Help me with my timeline please!

taylorl21

I wasn't sure where else to post this, so here we go..

My fiancé and I are getting married on a Tuesday (yes, I know. Trust me, this is the best for everyone) in August. Per our contract we have to be out by 8PM.  Because the wedding is mid-week, I don't anticipate people wanting to drink/dance heavily, but if we served dinner at 5PM, will that be enough time for the typically merriment to follow?  Taking down our decorations will not take that long as we are not putting very many up, and the venue provides the tables/chairs/linens so they tear them down as well.  I am also going to ask our venue if we can do the tear down/clean up the next day, so that might give us a bit of extra time.  What I am hoping could work looks roughly something like this: get ready, first look, pictures, ceremony, receiving line, quick alone time for bride and groom (while maybe the guest start in on dinner?), dinner/toasts, spotlight dances, cake, dancing.. Thoughts? Could this work?

KytchynWitche

That sounds fine to me. I was a Friday morning bride, our reception did not include dancing, partly because I am a major klutz and partly because we wanted to get out on a "pub crawl" with our guests, but we served lunch at 12 so we could be out by 3, and there was PLENTY time to have had dancing if anyone wanted to. Of course, we had arranged for next day cleanup so we didn't have that eating into our time.

ETA: We also did not do much in the way of added decorations etc. Set up took longer than tear down did. I think we were in and out in about 30 minutes for cleanup, and most of that was chatting with the venue owner.

So, assuming you can arrange for next day cleanup and/or make quick work of cleanup on the night, all should be well!

novella1186

taylorl21 said:

I wasn't sure where else to post this, so here we go..

My fiancé and I are getting married on a Tuesday (yes, I know. Trust me, this is the best for everyone) in August. Per our contract we have to be out by 8PM.  Because the wedding is mid-week, I don't anticipate people wanting to drink/dance heavily, but if we served dinner at 5PM, will that be enough time for the typically merriment to follow?  Taking down our decorations will not take that long as we are not putting very many up, and the venue provides the tables/chairs/linens so they tear them down as well.  I am also going to ask our venue if we can do the tear down/clean up the next day, so that might give us a bit of extra time.  What I am hoping could work looks roughly something like this: get ready, first look, pictures, ceremony, receiving line, quick alone time for bride and groom (while maybe the guest start in on dinner?), dinner/toasts, spotlight dances, cake, dancing.. Thoughts? Could this work?

3 hours doesn't sound like much time to do all that and then also clean up (assuming they won't let you clean up the next day or whatever). 

I would recommend starting at 4 if you can. Do the spotlight dances and cake cutting first. Start dinner at 5. Then people have plenty of time to eat dinner, do toasts, eat dessert, and still have some time to dance or mingle or whatever. Personally I'd rather work in a little extra time than feel rushed or having the evening cut short, ya know? 

Inkdancer

We served lunch at 12:30 and were cleaning up by 3, with spotlight dances and everything. Of course, we did not have a bar, which may have made a difference. 

taylorl21

We talked about the idea of doing a lunch, but it just didn't have the best appeal to either of us.  We don't have a coordinator because we have a small budget, and our venue is pretty new and I'm pretty sure this is the first mid-week wedding she's had, so we haven't got much advice from anyone yet, so thank you!

JCbride2015

I'm not sure about how long it will take for cleanup, but starting at 4 sounds good.  I would suggest you serve some snacks and drinks during your "alone time for bride and groom," even just cheese and crackers, fruit, and punch. As a guest, I would feel odd starting dinner without the bride and groom at the reception yet.

RebeccaFlower

I would do this.. 

4:00-4:30 Ceremony

4:30-5:00 Pictures & Breathe for B& G

5:00 Dinner

545-6ish Spolight Dances/cake cutting

6:15 Open dance floor 

7:15 Last call (signal it's time to go home)

7:30-8:00 clean up.

I'm a dancer/drinker at weddings, but I wouldn't really on a Tuesday, so I think an hour is plenty for dancing. I think as long as you keep it moving, you'll be fine