What time should we have the ceremony? (confused)

It depends totally what you want to do.

The 'normal' thing would be to have the ceremony, then wedding breakfast, then evening party,as you described.

However, weddings are so expensive these days that more and more people are opting for later ceremonies, and then just one meal.

Have you got any venues in mind?

PS Welcome to Hitched ?

Hi Nina - congratulations on your upcoming wedding and welcome to Hitched ?

Yes, I suppose you describe a 'traditional' British wedding up quite well. I suppose most people get married between 12 and 3 pm, followed by the wedding breakfast and evening buffet or similar. Having said I've been to weddings where this hasn't happened - one with no sit-down meal after the ceremony (we had afternoon tea instead) and one where the ceremony was a little later where we had a sit down meal and a quieter evening celebration with no food. I didn't find this strange at all.

At the end of the day it's about what you and your fiancé want your day to be like - your guests will just be happy to be there.

Like the others have said this is your day so you do what you want! we are having the traditional English wedding, ceremony at 2 but have told our guests 1.30... i'm the only one allowed to be late!

My friend had a late wedding and we had tea and biscuits afterwards then when the evening guests arrived we did the speeches and everyone had a buffet food it was the best wedding i've ever been to!

I would be quite happy if I went to a 'late' wedding then had a big sit down meal, but to be honest I would still probably feel hungry for some nibbles late on, particularly if I had been drinking a lot!

I think the Swedish set up you described sounds lovely, and I don't think British people would find it odd. I think there's a lot more variety nowadays

Hi there & welcome to Hitched.

You've nailed the standard British wedding running order. But I went to a Sikh wedding late Winter this year, and the couple were both British, and this was entirely different from what we've all described above. As everyone says, there is so much variety these days, have whatever you like. If a wedding was going to follow the pattern set by a different culture, I would like a little note in my invitation telling me - not so I knew in advance necessarily, but I'd like to know that this was a typically Swedish wedding so that I could appreciate it for what it was, and understand that it was a reflection of your own heritage.

I think it all sounds lovely - very relaxed and laid back!

Good luck with your planning

Oh, thank you everyone for your quick replies! It sounds great that there is some flexibility nowadays, and that people won't be too confused by a later ceremony. I think we will write somewhere in the programme what traditions are Swedish, so that people can appreciate it more. We might also have some snacks later in the evening, if people choose to stay around longer than we expect. As you say, it's just so expensive to plan for two meals, so hopefully our set up will be ok.

We have found a nice little hotel in the New Forest in Hampshire, where our Swedish guests could also stay a few nights with us and enjoy a bit of holiday. Now we just need to contact the registrar and book the date and time Thanks again for your input!

Hi Littlemiss4.

Your Swedish one sounds like mine!

My hubby is French, so had lots of guests coming over from France, and for that reason we had everybody come to everything. I know it's a little controversial, but were also of the view that if you are important enough to us to come to our wedding, you are important enough to come to the whole thing.

We had ceremony at 3pm, followed by drinks and canapes, and then 3 course sit down dinner at 5pm. English like to eat a lot, so about 9pm we cut up the cakes, and had a cheese tower, with lots of breads and crackers, and mini fish and chips. People do get peckish later on.

In our invites we had little nserts explaining all the weird french stuff to the english guests, and all the english quirks to the French guests, so people knew what to expect. In reality, I dont think people really bothered to read them but I thought it was a nice touch.

People love anything a bit different so be sure to incorporate all your little swedish touches!

Can you flash us, show us a photo of the hotel!

x

I think it sounds fine!

Also a wedding breakfast is called so because it is the first meal you have as a married couple! As many years ago, you would have fast before the ceremony in church and therefore it would be when you break fast after the wedding!

We're having a 3.30pm ceremony, personally we both find weddings to be a really long day in general and wanted it to be shorter for ourselves. Hopefully this means the day will be less stressful and given that I'm not a morning person (understatement !) getting ready wont be so rushed and I can enjoy this time with my girls.

I'm currently debating timing of the evening food as our meal wont be served until around 5.30pm.

I agree that people would get peckish later on, and would probably be a little confused if there was no evening food.... most british people would expect an evening buffet of some sort.

I went to a wedding recently where they had the wedding breakfast at 6pm, then we had "supper" of cheeseburgers and hotdogs as people started to get hungry/tired/drunk at about 10pm. It was fab, and saved us having to buy a kebab on the way home! lol

Hello and welcome.

I don't think people will think its strange (and even if they do who cares its your day!)

We are having a similar set up, our 'evening doo' will just be a continuation of the day (although will have a few extra people attend too)

I agree, don't worry about what people expect, if you start taking that into account on things you'll end up with a wedding that neither of you actually want! I was the same as you, I didn't know why it was called a breakfast when i first heard it! One of my good friends is getting married in a couple of weeks and her ceremony starts at 4pm! Mine starts at 1, we're both British so really, anything goes! As long as you state the day's plans on the invite so people know what will be happening then they can't be disappointed!

Whereabouts in Hampshire are you thinking? Some venues stipulate the time of the ceremony round these parts.

Yes, you are all right, we should pick a time that feels best for us! Around 2:30-3pm is probably what we have in mind. When it comes to the evening snacks, we will definitely consider having something little for the hungry guests, as some people (including the groom!) might be hungry.

We will get married in the New Forest, and the coordinator we have been in contact with didn't mention any restrictions about the time of the ceremony, so that's a good thing. I think it will be up to us how we want to plan the day.?

Thanks, to all of you, for your help and for sharing your stories!