Wedding is in 20 days (screams into pillow)and I *think* we have the plan for the day but before we finalise everything with the venue and caterer I thought you guys might be able to give me some feedback incase I'm missing something.
To give you an overview, the ceremony and reception are close by each other, but as reception venue is on the canal we are having cocktail hour on a barge that will cruise down to the reception so the day will be in 3 separate parts. We are not having a professional photographer so will be present to mingle with guests during cocktail hour.
I do anticipate that the timeline will move +/- so may not run exactly as below, but so long as its 10mins here or there it shouldn't be an issue as all of the guests will be transported everywhere by us once they arrive for the ceremony. Less chance of my Scottish family getting lost in London that way!
- 3pm - 3.30ish ceremony
- 3.45pm bus departs from town hall to take guests to the barge.
- 4pm barge leaves for 'cocktail hour' on the canal towards our venue. Beer and wine (and softs) provided on board along with canapes. We plan to work around the guests to thank them during cocktail hour, rather than a receiving line - they will all be in one confined space, so easy to spot!
- 5pm arrive at reception venue. Drinks will be handed out for toasts (prosecco, beer, softs)
- 5.15pm toasts whilst guests mingle and have some drinks.
- 5.30pm call guests upstairs for dinner.
- 7pm guests go downstairs for drinks whilst the venue rearranges the tables for dancefloor etc. Upstairs bar will be set up too.
- 7.15pm cut the cake
- 7.30pm upstairs organised and bar open (beer/wine/ale/spirits/softs), probably have the first dance now and then open the dancefloor straight away.
- 1am finish.
Does that seem like it works? I feel like it flows but am I missing anything? As I mentioned before I know these times might move a little - people dawdling after the ceremony, traffic whilst on the bus, etc so that shouldn't phase us unless it's significant.
Ahhh, I'm so ready to just do this now. Thank you all in advance for helping me make sure I do this right!