What time are your evening guests welcome from?

We are putting 7pm on our invites so guessing will arrive about 7.30 and then we are having our cake cutting and straight into first dance at 8pm

If you say 7pm I would think most people will arrive between 7.30 and 8pm

We actually started ours at 6pm as I wanted the evening guests to get a good amount of time too.

Most people had arrived by 6.30 and I think we did our first dance not long after.

So I'd go for 7pm.

Just looked at your wedding report Kharv. It looks fantastic and you looked stunning.

Ahhh thanks Andy! <embarrassed>

I would go for 7pm. Most people won't arrive dead on 7pm so it gives people time to arrive, say hello, have a drink etc before the music kicks off.

We're having a gap between meal (finishing at about 6pm) and evening do (people arriving from 7pm) as a lot of our guests are staying over at the venue so will want time to check in a freshen up. Also give OH and I a bit of time to ourselves!

Would you like to hear something funny? I think I made a mistake - I think our evening reception area is only available from 7:30, but I've put 7pm on the evening invitations!!

So, I'm going to see about have the evening guests join the day guests on the croquet lawn for a quick after-dinner drink before everyone is escorted to the evening location (the restaurant, which will only close to the public at 6pm, and the venue needs time to set it up for the dancing and buffet and stuff).

If you would like some entertainment whilst you are mingling then give me a call

Sorry, Andy, if I were interested in a magician, I would have looked for one already. My guests will be fine mingling and catching up with one another.

I would also go for earlier!

Thanks all!

We said 7:30 on the invites - cake cutting and first dance is at 8. Hope we've left enough time - didn't think that people might arrive after the time ?

We put 7.30 for 8 so hopefully people will realise this means it will officially kick off at 8 . Cake cutting at about 8.20 followed by first dance then party till 1

which will be when i can properly relax. nervous about 1st dance ?

Say 7 as most guests dont want to be the first ones to arrive so most will come about 20-30 minutes later than invite

The invites say 7pm - but the band will only finish setting up at 7.30 so hoping not too many people turn up dead on time!

We've put 7pm.

I get what you mean about 7.30 being a more "usual" time for an evening thing, but really no matter what time you put on it, people will probably arrive half an hour, even an hour later.

We didn't have an evening reception, so didn't have this issue, but just bear this in mind when considering timings such as first dance, cutting cake etc. It's their tough luck if they miss it! Also work backwards and think what time your meal will finish and whether the venue needs time to rearrange the room.

Depends what time you get married. I got married at 3 and we had 7.30 on our invites and we were pushing it for the room to be ready after the meal. If you're getting marrieed earlier, 7 is fine