Wedding timeline

4:30 is fine. You would have ceremony 4:30-5, cocktail hour 5-6, and reception 6-whenever you want to end.

Our ceremony started at 4:30 and our reception ended at 10 then we went to a bar for an after party. I think it worked out perfectly.

4:30 seems like the perfect time to me. Hannah's timeline is spot on. It's nice to have a little daylight for the beginning of the wedding

I think 4:30 is a great time! Your reception should still end relatively late, but not so late where your older guests may not stay the entire time

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The thing is the venue is giving us 4 hrs for the reception. everyone will have to go home at 10pm. I wanted to party a little later

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I was thinking the same thing, if older guest wanted to leave around 8pm that's fine with me and then party with my friends until 11-12am. But I think having a little daylight at the beginning ceremony is good so the pictures can reflect that.

View Quoted Comment You can always have an after party! Our timeline was similar, except we had a 5pm ceremony, so we ended at 10:30. We had an after party with some of our friends and family afterwards at the hotel, and it was a lot of fun. I changed into comfy clothes, so it was laid back and casual.

A 4:30 ceremony is fine. Are you taking pictures before the ceremony or after? When does your cocktail hour start? Also djs often play later if the crowd is still hopping at that time.

View Quoted Comment That is so short to fit cocktail hour, dinner, festivities and dancing. Why this is the standard norm makes no sense. But there are many venues if you look that do not have a curfew to be out, but that means redoing all your plans to only having the ceremony at the waterfall venue.

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The after party sounds like a great idea, I would have to do some research and see if I can get a nice hotel to allow us to do it. Our venue is being strict about the time we end.

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My cocktail hour would start at 5:15 so the reception would be from 6:15-10:15 I just think I would like to party a little later. I am taking pictures after the ceremony because I would like to use the room reveal for that. I know the bridesmaids will have their single pictures taken before the ceremony once everyone is done getting ready around 2pm.

I would say keep the 4:30 time. We are doing a similar timeline, which opens up a little more time for photos after and should allow us to enjoy our cocktail hour without feeling like we have to cram it all in. Congratulations

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Thank you, I will end up keeping it because like you mentioned the pictures are important to me. I wanted to do some photos before the ceremony and after also since the sunset will be perfect. Congrats to you also, happy planning