Timeline... When to start?

mrssursely

We're having our wedding in a Saturday in May, I was originally thinking the ceremony would be at 4 and the reception would end at 10, is that too long?

I'm expecting the ceremony to be under 30 minutes, so cocktail hour would be 4:30-5:30. Dinner would be after that, which would be a buffet for about 70-80 people. We plan on having a first dance, cake cutting, and possibly a bouquet/garter toss (still deciding). Since half our our guests are over 40, we're planning on having a caricature artist for entertainment as well as background music, we don't expect our group to dance much.

Would it be better to shift the ceremony time to 4:30 or later and have a shorter reception?

Thanks ladies!

southernbelle0915

I think that timeline sounds great! 

It's not too long and will be over before you know it. If people want to leave early, they certainly can. 

wrigleyville

I think that sounds fine. Weddings in my family tend to run until midnight, so ten always feels a bit early to me. I've been to lots of weddings where most of the guests were gone by 10:00, though, so it's not too early and not unheard of.

Maggie0829

That was pretty much the timeline of our wedding.  Ceremony at 4:30 and reception ended at 10:30.

mrssursely

Thanks for the input! I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to question everything lol, but I suppose it's better to do that now rather then after the invitations are made/sent.