Ceremony and Cocktail Hour length

I agree with @Heather. It's good but tight. Cocktail hour is normally an hour. If you can make sure everyone is where their supposed to be for pictures and let the photographer know to not go over the hour then you should be ok. Past weddings I went to the pictures lasted a little over an hour because people kept wondering off.

The pivot point to this whole deal is the ceremony starting on time, and unless it is the most minimal of minimal, 15 minutes is not going to cover the processional, ceremony and recessional.

I'd talk to them to see if you can invite for a little earlier, offer coffee /water so you can absolutely start on the nose. Or steel yourself to start regardless of who is there. Inform your close relatives that you're starting at XX time on the dot. If you're planning on taking pix before, they need to know you expect them to be there at XX time.

Can ya tell I'm a time freak, lol?

I'd also recommend a first look.

Thanks Everyone.

Yes they will be doing a first look. Adding an hour would be an additional $1000 plus the cost of the bartender, plus the additional cost per head for the open bar. My thought was 30 minutes for the ceremony, Cocktail for 1 hour which would allow for 45 minutes of pictures and then mingling with guests at cocktail for 15 minutes. Cocktail will be outside in the venue gardens decorated in twinkle lights and lighted paper lanterns. Approximately how long does dinner/cake take? They are thinking food stations for dinner.

Timeline looks like this now:

Ceremony 5:30 - 6:00

Cocktail 6:00 - 7:00 (hopefully time to mingle for 15 minutes during cocktail and sunset is at 6:18 for pics)

Dinner and Reception 7:00 - 9:30

Sparkler Sendoff 9:45

This sounds very tight. Most events are 5 hours and this seems like 4. You should have 30 minutes for ceremony, 60 minutes for cocktail hour, and 3 1/2 hours for dinner/dancing.

I agree it is tight but the contract is for 4 hours total ceremony to reception with 3 hours total prior to. We will have to look into additional time I guess.

I think the additional time would be worth it. A 2.5 hour reception is super short.

Our ceremony began at 6:30, it was about 20 minutes.

Cocktail hour was immediately after until 8pm.

Reception with plated dinner service was 8pm - 11pm

I really wished I could have had my reception until midnight, but it just wasn't in the budget! We did a first look. I suggest having the bridal party get ready in a separate location -- it will take more than 3 hours for hair and makeup. Then they can travel to the wedding location and get dressed there, so the photographer can take some pictures there, and then spend at least an hour of that "getting ready" time for pictures. Remember that all pictures need to be done at least 30 mins. prior to the ceremony because that's when guests will start to arrive.

Do you have the venue from 5PM - 10PM?

Can you take an hour from the getting ready time and tack it onto the reception time if you don't want to/can't spend the extra money for an extra hour? I agree that 4 hours for ceremony and reception is cutting it very close. The party is ending just as it's getting started!

We had our venue from 5-11pm. Ceremony started at 5:30p, cocktail immediately followed. Guests were welcomed to seats at 7pm, intros and first dance followed. Dinner was served and speeches were made. Didn't finish dinner/cut cake until 8:45 and yes it took every moment (only had my dad, MOH and BM speech). After cake it was spotlight dances and realistically dance floor didn't open until 9.

Based on your current times, I'd try to find other areas to save so you can have the venue an extra hour. Thankfully the extra hour was included, we just had to either pay for alcohol per person, or pay consumption. Maybe they have a pp option? We barely had two hours of dancing and it didn't feel like enough time. Good luck!

Our contract is for 8 hours, 4 of those for ceremony/reception. We can arrive 3 hours prior to the ceremony. I need to ask about the last hour, that may be for the rehearsal but honestly I am not sure at this point. The open bar pkg is 3.5 hours unless we want to pay extra $500 per half hour or $1000 for an hour plus a per head charge or $4 or $7. Savannah also has a sound ordinance so all functions need to end by 10 pm which is ok because most of the guests will move downtown to continue the festivities. I will email them tomorrow to ask about using an hour of our allotted time before the ceremony for additional reception time and just pay to extend the open bar. Thanks everyone for the suggestions