Wedding time line

Would you want to do a first look or no? that helps a lot in creating a timeline.

View Quoted Comment No we are not going to do a first look

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And what time does your reception have to end by? will you need to set up anything yourself for either ceremony or reception?

View Quoted Comment We have to be cleaned up and out by midnight. The church we are decorating the day before and we are going to the reception hall at 8am to set up until we have to leave to get ready. I also have my day of coordination and aunt to help with set up at the hall

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And how long do you anticipate your ceremony to run?

View Quoted Comment About 30 minutes

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In that case i would probably do something like:

4p ceremony

4:30p finish ceremony

5p cocktail hour

6p reception starts

if you have the reception hall til midnight that is plenty of time.

Are you doing a receiving line at the church?

We are doing a Catholic ceremony (not mass) at 3 pm as well and cocktails at 4, but our venue is 5 mins away.

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I agree with Melle. Since you aren't doing a first look, I would try to do some individual photos before the ceremony. For instance, you could do all the photos of your husband with his groomsman and you with your bridesmaids before the wedding. You could also do photos of you with your family and your fiance with his family beforehand. This will save time during cocktail hour. Otherwise you run the risk over going over time. My brother and his wife didn't do a first look or anyone photos beforehand. The reception started late and they missed a good portion of their reception because their photographer pulled them away from the reception to finish taking photos of just the two of them. My husband's friends didn't do a first look or any photos beforehand and their cocktail hour lasted over two hours because they were taking so many photos.