Wedding timeline

I'm planning on three hours, so I sure hope it is! My thinking is it's better to have short, sweet, and fun than to have people feeling obligated to stay longer. We're not doing cake cutting, cocktail hour, or bouquet toss. Come for the ceremony, eat a nice dinner, and be home at a reasonable hour. That's what I want for myself anyhow!

Depends on what all you are trying to fit into the timeline. It isn't a lot of time, but can be done!

View Quoted Comment Right that’s my thinking. Yea we’re omitting those too. We mainly want to make sure we fit first dance, father-daughter-dance and mother-son dance.. so we’re just doing a short ceremony, dances, food, then home.

Ours is 4 hrs for 50 guests. Dinner reception only (no dancing except FH & I doing a last dance) + cake cutting, shoe game, & speeches. My concern was that it would be TOO much time, but I’ve already organized my timeline & I think it’s plenty of time & gives the guests time to mingle in between.

View Quoted Comment Christy, what does your timeline look like if you don’t mind me asking?

View Quoted Comment
Pre-ceremony cocktails for arriving guests: 5-5:30
Ceremony: 5:30Cocktail hour: 6-7 (we believe the ceremony will be a bit shorter so probably more like 5:45-7)Speeches: 7:45-8Cake cutting: 8:15Shoe Game: 8:258:30-9:45: This is time for our guest to mingle& gives us an opportunity to visit with everyone as well. 9:30: Last call9:45: Farewell dance while guests line up for grand exit (we are dancing on the front porch of the historic home venue & did not necessarily want people to have to watch us…just wanted to dance with each other 😊 But it provides a seamless transition from the dance straight to exit).

View Quoted Comment Are you doing pictures? Thanks this helps a lot!!

4 hours is a good time frame it all depends on what you plan on doing of course. Just keep in mind about pictures. Do you plan on taking pictures before everything or during? It would be MUCH easier to get the pictures out of the way before. That's what I did for my wedding day. We were able to enjoy the rest of the evening eating and dancing.
Our wedding lasted about 5 1/2 hours?? Maybe close to 6.
*Ceremony was at 4pm (10 mins)
*Cocktail hour (this is optional, but we needed to do it to set up tables since ceremony and dinner area was all in same place, so this took about 15-20 minutes and then we did a quick wedding party entrance)
*Dinner started before 5pm
*Cake and speeches at 6pm (4 people spoke for speeches - matron of honor, best man, father of bride, and bride spoke, but no one spoke more than 5 mins)
*Dances at 6:30ish (1st dance, father-daughter, mother-son: we only danced for half the songs so it didn't prolong)
*And then we just drank and danced the rest of the night

Designate someone to be a day of wedding coordinator to keep track of time and helping set up for next segment on the itinerary. My husband's cousin was our designated coordinator and she was sooo helpful that way we were able to just enjoy our special day

View Quoted Comment We will do individual pictures before the ceremony (we are not doing a 1st look). We are doing family& couple photos during cocktail hr.

Ceremonies typically last around 30 minutes. Cocktail hours are typically 1 hour and then dinner service is between 45 minutes to 1 hour. What type of reception are you planning on having? Are you having a DJ for dancing? Are you doing any of the traditional bouquet or garter toss? If so, I would add an extra hour. If not, the remaining 1.5 hours should be fine.

View Quoted Comment Nope. I’m not planning on having garter toss, or bouquet toss. Ideally we want to make sure we have enough time for first dance, father-daughter dance, mother-son dance.. and pictures. Yes we have a Dj. We’re have a bbq buffet style for dinner. Max guest is 50. Our guest list currently only has 42, and that’s with everyone having a plus one.

View Quoted Comment I think you’ll be square! I’ve done events and performances in this time frame with mingling in-between. 💚 Congrats on progress w/ the whole process. Just make sure you have fun!

View Quoted Comment This makes me feel so much better!