Four hour reception????

Ok...that is short, but mine will be short too (5 hrs from start to finish-ceremony and reception)

you say coctail hour ends at 6, but dinner doesnt start till 6:30.....what are people doing for that half hour? obviously, it may take a few minutes to get people seated and to introduce you, but certainly not 30 min.

While most places plan for people to have 1 hr to eat dinner, unless its a served meal-it never takes that long to eat and how many weddings have you been to where you are sitting there done eating and waiting for the next thing? I would start the speeches sooner rather than later and go ahead into the main dances (if you had main dances planned before dinner, Id move them to after)-the few people who were last to get their food and are still eating wont mind finishing up their dinner while you dance).

ok...I havent timed any wedding recently, but an hour for the cake, bouquet and garter toss-really? cake cutting should take 10 min.-5 to gather people and 5 to actually

Do it. bouquet toss...again people will already be gathered, so a few minutes to gether the single women and then toss the bouquet....how long does it really take to toss the bouqet? and same with garter.

I mean...obviously these things do take some time, but I feel like if you told your DJ-hey lets just make sure all these happen quick and snappy and not spend the time lollygagging around, it shouldnt be as long as he says.

Maybe Im just hopeful people can move quicker than they actually can-I just feel like the biggest complaint at weddings is standing around waiting for the next thing to happen

I am totally with bluedaisy on the cake, garter & bouquet. I think all of that happened for us withing 10 minutes. The only thing that took us a while was after we did the cake ~ we smashed it into each other pretty good and had to go to the bathroom to get cleaned up but by the time we did cake, we had waited too long & people left , thats the only thing I regret. I'd definitely rework your schedule and avoid that added hr because I really don't think you'll need it, especially if bluedaisy & myself are doing the entire thing in 5 hrs with the ceremony.

That sounds really rushed but at the same time an extra 1,000 just for an hour is a lot too. My venue is super expensive for everything but it is only 200 to add an hour and $5 per person to keep the bar open and that is all still under $1,000. I am not sure its your call though. If you have the money go for it! Party a while longer :-)

We are very short on time for our reception. But we are also inviting our guests back to the hotel (who are letting us use the lounge) to casually hang out. Ours is as follows (roughly)..

Ceremony 11-11:30 am

Pictures and cocktails 11:30-12:15

Introductions 12:15

Lunch and toasts 12:30-1:15

Cake 1:15

bouquet 1:25

Garter 1:35

First dance 1:45

Dancing and hanging out after that until 3

I am hoping to scrounge up enough to add at least one more hour. Our venue is only $400. I say if you have the money, go ahead and add another hour and cut back on some of the time spent on things.

It does seem rushed, but it is a Sunday and if there are many kids, many may leave not making it worth the extra $1000. Can you coordinate an "after party" at a local bar, restaurant or someone's house?

What if you cut out the cocktail hour? That would free up some time, $1000 is a lot of money

4 hours is typically "just enough" time to do a wedding reception:

First Hour: cocktail, Grand Entrance

Second Hour: Dinner and toasts

Third Hour: Formal Dances, Open Dances, Cake cutting

Fourth Hour: Open Dance, Garter/Bouquet, Honeymoon (Dollar) Dance.

Nothing wrong with "leaving them wanting more." If anything, they will appreciate the fun they had without being forced to stay late. I would recommend you consider an after-party for those guests that want to keep going, rather than lengthening your wedding reception.

That sounds rushed to me time flys fast at a wedding and you want your guest to not feel rushed through dinner and dancing. We are having cocktail hour from 4-5ish and then dinner around 5:30 and its over at 11-12. but we are lucky the country club we are getting married at closes the club to all members all day so we pretty much have the place until we want.

I think it's just right. Keep the pace moving and exciting!

Wowza thats super rushed! Id say do the extra hour if you can swing it

I would just cut out the cocktail hour. They're mostly awkward anyway. I would just give people 15-20 minutes to grab a drink and be seated for dinner, so you're eating by 530. If you do all of our pics except the ones with FH prior to the wedding, it won't take more than a half hour to do portraits together. Or perhaps consider seeing each other before the wedding, and taking all your picture before. If you want to avoid paying the hour, I would change the schedule to be something like this: 5-515, drinks. 515-530 seating for dinner. 530-600 you and FH eat. 6pm, do your cake cutting while people are still eating. THis will give your venue time to cut the cake for serving. 630, round people up for your garter toss and bouquet toss. 645 first dances, 7pm general dancing begins. Then you have 2 hours left. You'll have to keep to the schedule, but I think you can if you are motivated by not spending 1k.

If that sounds too compacted for you, then negotiate with the venue. The additional grand is far too much. Since your wedding ends at 9pm, they certainly wont be getting another group in afterwards (The way they might for say, a 12-4), so I'm guessing that cost go toward keeping the building open and staffed with the cook & servers. Remind them that you won't need servers after 9, just a bartender. All the dishes will be done by then, with the exception of the glassware, so there is no need for a bunch of bus boys either. The tables will be cleared down to their white tablecloths, and I doubt they wash them immediately. Even if they do, that means they need, what, two people? Just point out what exactly you would need for that extra hour, and then ask them to please explain why it is $1000. By being logical and reasonable, you will probably be able to get a good discount, if you decide you need the extra hour. But, personally I don't think you do.

It does seem a bit rushed... we are doing 5-6 cocktail hour, and reception from 6-11. our families and friends love to boogie down though.

Ugh I've been struggling with this too. Our reception will only be 4 hours as well including cocktail hour. BUT this is what I've seen of most hotel venues. However I think we are nixing the bouquet and garter toss. I don't know, we'll see. Our ceremony will begin @ 6:30, cocktail hour from 7-8, dinner & toasts from 8-9, party hard from 9-11. Hopefully that will be enough time!! Unfortunately to add an extra hour will cost more for the DJ plus another $1800 for our venue. Well, $12 per person to keep the bar open and they charge for the full number of people, regardless of the fact that 1/2 of our guests will be gone by then and majority left will be our crazy friends! The $12 pp is to keep the bar open.

I say don't spend the extra money. I had booked 4 hours for my Sunday eveing reception, and 90% of the guests were gone within the first 2 hours. We hadn't even cut the cake. And the out of town guests were the ones that were still with us when we packed up 1.5 hours early. And my family are really into partying.

Found this online about timelines:

Typical 5 Hour Timeline (with-on site ceremony)

00:00 Arrival of the guests

00:30 Ceremony Begins

01:00 Ceremony Ends

01:00 Receiving Line (we aren't doing this)

01:00 Reception Begins

01:00 Cocktail Hour

02:00 Guests seated for dinner

02:05 Introductions

02:10 Bride and Groom First Dance

02:15 Welcoming/Blessing/Toasts

02:30 Dinner Service

03:00 Father/Daughter Mother/Son Dance

03:10 Dance Set

03:45 Cake Cutting/Bouquet/Garter/Apron Dance

04:00 Dance Set

04:45 Last Dance

05:00 Reception Ends

We have the entire ceremony to reception for 5 1/2 hours, starting at 6pm, but we only have a 30 minute ceremony, and for the sit down meal we're not doing an appetizer since we already have chafing dishes and passed hors d'ouevres at the cocktail hour, and during the reception we've eliminated the bouquet and garter toss - we're doing a special dance for married couples only; the longest married couple gets the bridal bouquet. We're also not doing a receiving line, nor dances - no a bride / groom first dance, no father / daughter dance, no mother / son dance (don't know what an Apron Dance is based on irin997's post above lol)...reception from sitdown to last dance is only 4 hours, though...