Only 5 hours for ceremony and reception

4:00 - 4:20 Ceremony

4:30 - 5:30 Cocktail

5:30 - 9:30 Reception

that's all I have, but mine is only a half hour shorter than yours. I think that's plenty of time.

Thanks OTW but what about fitting it all the little stuff that I mentioned. I feel like I am not going to dance and party like I want to and its all going to fly by. Im going to be uber PISSED if I dont get to enjoy my party!

Trust Me, It's long enough. I just did it. You'll be exhausted from all the smiling, talking, picture taking etc.

What was your timeline like MrsJ?

Are you having a cocktail as well or will it go straigt to reception from the ceremony?

Are you doing a first look? That could help open up time.

Do you want to first dance right after introduction? How many toasts? Cake cut before or after dinner?

What time does the ceremony start?

Well we are having appetizers so I would imagine we would have a cocktail. I would prefer it not be an hour though

Marlina, our timeline is very similar and i was a bit worried too.. we asked and we do have an option of extending the reception by one hour. Can you maybe do that aslo?

You sound just like me! I was going to be UBER pissed as well to miss the party! haha

Can you eliminate some things? We are only doing our first dance, father daughter dance, cake cut and best man speech.. I want people on the dance floor having fun not sitting around!

The ceremony starts at 4. We will not do first look. 2 toasts (MOH and BM) As soon as we are introduced I want to get right into all the dances. Id rather get the cake cutting done right after that as well. I want to cut out garter and bouquet toss but hubby doesnt want to leave those out grrrr

I have never been to a wedding longer than 5 hours and I don't think I'd want to. Unless you are having a long cocktail hour I think you will be fine. My total time for ceremony + reception is 4 1/2 hours.

There is a lot to do but most of those things won't take that much time anyway.

Toasts will probably be right after dinner (or as everyone is finishing up) and I have always seen first dances and cake cutting or cake cutting/ garter toss/ bouquet toss right after one another.

Ours is going something like this.

6:00 pm - Ceremony

6:30 pm - Pictures, with family/friends

7:00 pm - Dinner (Dinner will be served till 9:30)

8:00 pm - Presentation (1st dance, La Vibora, Garter/Bouquet Toss, El Mandilon, and Toast)

9:00 pm - 2:00 am Dancing (Cake will be cut somewhere in between)

My ceremony starts at 6 and reception ends at 11. We are also doing pictures before. After cocktail hour we are doing dances, cutting cake, toasts, then dinner. This way after dinner we don't have anything to worry about and can just enjoy! Also using cocktail hour to get out of receiving line.

My wedding is in June 2014 and the ceremony is outside. My photographer gave me this timeline:

Photographer arrival time: 4pm

Ceremony start time (based on a 30 min ceremony): 6:30-7pm

Cocktail hour/photo time: 7pm-8pm (golden hour for photos)

Reception: ~8:15pm-11

My mom is concerned that 8pm is too late for dinner. We are just concerned with the heat since it will be in Miami in the summer.

Thanks ladies. Amy so you will not be serving any appetizers?

I am willing to cut things down if I need to. Yes I have the option of adding another hour but its another $200 and I'm not sure I want to spend that extra cash.

The thing is that the ceremony has to start when you have said it will start; it's the first thing and if that goes crazy, all bets are off for the rest of it. But in total time, it's fine.

Hmmm you know what Amy I like your thinking. but I'm not sure if my venue will cut it out after we have it down on our order.

Some of the things will be done at the same time...like you'll be taking pictures during cocktail hour. You can have the toasts be given during dinner -- one at the start, one at the end.

I think that's the perfect amount of time...we're running ours from 430 until 10. And there's a fair chance I could be curled up around my husband napping, lol.

You'll be fine. Honestly, I think that many receptions that are much longer start to drag at the end; a lot of people have left, people are getting tired, etc.

We have 5 hours too. I don't have an exact timeline yet but am allotting about half an hour for the ceremony, a little less than an hour for cocktail hour. We are doing pictures beforehand to minimize the amount we need to do afterwards so we can hopefully mingle a bit.

Going right into our first dance, then dinner. Toasts can happen while dinner is being served. Cake cutting probably right after dinner, bouquet/garter toss shortly after that. It does seem like a lot, but most of those things only take about 5 minutes.