Ceremony start time/Reception start time?

The reception should start right after the ceremony (well, as soon as guests arrive at the banquet hall.) Then you have a cocktail hour with apps and drinks while you take pictures. Dinner starts when you arrive an hour later.

Yes I'm just looking for recommendations on a good start time

How far is the drive from the ceremony spot to the banquet hall?

15 minutes

Hey date twin. We are doing everything at the same venue and starting the ceremony at 4:30. After the ceremony, there will be a cocktail hour for guests while we get our photos done. Dinner will start around 6:30.

We're also not doing a first look, but we're going to do a lot of pictures separately prior to the ceremony.

Ten hours is too long for most people....

Invite for 5:00 with beverages

Start at 5:30

End at 6:00

Reception at 6:30 with bar open for early people.

People tend to be more relaxed about arriving for home weddings, and everyone knows how I feel about lateness. In this case, their relaxation will cut into your reception time. This is why I'd have a little buffer before.

The start of the ceremony depends on what you want. If you're having an outdoor wedding, do you want it during the day? Or do you want it at night (i.e., sunset)? I'm having a night wedding (6:00) and the reception will follow. We are doing pictures ahead of time, so the start of the reception will really only be about 15-20 minutes after the ceremony (due to travel). We anticipate we'll arrive at the reception about 30 minutes after the ceremony as we'll need to finish up last pictures and clean up anything.

Caroline, how long did you schedule your photography for?

I'd start at 5, ceremony over about 5:30, banquet hall ready to start by 5:45 (though most likely it will be 6 before people arrive). Cocktail hour 6-7, entrance/dinner at 7 and so on.

My photography package automatically included 12 hrs of photography, which is more than we'll need. I think our photographers will start at 12 or 1 and do our photos separately, and I'd be okay with them leaving the reception around 10, after they get some shots of the dance party haha.

So I guess altogether 9-10 hours, but we could definitely make it work with less hours than that. We just got a great deal and it included 12 hrs.

ETA: To be perfectly honest, I haven't given too much thought to start time for photography, or start time for hair and make up. I still need to create a full timeline. So somebody else might have better recommendations than me.

If you already have the banquet center booked then I'd work backwards from the end time. Is there a time that you have to be out?

I worked backwards to start drafting my timeline - out by 11:30pm, 4.5 hour reception, 1 hour cocktail hour, travel time from ceremony to reception location, approximate length of ceremony, then you'll get to your ceremony start time. Worked for me!

Average wedding reception length is 3-5 hours - all the ones in my circle of family and friends have been 4 or 4.5 hours long.

MAX amount of time that you want to leave your guests while you're taking pictures is 1-1.5 hour cocktail hour!

We did 90% of pics before hand. I would recommend that. Photographer came at 10 to get rings/getting ready shots.

11- First Look

11:30-2:30 Family/Wedding Party pics

2:30-3 return to venue

3:30 ceremony start

4-5 cocktail hour/receiving line

5-5:30 grandparent and other pics

5:30 grand entrance

6 -- dismiss for dinner

6-7:30 dinner/speeches

7:30 cake cutting/first dances (photographer ends)

8-12 dancing

photographer was there a total of 10 hours for us.

wedding was 3:30-midnight, but people could leave, well whenever, but if they didn't want to dance it was 3:30-7:30.

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