How many people are having a 4 hr reception...whats your timeline?

Yes, please I need help with this too!

Here's ours

Ceremony and Reception

6:00 PM Prelude

6:15 PM Ceremony Begins

6:50 PM Photos

7:45 PM Grand Entrance

7:55 PM Thank you speech giving by Anthony

8:00 PM Blessing of the meal

8:15 PM Dinner Service Begins

8:30 PM Couples 1st dance after 1st course

8:35 PM Father-Daughter/Mother-Son Dance

Throughout the Night Toasts by parents, best man, and maid of honor

Throughout the Night Anthony and Meka do table visits

9:00 PM Band begins to play

9:00 PM Dance floor is open for business

9:15 PM Cake cutting

11:00 PM DJ begins while Band departs

11:00 PM Bouquet toss

11:10 PM Garter toss

11:15 PM Potential New Couple Dance

11:45 PM Wine Ceremony (sealing of the box)

12:30 AM Midnight Snacks and Boxed Cake Displayed

1:00 AM Hugs and Kisses along with goodbyes to all guests

Im all over the place on this one...

Idk yet my hours is from 6 to 10...

I'm taking pictures before the ceremony so from 4 to 5:45

Ceremony 6-6:30

idk after that

Mine is actually 5 hours but here is my timeline

4:00 pm ceremony

4:30 pm photos (cocktail hour starts for guests)

5:15 pm introduction as Mr and Mrs

5:20 pm dinner begins

6:00 pm couples first dance, then groom/mother dance, then we all get our boogie on.

7:30 pm cake cutting

9:00 pm DJ leaves but everyone invited to hang around for coffee

12:00 pm kick the remaining guests to the curb and us old fogies retire!

Just a few questions then I can give it a try....

Are you doing ceremony at the reception hall?

Are you doing a cocktail hour or cocktail half hour?

Do you need to clean up and be out by a certain time?

Ceremony start time?

Reception start time?

Reception end time?

**Talk to your hall about their suggestion for how long dinner takes and when they like to do the cake.

** Talk to you DJ, they do this ALL the time and can tell you how long things normally take.

Ceremony offsite. Reception start 5:30-9:30 (I may add an extra hour). We will have a cocktail hour. They do the set up and clean up but I will do all the decoarations a day & a half early.

5 - cocktail hour (more like cocktail 1/2 hour haha) we will be taking almost all of our "staged" photos before

5:30 - guests start grabbing seats and we'll do our intro

5:45 - 6-ish - dinner served

6:45 - cupcakes served

7 - first dance and then getting everyone else to join us on the dance floor

9 - last dance, start loading everyone onto the bus

9:45 - 10 - arrive at the hotel, change and take everyone who can still "hang" to a local margharita dive bar

I was also having trouble with this one...

6:30 Ceremony

6:30-7:30 Cocktail Hour/Pictures

7:30 Grand Entrance & First Dance

7:45 Dinner

9:00 Cake Cutting

9:00-11:30 Dancing, etc.

10:30 or 11:30 Hugs & Kisses???

So glad you posted this!! Mine is 4 hours and I feel like that may not be enough. Our reception is from 4p-8p. I asked our venue how much it would be to go until 10p including the open bar and they said an extra $2500 so I'm not sure its worth it....

I was thinking this....

2:30- 3:00-Ceremony

3:00-4:00- Cocktail hour

4:00-5:00- Grand entrance, speeches, First dance, Dad/Daughter Dance, Mother/Son Dance

5:30- Dinner served

6:30 open dance

7:30- bouquet toss, garter toss, cake cutting

8:00- Move the party to our favorite bar

Thoughts????

Im sure my reception will start around 4 since the ceremony is set for 2pm and from there people can leave whenever they want, hopefully after all the eating and important things are over with! I am fortunate enough to get a venue for the entire day/night.

Yikes. I forgot about the bouquet and garter toss. Do they go right after each other?

@ Toni ~ that is a long time for your guests to sit down and watch you all dance with no food to eat and no fresh drinks. Once they are "told" to sit, it is nice to start feeding them right away. 1hr and half from cocktail hr to dinner start, kinda long.

@Ms 2 Mrs

5:30 - 6:20 Cocktail Hr

6:20 Wedding party lines up for announcement - DJ announces for guest to sit down

6:25 Announcements

6:30 Prayer - Stat dinner (Toasts during dinner - don't make guest wait to eat while everyone passes around the microphone)

7:15ish Bride and Groom first Dance **Wedding party and parents should be done eating - they are served first - You can do dances while others are finishing

7:20 Dad-Daughter Mom-Son dances

7:30 Open Dance

8:00 Bouquet toss - Garter Toss

8:15 Open Dance

8:45 Cut cake

8:55 Open Dance

9:25 Last Dance

(or move Bride and Groom 1st dance right before dinner starts and do parent dances right at the tail end of dinner when all your guests are finishing their food)

Thanks Hayley. Your post helped me out.

We just moved our ceremony back an hour to have an extra reception hour because we felt like it was jam packed!

Here's ours:

5pm: Ceremony

5:30-6:30: Cocktail hour

Reception: 6:30-10:30 (Our DJ came up with schedule, might move up times)

6:40: First dance

6:45: Dinner served

7:15: Toasts (scheduled for 2 toasts, might have 4)

7:45: cake

7:50: Father/daughter

7:55: Mother/son

Open dancing

10:30: End

11: All guests need to be out

Man I really don't have a timeline. Lol I'm letting the DJ whom I trust and matriande (if that's spelled right) take care of it lol I'll have enough to do with FH like shake our butts on the dance floor hahah

Wow, I didn't factor in all the little details.

Here's mine so far.....

6:00-6:30 Ceremony

6:30-7:30 Cocktail hour

7:30-7:45 Grand entrance and dinner blessing

7:45-11:30 Dinner and dancing

Thanks for posting this! We're also having a 4 hr reception, and were in need of a timeline until now.