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Dedicated October 2020

4 hours for a intimate wedding?

Alexandra, on June 1, 2019 at 10:44 PM Posted in Planning 0 11

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This is my first time posting, so bear with me.
I've been thinking about the time I want to have the wedding begin and end, how long the reception should be etc.
Our wedding will only have almost 30 people including my husband and I and it will be held in a close friend's backyard. It'll be in October, and sundown is at 7pm from research I've done.
Anyway, I was thinking 4pm to start the ceremony, it'll be short and last maybe 30 minutes. Then 30 minutes for pictures. So the reception will really start at 5pm and last until 8pm. We would start a bonfire at 7pm.
I don't want to rush it, but I can only stand people for so long, haha. And since we are also using someone's home, I don't want to drag out the event.
I have considered moving the ceremony time to 3 pm to make it 5 hours but I don't know if that's too long.

I'd appreciate input and I'm so sorry if this is so jumbled and hard to understand. This is going to be a laid back but intimate and romantic wedding, so we have tons of flexibility, so any input is welcome!

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11 Comments

Latest activity by Clíodhna, on July 19, 2019 at 7:07 AM

Master December 2019
Cher Horowitz · on June 1, 2019 at 11:53 PM
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I think four hours should be plenty of time if it's an intimate wedding!
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Master July 2019
Hannah · on June 1, 2019 at 11:56 PM
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Four hours is fine, but 5 isn't going overboard. I would maybe talk to the homeowners and see if they have a preference.
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Dedicated October 2020
Alexandra · on June 2, 2019 at 12:50 AM
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I'll definitely be speaking to them. Thank you!
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Dedicated October 2020
Alexandra · on June 2, 2019 at 12:50 AM
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Thank you!
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Legend June 2019
Melle · on June 2, 2019 at 12:52 AM
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The average formal reception is usually four hours long. But yours sounds very casual so 4-8p isn't so bad! However I would be aware that maybe you'd want more than 30 min for photos.
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Dedicated October 2020
Alexandra · on June 2, 2019 at 1:18 AM
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That is a good point.
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Dedicated August 2019
Madison · on June 2, 2019 at 5:44 PM
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Depends on what you're planning to do. Figure out how much time your dinner/toasts will take and see if you have enough time for dancing/anything else you're doing. We have 55 people and our reception is 5 hours long. I don't think 5 is overboard, but 4 is defiantly fine for an intimate wedding. Depends on what you want to do.
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Dedicated October 2020
Alexandra · on June 2, 2019 at 5:46 PM
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I'm honestly thinking of extending it to 5 just to have some wiggle room incase things go wrong for any reason!
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Devoted December 2019
Jocelyn · on June 3, 2019 at 4:58 PM
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I am having a intimate wedding with 42 guest this December. Our ceremony starts at 5 and should only be 30 minutes. After that we plan to have pictures for about 30 min and guest will have a small cocktail break(30 min) during our pictures. So 6 is our actually dinner time in the reception room, but if we run late with pictures guest will just be in the reception room awaiting our arrival. We have the reception room till 9 but put 8:30 on the invitation so guest wouldn't think its too long. We are having an intimate dinner with no dj or anything crazy. We just wanted close family and friends around us. So our time for everything is about 4 hours which is plenty seeing as its a simple dinner. You should be fine with 4 hours if anything just add 30 min just in case for your pictures if they run long. Follow up with the friend letting you use their house and see what they think is ok.
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Dedicated October 2020
Alexandra · on June 3, 2019 at 5:01 PM
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This helped a lot, honestly. Thank you for giving me your time frame!!
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WeddingWire Administrator January 2030
Clíodhna · on July 19, 2019 at 7:07 AM
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Hi Alexandra! How are you feeling about your day-of timeline now? Will you be going with 4 hours?
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