Reception Timeline Question

First dance before dinner is fine, but I would find it odd to do the cake cutting before. Why do you have a long gap between ceremony and cocktail hour? That’s inconvenient for guests and seems like a waste of valuable hours with your photographer.

Are you going to do pictures just the two of you in between ceremony and reception? My timeline is similar, she’s starting at 12, ceremony at 3:30-4:15, pictures with family and then just bride and groom until 5:25. She has cake cutting, prayer, dinner, speeches and then dances and finished at 8. She said we are doing cake pictures/cutting very quickly so we can start with dinner.

View Quoted Comment Because I’m Catholic 😂 that’s how it works. This is actually one of the least inconvenient gaps I’ve ever seen for a catholic wedding. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the reception venue too, so it’s not an awful amount of downtime.

We are doing cake cutting and first dances as soon as we get to the reception. As my DJ put it, "cut the cake and get it over with so desert is out right away and the party can start right after dinner". So we are going to do it that way, since we have a lot of family coming in.

We looked at an inclusive venue that routinely scheduled the cake cutting for immediately after the entrance and first dance. Their reasoning was similar, the "cutting of the cake" is a symbolic thing and doesn't have to happen immediately before cake is served. After the B&G cutting, they move the cake to the kitchen, where it is later cut and served following the meal. It was different that anything suggested by other venues we toured, but it's a popular venue, so apparently, for weddings there it's a given. Personally, based on your total timeline, I'd probably try to add additional time to your photography contract because it sounds like you'll potentially have very limited time during the reception regardless of when you cut your cake. Many of the best candid shots daughter received (out of 1100+ edited photos), were taken during the reception. I'd hate to miss all those opportunities, unless all that matters to you are the primarily posed shots taken earlier in the day. Good luck!

I just emailed my photographer asking to add 2 hours! It’s only $400 extra, which is worth it to me. Hopefully she says yes! The wedding is already next month!!

I agree with doing cake cutting sometime after dinner

First dance before dinner is totally fine. If you're worried about time, cut the cake while dinner is occurring. You don't have to serve it as soon as you cut it....

Not sure where to put the cake because we choose not to do one. We are doing speeches about 30 minutes into dinner and the first dances as the first part of the dancing/partying. We are going to do our first dances and then invite others out to dance with us for the second song.

My friend who was a wedding photography years ago suggested to do most of the important things like first dance, cake cutting, bouquet & garter toss towards the beginning part of the reception(maybe the 1st 2 hours) for this will save you money with the photographer.