You ladies be my girlfriends!

seeraa

I don't have any really, and my sister who would normally help me with this stuff is having a difficult pregnancy so I don't want to bother her. So I need you ladies to be my girls and help me work some things out

We are having a very small DIY wedding. We both wanted small and intimate, so we are only having up to 20 guests, a third of them children. We are having it at a local historical site that has great meaning for my family and at the site there is a monument, museum, and an play park area. Then there is touring the historical site and learning about the different areas. We are so very happy with this choice as our venue.

We want a morning/lunch wedding and I am trying to figuring out timing. I think I want to start the ceremony at 11. I'm not sure when to start the reception though. I want to leave plenty of time for photos, and the reception is on site so there is no need to drive anywhere. I was thinking the reception would start at 1? Or should I even include an exact time? I want to say our vows, pictures with everyone, then right to the reception.

And then for the reception, I can't decide on some of the details. Do we have music? We aren't a dancing family and so it would only be background music. The venue has a sound system, so should I just burn a CD with music? I can't even imagine picking out an hour+ worth of music to burn though! So many choices.

I can't decide on wedding cake flavor either. I'm not actually a cake eater. I like cookies and pastries if anything. Cheesecake is always the best food ever though. I considered doing a cheesecake for the wedding cake but I really want that traditional look and the cake cutting picture!

I'd love to hear any advice or opinions!

vmj23

I wouldn't leave that much time between the ceremony/reception..unless durning that time is when the guests can tour the site?  Find out from your photographer how much time is needed for photos, but keep in mind that while you and your groom are getting photos, the guests need something to do.  

How long is the reception? I definitely think music is a must to keep people entertained.  Do you have an ipod you can put on shuffle?  

tammym1001

I agree that if the reception is in the same place you don't need to list a start time. You can just put reception immediately following. Can you at least provide snacks or something while pictures are being taken. I'm assuming with that small of a guest list everyone will be in the pictures, but they won't all be in all of the pictures so they will need something while they wait to have their pictures taken. Either that or keep the picture taking pretty short. I wouldn't imagine with that few people that it would take more than 30 or 45 minutes to do pictures.

I would at least have background music. Since the venue has a sound system it shouldn't too hard to put together a couple of CD's or see if you can hook an iPod up to their system.

You can do any kind of cake that you want. You can also do a cake cutting with cheesecakes. It won't look like a traditional cake, but you could put them on pedestal stands and make them look really nice then cut one of those.

seeraa

Yes there is a tour for them while pictures are being taken and they can mosey on up to the reception area and snack if they get hungry.

I was leaving room for pictures, but I will find out from the photographer how long that should actually take.

And I'm leaning towards that cheesecake because I just love it! DF and I discussed cakes last night and I made it understood I don't like cake, I've always been a cookies/cheesecake type. So we are playing with ideas.

Kristen625

We aren't doing a traditional cake.  We will be doing cupcakes, and having a super sized cupcake be our cake for cutting.  If you want cookies and cheesecake at your wedding, then have cookies and cheesecake.  Don't get cake just so you can have cake cutting photos.  You should have something you'll enjoy at your wedding. 
I'm only having one attendant at my wedding, and every now and then I'll be looking at photos on pinterest and think "oh I would love to have photos with me and a small group of bridesmaids." but then I stop myself.  Having a larger bridal party simply to have the traditional photos is no reason to have a large bridal party.