take their seat first and then the couple make their entrance last.

If the Church is prettier than the reception venue then I might shoot the important shots at the Church, Mums and Dads, bridesmaids, best man ushers then do any "standard family groups at the not as pretty reception. Then in that case I would let the other guest go for drinks at the reception.

But that's just me - your photographer may have other ideas based on their knowledge of both venues.

View quoted message Hello! Thank you 🥰 yes I think we will have cake instead with speeches and the evening so will kick straight off after that and we will have a huge buffet I think transport shouldn’t be an issue as the venue is a minute or two walk from the church, literally down one street

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Good decision, Have your best time.

We're having a twilight wedding too, I have quite poor health so it was the ideal scenario for us, I couldn't handle a traditional 12hour+ wedding.
We get married at 4pm, have photos/drinks/canapes then a hot buffet at 6.30pm. We have no top table or seating plan to make it less formal and more what we as a couple want, party gets going and late night snacks will be served in the form of stone baked pizzas, I have a year countdown going being a September 2024 bride.

I hope you can pull some of these inspo ideas together to make your day perfect and unique to you and your other half!

Were getting married at 4.30pm then photos at the church and drinks at the venue with speeches and all then evening do with a hot and cold buffet I get married on the 30th September 1 week to go 😁😁 I couldnt do with the all day wedding thing

Do what you want as long as your guests have food!

View quoted message Churches can do weddings up to 5pm. The basic rules are that weddings have to take place during daylight, harking back to the days before electricity!

Have you looked at inclusive places where you can supply your own food or suppliers? I.e chippy van, pizza van etc? X

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That's what I have always understood - see post 4

I am really surprised that Terri the OP has an email from her vicar saying they can get married up to 6 pm. As far a I know its always been 5pm - perhaps that's referring to a 5pm wedding finishing at 6pm. Or maybe the law has changed ?

But Terri I would not plan around getting married at 6 pm before you have double and double checked it with your vicar.

We are having a "twilight" wedding, July 2025. We're getting married at 4pm, followed by 1.5hrs ish photos/drinks/Canapés. We're then still having a "sit down meal", but we're just having one course. This way we can still incorporate more traditional aspects like speeches, without dragging it out and paying a fortune for food! We'll then cut the cake and we're going to have this as dessert, alongside an ice cream cart we have booked.
We were like you in not wanting to spend a fortune on food and drink and I'm hoping we will have the right balance doing what we're doing.
Hope you manage to get something sorted exactly how you'd love it😊

This is our plan, wedding at 3, by the time photos are done say 4.30 to reception for 5 toasts cake and speeches then disco 7 til 11

Hi lovely, I am having a twilight ceremony and reception, 5pm to Midnight with a buffet, drinks and dancing. Might be more your style and much more reasonably priced too!

My friend is doing this! Getting married at 4 then straight on to the evening reception for drinks then a buffet - much more relaxed

A wedding without breakfast sounds like a unique and unconventional choice! It might be a reflection of the couple's desire to prioritize simplicity and intimacy over tradition. Skipping breakfast could also create an air of anticipation for the main event, making the ceremony even more special. Ultimately, it's the love and commitment exchanged between the couple that truly matters, regardless of the meal choices. Wishing them a beautiful and memorable wedding day filled with joy and love!

We are the same. We are planning a Twighlight Ceremony and Reception. Starts at 4pm in a licenced venue, and then photos and drinks and mingling, then BBQ and party from 7pm onwards. It's a good way to keep the costs down but still have a day to remember. Best of luck