November Wedding in Florida Timeline?

First of all, the Spanish Monastery is a lovely venue...congratulations on such a beautiful venue choice! (particularly for photos...I love the wedding I shot there!)

Here is the sunrise/sunset calendar for Florida. Sunset is at 6:30pm on 11/3/12.

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/usa/florida.asp

You want to be able to take advantage of the beautiful sunset light for photos. I'd recommend your ceremony to start at 4:30 or 5:00pm. Will your ceremony be outside in the courtyard with the well in the background? Or inside the chapel?

You'll probably want to be finished with photos post ceremony by 6:00-6:15, so that there will still be a little light for the entrance to your reception. The courtyard is darker as the sun goes down since the buildings block the light.

Have fun planning!!

Thank you! It was love at first sight with the venue! We're getting married in the Loggia in the courtyard. The cocktail hour is in the gardens. Good info about the courtyard...I hadn't thought about that!

Any ideas about the invitation time vs. the ceremony start time?

You can do two things....

1) On your wedding website (if you have one), list the actually ceremony start time, and kindly requests that all guests are seated by 15 minutes before ceremony start time.

2) Put an insert in your invitation that makes the same request.

"We're so excited to share our day with you! We kindly request your early arrival and to be seated by 4:45pm as our ceremony will be starting promptly at 5:00pm."

Or something to that effect.

I highly recommend a wedding planner if you don't have one (you can email me for some recommendations). The coordinator there (although she means well) really doesn't do much in the way of helping your day flow and making sure everything is in place and on time. It will alleviate a lot of stress.

I have some great photography tips on my blog (scroll to the bottom & click on articles) to help you get the most of your photography. Truly plan for losing your light quickly at that time of day

http://www.emindeeimagesblog.com