Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions

Time schedule...help!

I am getting married in August 2010. My mom has been on my back about what times we are doing everything. I am stuck with when to start the ceremony and the dinner.

We are having a Lutheran ceremony and it will only be about 20-30 min long. Both of our parents INSISTED we have a receiving line after the ceremony. I'm figuring that will take about 30 min to complete (hopefully...we were at a wedding this past summer and it took about an hour). The place we want to do our outdoor pictures is 40 min away from the church and 20 min away from the hall.

I was thinking of starting church at 12:30 and dinner at 5:30 so that gave us plenty of time and not feeling as if we are being rushed to get our pictures. My FI would like to make a stop at the fire department (he's a volunteer fire fighter) and have pictures of us with the truck (kinda a tradition for the department).

Do you think that will be enough time or maybe too much time? My mom says church should start at 1pm and dinner at 5:30 but my fear is that the receiving line will take forever and then we will be rushed.

Any thoughts would be greatly helpful! THANK YOU!!!!

Re: Time schedule...help!

  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_time-schedulehelp?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:7edf2637-0fc6-43ea-b004-e86b6c451a0ePost:b2bc52ce-6b18-4702-88ad-3448d675c2f9">Time schedule...help!</a>:
    [QUOTE]I am getting married in August 2010. My mom has been on my back about what times we are doing everything. I am stuck with when to start the ceremony and the dinner. We are having a Lutheran ceremony and it will only be about 20-30 min long. Both of our parents INSISTED we have a receiving line after the ceremony. I'm figuring that will take about 30 min to complete (hopefully...we were at a wedding this past summer and it took about an hour). The place we want to do our outdoor pictures is 40 min away from the church and 20 min away from the hall. I was thinking of starting church at 12:30 and dinner at 5:30 so that gave us plenty of time and not feeling as if we are being rushed to get our pictures. My FI would like to make a stop at the fire department (he's a volunteer fire fighter) and have pictures of us with the truck (kinda a tradition for the department). Do you think that will be enough time or maybe too much time? My mom says church should start at 1pm and dinner at 5:30 but my fear is that the receiving line will take forever and then we will be rushed. Any thoughts would be greatly helpful! THANK YOU!!!!
    Posted by nikkylee21[/QUOTE]

    You gap is waaaaaaaaay too long.  If you want your 12:30 wedding, fine.  That means that you cocktail hour starts no later than 1:30, and the reception begins at 2:30.  You have photos taken between 1:30~2:30 while your guests are enjoying the cocktail hour.

    If you want a 5:30 pm dinner, then your ceremony should begin no earlier than 3:30.  I've been to many weddings, and unless you're having over 200 guests, your receiving line will take at the most 20 minutes or so.

    What exactly are you thinking your guests will do for 4 to 4.5 hours while you're visiting the fire house and taking pictures? 

    Your current timeline is really inconsiderate for your guests.  Frankly, if I were invited, I'd skip one part or the other, but I wouldn't go to both.
    "Trix, it's what they/our parents wanted. Why so judgemental? And why is your wedding date over a year and a half ago? And why do you not have a groom's name? And why have you posted over 12,000 posts? And why do you always say mean things to brides?" palegirl146
  • To be honest that is how EVERY wedding I've been to ran. My mom is opening her house up after the ceremony and have food and drinks available there. Our actuall reception is from 8pm till midnight.

    Like I said, things are done differently here and it is usually an all day affair
  • IMO, asking your guests to participate in a 12+hour affair is just way, way too long.  If it's the norm where you are from, I guess you already knew the answer to your question then.

    Where I'm from that would never fly.  People would more than likely skip the ceremony.
    "Trix, it's what they/our parents wanted. Why so judgemental? And why is your wedding date over a year and a half ago? And why do you not have a groom's name? And why have you posted over 12,000 posts? And why do you always say mean things to brides?" palegirl146
  • Even if a long gap between ceremony and reception is normal for area and your guests, and there will be refreshments available in between,  that is still quite a huge gap between a 12:30 ceremony and 8pm reception.  That is a long grueling day, for the WP, parents, and the guests. 

    I'm a little confused about the 5:30 dinner and 8pm reception time.  Are you not serving dinner at the reception? 

    Because you expect the fire station photos to take so much time, why not do them before the ceremony in the early afternoon, like right after lunch?  Then ceremony about 3:30 pm, open house/refreshements for guests while WP does church photos, dinner 5:30, reception 8pm. 

    This may not work in your case, but at my daughter's wedding, we did church photos immediately after the ceremony (took about 30 minutes) while guests had "cocktail hour".  We had a buffet style dinner, so we combined the buffet line wtih the receiving line.  It gave us a chance to greet all the guests, and also kept the line moving fairly quickly.  For a little over 100 guests, the receiving/buffet line took about 20-30 minutes. 
  • we did the "first look" before the ceremony.  It was private and only between us and the photographers.  Highly recommend it if you have a big family or a large guest count.  It took us two hours for B&G pics, WP pics and family pictures.  Started at 2:00, Ceremoy started at 4.  We had a friend follow the photographer and when we were stomped for what pictures to do next she had the "must take list" and suggested another picture.  It worked out great.

    If you don't want to do the "first look" try and take as many pictures as you can before. 

    5:30-7:30 is a LOONG time for dinner too.  Unless you have 450 guests coming, you will need that time.  But understand the people who get served first will only take about 20-30 min to eat.  What are they going to do for the next hour and a half.  I suggest cutting the guest list.

    Also, you said the DJ will set up during dinner.  What about music being played durning dinner? 

    I would suggest:
    12:30-2:30 -WP and family pictures at the church (if you get them done now, your WP and extended family can go enjoy cocktail hour)
    3:00-4:00 ceremony and other family pics.
    4:30-5:30- cocktail hour (with open bar and apps and a dj for some music) This is when you and your DH can go to the fire house to get pictures
    5:30-7:30 dinner
     I would recommend doing the recieving line in front of the buffet like PP said.  And just with the bride and groom.  When you add more people into the line it just slows it down more. 

    Hope that helps
    imageimage
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • another idea: can you bring the fire truck to the church?  Take pictures there with it and then that can be your "ride" to the reception?
    imageimage
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • I agree with Trix, that is way too long between ceremony and reception.  You will lose guests, unless you have something for them to do in the downtime.  I would recommend a later ceremony and do pictures before (unless your deadset on groom not seeing bride before hand).
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards