Reception timeline

anniecm5

Just wondering how most of you were doing their reception timelines. Entrance, couples first dance, then toasts and dinner, then parent-child dances? Entrance, then toasts and dinner, then all three dances? 

vulpiepop

We're keeping all the dancing together. We have the cocktail hour, then our entrance, food (toasts after the salad), couple's first dance, other dances, cake cutting, then bouquet toss. 

We didn't know how to do the timeline so the event coordinator at our venue helped us with it. She had done a lot of weddings so we trusted that she knew what she was doing when she helped us make our timeline (it was actually more that she made the timeline and showed us).

Maggie0829

This is what we did...

Entrance

First dance

Father/daughter dance

Mother/son dance

Dinner

Table visits during dinner

Dancing/party time!

Cake cutting (just picked a random moment when we realized that no one was eating the cupcakes because we didn't cut the cake)

More dancing and partying

PrettyGirlLost

This is what we did:

Entrance
Cut the Cake
Receiving Line
Toasts- Didn't know we were having any until the reception, lol!
Dinner
1st Dances
Party!

southernbelle0915

This is what we did:

- entrance

- FOB welcome toast

- dinner

- first dances

- cake cutting

tcnoble

Our tentative timeline is..

Entrance

First dance

Cake cutting

Dinner/Toasts

Table visits during dinner

Father/Daughter dance

Open floor

aliwis000

Our tentative timeline

Entrance
First Dance
Father/Daughter Dance
Mother/Son Dance
Dinner
Table visits during dinner
Cake Cutting
Dancing

We are trying to get all the "audience" stuff out of the way all together and right out of the gate. Our current idea is everyone will be ok from the cocktail time with food and drinks and when we are announced it should take no more than 15-18 min tops to get through intros and spotlight dances.

That is all for us. No "games", no tosses, no toasts. At some point my new husband and I might take the mic for 2 min to thank everyone again. (Also doing table visits). But other than that the only time guests are "stuck" are for those 15 min at the start. Cake cutting will be announced but the music will not stop and nobody is required to come watch.

dcbride86

Entrance

First Dance

Dinner

-Table visits during dinner

-Toasts during dinner (but after table visits)

Cake cutting

Father/Daughter Dance

Mother/Son Dance

Dancing and drinking and having fun

 

vmj23

We did entrance, first dance, toasts, dinner, than later in night cake cutting and parent dances

Coalette2013

This is what we did and it went very smoothly:

Entrance

First Dance

FOB Welcoming Speech/Toast

Blessing by Minister

Dinner

   - Table Visits during dinner

Toasts

Father/Daughter Dance

All Dancing

Cake Cutting at some point after every one started dancing

Knottie60621954

Hi.  I'm having a destination wedding.  So far, my beach wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m.  My package includes a semi-private dinner at 6:15 p.m.  We are planning to rent the conference center for the remaining for the program for the: Entrance, First Dance, -Table visits during dinner,-Toasts, Cake cutting, Father/Daughter Dance, Mother/Son Dance, and Dancing and drinking and party.

Do you think the conference space is needed since the reception dinner will be finished? Also, the conference center is next door to the resorts night club and casino, so I'm trying to figure out if we should do the final traditional wedding stuff from 8-10 and then let the guest finish partying at the other activities at the resort or have the wedding stuff and after party from 8-12.  I'm not sure what the normal procedures are for destination weddings so any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Our wedding is scheduled for May 16th, so it's coming up soon.

southernbelle0915

Knottie60621954 said:

Hi.  I'm having a destination wedding.  So far, my beach wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m.  My package includes a semi-private dinner at 6:15 p.m.  We are planning to rent the conference center for the remaining for the program for the: Entrance, First Dance, -Table visits during dinner,-Toasts, Cake cutting, Father/Daughter Dance, Mother/Son Dance, and Dancing and drinking and party.

Do you think the conference space is needed since the reception dinner will be finished? Also, the conference center is next door to the resorts night club and casino, so I'm trying to figure out if we should do the final traditional wedding stuff from 8-10 and then let the guest finish partying at the other activities at the resort or have the wedding stuff and after party from 8-12.  I'm not sure what the normal procedures are for destination weddings so any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Our wedding is scheduled for May 16th, so it's coming up soon.

Im more concerned about a 3pm ceremony and then nothing until 6:15. You're basically having a 3 hour gap.

Move the ceremony to 5:45. If you want pics in between, have the ceremony at 5:00, ending at 5:15 or so, then host a cocktail hour for guests at the restaurant while you take photos.

Knottie60621954

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

Knottie60621954

There is a casino next door (and a club that opening in the evening) to the conference room that we are renting, so we could suggest a casino break or something.  I'm up for suggestions.  I only have a $10K budget and I'm getting close to hitting it, so I can not add unnecessary expenses. 

anne2018

Cocktail hour

no entrance

dinner

first dance

dancing

throw bouquet when leaving

MandyMost

I like to keep all the dancing together. We did:

Ceremony

Pictures after ceremony, then joined the cocktail hour

No introductions, we just headed in and took our seats with everyone else

Salad course

Two toasts

Dinner--table visits as soon as we finished dinner while other tables were still finishing up eating

Cake cutting, which led right into...

First dance, which let right into...

"Family Dance" instead of individual father/daughter and mother/son dancing

Party!

PrettyGirlLost

Knottie60621954 said:

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

My thoughts are that I'd be super freaking pissed off if I traveled and spent the time and money to attend your DW and there was a 3 hour gap between your ceremony and the reception.  I would honestly consider skipping the reception or skipping the ceremony and meeting you later for the reception.

We paid $37+ per person for a limited bar at our reception, so $28 per person doesn't seem unreasonable at all.  Can you book the conference room for right after your ceremony and do all your wedding stuff then?  Then the dinner can be an optional after party.

lovegood90

Knottie60621954 said:

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

Sorry, but this still isn't acceptable. When you host an event, you need to host it from start to finish with no gaps in between. You need to have your ceremony, followed immediately by your cocktail hour, followed immediately by your reception.

The only solution is to move your ceremony back to 5, hosting a cocktail hour from 5:15-6:15, then hosting dinner/the rest of the reception right after. Or you need to move dinner up. You should talk again abut your options with your venue because this is a non-negotiable, Hosting 101.

You can't have 70 people travel internationally to your wedding to just let them fend for themselves for 2-3 hours. They need to be properly hosted the whole time.

kimandrob1317

I am having an issue organizing my reception timeline. We are getting married at 2, plan on doing all of our entrances, cake cutting, toasts, first dances, bouquet toss etc first. We have the venue until midnight, so we will probably stop all activities around 10/10:30. We have access to a ballfield for whiffleball, park playground, core hole, game tables, kids area. We want to spend as much time as we can with friends and family during the day. It is going to be like a wedding field day extravaganza. So should we plan all of these activities before and/or after, or during dancing??
Not everyone is going to want to dance or play games, but I want to make everything as smooth and inclusive as possible. What is the best way to do that?

MandyMost

lovegood90 said:

Knottie60621954 said:

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

Sorry, but this still isn't acceptable. When you host an event, you need to host it from start to finish with no gaps in between. You need to have your ceremony, followed immediately by your cocktail hour, followed immediately by your reception.

The only solution is to move your ceremony back to 5, hosting a cocktail hour from 5:15-6:15, then hosting dinner/the rest of the reception right after. Or you need to move dinner up. You should talk again abut your options with your venue because this is a non-negotiable, Hosting 101.

You can't have 70 people travel internationally to your wedding to just let them fend for themselves for 2-3 hours. They need to be properly hosted the whole time.

I think it's a little different since the wedding is at an all-inclusive resort, your guests technically still have available food and drink for that whole time. However, that being said, I would very likely attend your ceremony, and then get absolutely wasted with my friends/family during the 3 hour gap, and be a drunken mess at the dinner itself, and go back to my room and pass out instead of actually dancing and taking part in the reception. I'm going to guess that's what a lot of your guests will do as well. 

Work with the resort to have a wedding and reception without a gap, or find a new resort. Can you essentially have the reception start immediately after the ceremony, but still not have dinner until 6:15? You could have the apps, do intros and first dances and toasts, and essentially have a 3-hour cocktail reception followed by dinner? 

Knottie74992899

We are having a cocktail hour, dinner, then dancing (with traditional dances first).  No entrances.

anniecm5

MandyMost said:

lovegood90 said:

Knottie60621954 said:

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

Sorry, but this still isn't acceptable. When you host an event, you need to host it from start to finish with no gaps in between. You need to have your ceremony, followed immediately by your cocktail hour, followed immediately by your reception.

The only solution is to move your ceremony back to 5, hosting a cocktail hour from 5:15-6:15, then hosting dinner/the rest of the reception right after. Or you need to move dinner up. You should talk again abut your options with your venue because this is a non-negotiable, Hosting 101.

You can't have 70 people travel internationally to your wedding to just let them fend for themselves for 2-3 hours. They need to be properly hosted the whole time.

I think it's a little different since the wedding is at an all-inclusive resort, your guests technically still have available food and drink for that whole time. However, that being said, I would very likely attend your ceremony, and then get absolutely wasted with my friends/family during the 3 hour gap, and be a drunken mess at the dinner itself, and go back to my room and pass out instead of actually dancing and taking part in the reception. I'm going to guess that's what a lot of your guests will do as well. 

Work with the resort to have a wedding and reception without a gap, or find a new resort. Can you essentially have the reception start immediately after the ceremony, but still not have dinner until 6:15? You could have the apps, do intros and first dances and toasts, and essentially have a 3-hour cocktail reception followed by dinner? 

It does make things kind of awkward, but in this scenario, it's not as unacceptable and rude as others are saying. They're at an all inclusive.. Guests all have access to plenty of facilities and food and drinks for free all day long. So there's an almost-3 hour break. Organize everyone going to one bar, maybe some other kind of group activity or game in the mean time. Get creative and make it fun, so that the three hours have something a little bit more fun than everyone just getting drunk. But also don't feel like a bad hostess, the resort already has anything they could possibly want covered. Destination weddings at an all inclusive are much more laid back. Just let people know the schedule ahead of time. 

Also - being at a resort, I'm guessing you and most of your guests are staying for more than that one day. I'm wondering if it at least worth it to explore switching the day of your ceremony (maybe you don't want to, but just a suggestion) as long as you can make it so that all guests can still attend.. Maybe there wouldn't be conflicting weddings on a different day of the week? I would also talk to the venue about it. I understand that there are other weddings but they should at least try to work with you on the timeline so that things flow better. 

Good luck! It'll be fine either way! 

wrigleyville

I wouldn't care if there were lots of activities, food, drink, etc. Gaps are annoying. It's like going to a movie you've been looking forward to and having a three-hour intermission between Part 1 and Part 2. Gaps are a total buzzkill.

Plus, I'm not going to want to eat and drink before the reception. Why ruin my appetite? That's what cocktail hour is for - to provide appetizers and drinks to people for an hour while you have pictures taken. It's not called "Cocktail Three Hours".

PrettyGirlLost

wrigleyville said:

I wouldn't care if there were lots of activities, food, drink, etc. Gaps are annoying. It's like going to a movie you've been looking forward to and having a three-hour intermission between Part 1 and Part 2. Gaps are a total buzzkill.

Plus, I'm not going to want to eat and drink before the reception. Why ruin my appetite? That's what cocktail hour is for - to provide appetizers and drinks to people for an hour while you have pictures taken. It's not called "Cocktail Three Hours".

This.

This wedding being at an all inclusive is irrelevant- the 3 hour gap still sucks! 

As a guest at this wedding, what am I supposed to do?  Get dressed up, do my hair and make up, and attend your ceremony, then change into a bathing suit and kill 3 hours at the pool/on the beach/in the hot tub, then redo my hair and make up and get dressed back up again to go to the reception?  Am I supposed to book an off site excursion to kill time?  Go to the spa?  Go diving?

If I'm going to have to change and then kill time doing some resort activity, chances are I'm just going to keep doing my activity or call it a day and skip your reception at that point.

lyndausvi

So while on vacation I'm suppose to leave the beach/pool to go get ready to  be some where at 3pm.  Witness a what?  10-15 min ceremony.  Then wait around for 3 hours for another obligation.

For some people the DW alone is an inconvenience. Now you want to create a bigger one by having a gap?  Do you not like your family and friends?

If they have dinner at 6:15, why can't the wedding be later in the day?   Why can't you have a morning wedding with a lunch reception? 

There must be other options than a 3 hour gap.   Talk about buzz kill

redoryx

MandyMost said:

lovegood90 said:

Knottie60621954 said:

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

Sorry, but this still isn't acceptable. When you host an event, you need to host it from start to finish with no gaps in between. You need to have your ceremony, followed immediately by your cocktail hour, followed immediately by your reception.

The only solution is to move your ceremony back to 5, hosting a cocktail hour from 5:15-6:15, then hosting dinner/the rest of the reception right after. Or you need to move dinner up. You should talk again abut your options with your venue because this is a non-negotiable, Hosting 101.

You can't have 70 people travel internationally to your wedding to just let them fend for themselves for 2-3 hours. They need to be properly hosted the whole time.

I think it's a little different since the wedding is at an all-inclusive resort, your guests technically still have available food and drink for that whole time. However, that being said, I would very likely attend your ceremony, and then get absolutely wasted with my friends/family during the 3 hour gap, and be a drunken mess at the dinner itself, and go back to my room and pass out instead of actually dancing and taking part in the reception. I'm going to guess that's what a lot of your guests will do as well. 

Work with the resort to have a wedding and reception without a gap, or find a new resort. Can you essentially have the reception start immediately after the ceremony, but still not have dinner until 6:15? You could have the apps, do intros and first dances and toasts, and essentially have a 3-hour cocktail reception followed by dinner? 

It does make things kind of awkward, but in this scenario, it's not as unacceptable and rude as others are saying. They're at an all inclusive.. Guests all have access to plenty of facilities and food and drinks for free all day long. So there's an almost-3 hour break. Organize everyone going to one bar, maybe some other kind of group activity or game in the mean time. Get creative and make it fun, so that the three hours have something a little bit more fun than everyone just getting drunk. But also don't feel like a bad hostess, the resort already has anything they could possibly want covered. Destination weddings at an all inclusive are much more laid back. Just let people know the schedule ahead of time. 

Also - being at a resort, I'm guessing you and most of your guests are staying for more than that one day. I'm wondering if it at least worth it to explore switching the day of your ceremony (maybe you don't want to, but just a suggestion) as long as you can make it so that all guests can still attend.. Maybe there wouldn't be conflicting weddings on a different day of the week? I would also talk to the venue about it. I understand that there are other weddings but they should at least try to work with you on the timeline so that things flow better. 

Good luck! It'll be fine either way! 

I went to a wedding with a gap. The reception was, quite literally, across the street from my apartment so some of us just went and chilled at my apartment for an hour or two. That meant we had plenty of access to food and drinks and facilities and entertainment and whatever for the waiting time.

Still annoying. Still rude.

Dreamergirl8812

Knottie60621954 said:

Thanks. At the resort in Costa Rica the Wedding is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the earliest time for dinner  is 6:15. I asked for an alternative time, but the hotel has pre-determined sitting times for dinner.  There are at least 4 other wedding at the resort the same day.  The hotel wedding planner suggested that we have the toast at 5:30 p.m. but that didn’t make any sense to me since the dinner is at 6:15 and we are planning to have the wedding stuff after dinner in the conference room. The resort is all inclusive too.  Would it be tacky if we took our pictures from 3:30-4:30 and just have everyone meet us at one of the 5 bars at 5 for cocktails? If I add an open bar in the conference room the hotel wants to charge use $28 pp/hr although our hotel package is all inclusive. I think that crazy!!! We have 70 guest coming already. That would be an additional approx. $2K per hour in an all-inclusive hotel. Thoughts??? 

I'm curious if all your guests are staying at the resort. Are they required to in order to attend the wedding? If they're staying at the non-all inclusive resort down the street they wouldn't have access to free/hosted cocktails during the gap.

[Deleted User]

We did

-Cocktail hour

-Entrance

-First Dance

-Dinner Blessing

-Dinner

-Toasts

-Father/daughter & mother/son dance

-dancing for about an hour

-cake cutting (this was delayed per our & MIL  request, FIL's side of the family tend to leave as soon as special activites are done and we wanted them to stay so we could visit)

-More dancing

-Anniversary dance (this was done this way, great chance for any single people to hit the bar & relax for a song or go have smoke)

 

-More dancing

MandyMost

There is nothing I want to do at a resort for 3 hours, while all dressed up, other than eat and drink. And if I spend 3 hours eating and drinking, I'm going to be in no position to eat and drink my way through the reception and enjoy myself. 

Yes, there's tons of free stuff to do at a resort for 3 hours. But none of it you want to do between a wedding ceremony and wedding reception. That's the point.