Event time ending at 10pm

Do you have a DOC? She usually does the scheduling. Ask her.

Do you have a set amount of time for your reception? Are you having a cocktail hour? Have you picked a time for your ceremony? How long do you think it will go? Are you having a first look? Are you doing family photos and if so, do you have a large family? Are you doing things like a cake cutting or bouquet/garter toss? Are you and your bridal party (if you have one) getting your hair and makeup done onsite?

If you have a DOC or event manager, talk to them. Your photographer can also help you out with timelines.

Our venue has the same end time: everyone out by 10:30. Here is a rough draft of ours to help you plan. Again, very rough draft.

3:00 Welcome champagne and light passed apps.

3:30 Guests are seated

3:45 - 4:15 ceremony

4:30-5:30 cocktail hour

5:30 reception barn opens, guests find tables/seats

6:00-6:10 intro's

the rest is up to my DJ he is setting the tone for the rest of the night. We are not doing traditional cutting, garter, bouquet, or exit. Dinner will be served starting at 6:00.

We don't have to be out until midnight, but people usually start leaving after the cake is cut which is usually closer to the end of the night. I'm planning to have our exit around 10-10:30 unless we still have a lot of guests there.

5 PM - Ceremony (we're not doing a first look, so pictures will come after)

5:30 - Cocktail hour for guests

6:30 - Dinner/Dances/Speeches

7 - Reception

8:30 or so - Cut the cake

This is a super rough draft as I'm really not sure how long everything will take, but it sounds good to me!

We have the same closing time with ceremony and reception in the same location. Here's our rough schedule:
2pm ceremony, 3pm pictures and cocktail hour, 4:30 dinner- first dance- father daughter dance, everybody dance, 7pm cake, 9pm start cleaning up. We have a live band, they will tear down at 930.

Our whole wedding is 6 hours, 5 PM - 11 PM. I think that's pretty normal, between 5 and 6 hours if that helps!

How long will your ceremony be? We are having our ceremony at a church then we’ll be at the venue for cocktail hour from 5-6, followed by our reception from 6-10pm.

IF you think about it, it's not really a lot of time because when you blink-you'll be leaving...I'm going to see if mine can end at 1030-11pm but same thing when it's done it's done.

Just a note on scheduling - ensure that the 10PM end time means the event ends at 10PM, not that everyone is gone and lights are out by 10. If it's the latter, you'll need to end at least at 9:30 to ensure that whoever is cleaning up and tearing down has ample time to do so. Maybe even closer to 9. I always hate being at an event and the staff are rushing to clean up and are taking plates and glasses from you while the party is still actually happening!

A DOC will help with coming up with a schedule. Our guests have to be out at the same time. At 10 so we are going to do a send off a bit earlier so everyone is out of there. Vendors are allowed an hour to clean-up while everyone is going downstairs.

We have 4 hours and ceremony/reception are at the same location.

I'll give you a sample of ours so you can get an idea:

6-6:30 ceremony

6:30-7:15 cocktail hour/ wedding & family pictures

7:20-8:00 entrance of us, then eating

8:00- first dance

8:30 dinner ends for everyone

8:30-9:30 cake cutting/ dancing

9:45 exit for send off.