Wedding timeline too short

It seems really rushed to me! I would personally pay for another hour!

Obviously, you need to do what you need to do to fit your budget. FWIW, daughter's wedding/reception was 6.5 hours, and they did first look and wedding party photos for 2 hours before that, and it felt like it went much too fast.... If nothing else, maybe you could do photos at another location before the ceremony to buy yourselves a little more time with your guests? Good luck!

It seems rushed to me. Our ceremony will be at a rose garden (2 hour time slots), our reception will be in my grandparents backyard.

That seems a little fast, but ultimately it is up to what you can afford. We are having a 5 hour wedding, ceremony at 5:30, leave by 10:30 if that helps?

That does seem rushed. We are having a 5.5 hour wedding (half hour ceremony, hour cocktail hour, and 4 hour reception). We nixed the garter/bouquet toss and I was still thinking there wasn't enough time for dancing.

It seems a bit rushed. We had a 6 hour wedding including the ceremony which was only about 20 mins in the same location and I felt rushed all day.

My reception was 3 hours, but we also didn't a lot of the traditional events and made food free flowing the entire night, so people didn't feel strapped to their chairs. Our timeline was something like this:

6-7 appetizers served

6:10 - entrance activities: entrance, first dance; speeches

6:20-7 pm open dance/free-time

7-8 dinner food truck buffet served

7:30 mother/son dance; anniversary dance; formally open dance floor (not that it wasn't really active earlier than that...)

8:30 cake cutting

9:00 last dance

For what you're describing, I feel like the day would be a bit tight. Ours was just long enough for everyone to feel content. I told my husband that we probably could have had another hour, but chances are I would have gotten partied out/cranky during it. So I'm happy we ended on a party high!

Mine will be similar, about five hours. I'm skipping the garter toss ect. It might be rushed but you also won't be bored!

What about doing a first look and trying to get some/all of your photos out of the way beforehand? That might give you a little more time for the reception without having to pay extra.

We had 5 hours and I still didn't want to rush or not be able to party for a lot of it since we will miss a lot of the cocktail hour so we paid for an extra hour so we could have 6 hours for ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and partying.

I do plan to have the group pictures done before so all we have left after the ceremony is the couple pictures and the coupe+family pictures since we are not doing a first look. Hopefully it takes only a half hour or so and we can get at least some cocktail time in with everyone.

We are in the exact same situation. Our venue only includes 4.5 hours for ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception and it’s $500 for each additional 30 minutes! We’re not doing a garter toss or bouquet toss, but I’m still stressed about how tight it’s going to be. If it were $500 for an extra hour I think I’d definitely do it but I don’t know if I can justify $500 for 30 minutes.

My first planning session with the venue is next month. I’m going to ask them how many brides pay for extra time and for those that don’t, how do they manage the timeline. They do this every weekend so I trust their opinion.

I’m a firm believer in first look at the aisle and not before. So that’s not an option but I can do my other photos before hand. BMs and parent ect

It would depend on how much time you would want for dancing. If your guests aren't into dancing then this timeline is fine. However, if you want to be able to dance a good amount of time then an additional hour is needed.

That seems little tight. Venues usually offer 5 hours or more total. I would do first look & all photos before the ceremony, skip cocktail hour or do 30 minute cocktail hour only & jump right into reception.

Try to negotiate for an extra hour. I think our venue also wanted to charge several hundred for an extra hour but when we discussed it I think they let us add an hour for $200. Totally worth it!

You could technically do it but it would be nicer if you had more time. can you cut your cocktail hour time? I like what Iva suggested.

Mine is 5.5 from the time I walk down the aisle to the time we have to leave and I’ve been concerned about the same thing!

It does seem a little rushed my reception is 4 hours and I feel like it’s also a little too short. I wouldn’t recommend spending more money tho $500 is a lot for 1 extra hour but if you think it’s worth it then go for it! Maybe you can take the party somewhere else like to a club? Or even a parents house? To give you more time with your guests I would also suggest maybe doing pictures before ceremony that way you get more time with guest also

View Quoted Comment I have 5.5 hours too and was thinking it wasn’t enough time. I think I might mix the bouquet toss too, thanks for the idea.