We are just starting to plan out the timing of the day and would love some advice.
The ceremony and reception are being held at the same venue in different spaces. We're having a quick (probably no more than 15 minute) ceremony and then getting to partying! Invites say that the ceremony is at 4, but due to both our families being habitually late for things we will probably get that rolling around 4:30. We're doing first look and family photos before the ceremony so we should be able to all participate in cocktail hour, we are then serving a buffet dinner followed by dancing and karaoke. We have to be out of the venue at 11:30. How do ya'll suggest we break everything up?
Re: Yet another thread for reception timing!
As to your actually question, why are you planning to do at the reception that you need to break up? a suggested timeline.
4pm ceremony (receiving line if you're having one.
Move to reception location.
4:30ish/as soon as guests arrive: cocktail hour begins and finish any pictures you want after the ceremony.
5:25 introductions (if you're doing them), although if you're not doing pictures after the ceremony you can do introductions before cocktail hour.
5:30: Dinner service begins+ any toasts (if you're doing them)
7:00: Cutting the cake, first dances+any spotlight dances.
7-11:30: Party time. If you're planning bouquet tosses or anything else you can spread it throughout the night. You can also cut the cake later, however if you're planning more of a dance/party vibe I would do it earlier. Stopping the flow of the music to cut cake can be a downer. Also, you don't want to make people wait too long for cake.
At this point I need a specific question to help more. "We're starting at 4 and ending at 11:30, what do we do in the middle?" just isn't enough information to help.
Ceremony, Cocktail hour/lawn games, Dinner, Toasts, Cake cutting, First dance, karaoke, dancing, late night snacks.
What I'm looking for is more an an approximate timeline for things to happen at (ex, approx 6:30 dinner is served, etc). We have invited 150 people, so I imagine serving dinner will take a while.
As for the karaoke, I would keep that till the end of the night. That is really one of those love it or hate it type of things, so I would start that more towards the end of the evening when pretty much the party crowd is still hanging around.
If you are doing courses, I personally like toasts given in between courses.
Keep cocktail hour to an hour. IME, any longer and people start getting hungry/antsy.
You can cut your cake after dinner if you like, but if you are having dessert as part of your meal, I have most often seen the cake cut a little later. You could still do it after dinner and let guests help themselves when they want. I have also seen cake cut as part of the serving of the late night buffet, but you do run the risk that some guests may leave before this and not get some cake.
I agree about leaving karaoke towards later in the night. Garter and bouquet toss, if you are having them are also usually done a bit later.
Our ceremony was at 3:30pm and the party ran until 1:30am- most people stayed until the end. Our ceremony and reception were also in the same room, so we had a 15 min room change-over. This is when we did our receiving line out of the ceremony (we had access to a covered veranda for the room change), which took up that change over time nicely and then guests returned to the room for cocktail hour.
4PM Ceremony
4:15 PM Receiving Line
4:30PM Cocktail Hour
5:30PM Dinner- Toasts Between Courses
7PM First Dance- Open the Dance Floor
8:30/ 9PM Cut Cake/ Late Night Buffet Available
10PM Bouquet/Garter Toss- Offer Karaoke
11:30PM End of Reception
4PM Ceremony
4:15 PM Cocktail Hour--bride and groom join whenever they're done with pictures
5:15 PM--everyone starts to take their seats for dinner; if introductions are required, do them here
5:30PM Dinner- Toasts Between Courses; table-visits by bride and groom (you have a half hour to eat, and an hour to do table visits)
7PM Cut cake, First Dance- Open the Dance Floor
9:30PM Late Night Buffet Available, Bouquet/Garter Toss if required; Karaoke is introduced
10pm- Karaoke starts
11:30PM End of Reception