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Reception Timeline

CharmedPamCharmedPam member
First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
edited May 2016 in Wedding Reception Forum

This weekend we did our food tasting and met with our planner/venue.  Everything turned out excellent and we got a lot done, including the reception timeline.  I've said this before, I'll say it again, I don't go to many weddings but the ones I remember, we always ate first, had the first dance(s) and then that opened up the dance floor.

Our planner suggested that after cocktail hour (don't worry, there is NO gap) we'll do the bride/groom/party intro's and THEN do the first dance/daughter-father dance.  Toasts, blessing and dinner.  Dancing to follow.

Is that flow right? I don't mind it, but I'm not sure it's the traditional flow so to speak.  Pros? cons?  (edited for words)


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Re: Reception Timeline

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    thisismynickname2thisismynickname2 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    CharmedPam said:

    This weekend we did our food tasting and met with our planner/venue.  Everything turned out excellent and we got a lot done, including the reception timeline.  I've said this before, I'll say it again, I don't go to many weddings but the ones I remember, we always ate first, had the first dance(s) and then that opened up the dance floor.

    Our planner suggested that after cocktail hour (don't worry, there is NO gap) we'll do the bride/groom/party intro's This works, sure. and THEN do the first dance/daughter-father dance.  Can be done, but you're keeping people from dinner . Toasts, blessing and dinner.  Dancing to follow.

    Is that flow right? It's acceptable. I don't mind it, but I'm not sure it's the traditional flow so to speak.  Pros? cons?  (edited for words)

    I've seen this, but don't personally like it. I think introducing the couple after cocktail hour makes a lot of sense so the couple can either cut the cake (if the cake is used for dessert) or go sit straight down for toasts/blessing/dinner. 

    We did our announcements at the end of cocktail hour and cut the cake. Then it was dinner, then it was the spotlight dances to open the dance floor. 

    The "pro" for their proposed plan is that people can leave that much sooner after dinner if they're so inclined, I guess, instead of waiting for all the "traditional stuff" to get done. But in the grand scheme of "time" it's all a wash anyway! 


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    JaxInBlueJaxInBlue member
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    Our timeline was similar.  Cocktail hour was going when we arrived from pictures, did intro and our first dance.  Then dinner with 2 toasts and a blessing.  Following dinner, the parent dances opened up the floor for the rest of evening.  It worked for us - by doing the parent dances after dinner, there wasn't any awkwardness waiting for someone else to join in.
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    banana468banana468 member
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    It can work.    It gets all the formal dances out of the way and that's nice.  
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    CharmedPamCharmedPam member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    yeah, and from someone who hates the spotlight, I guess getting it out of the way would be nice.  What I like most about this plan is that we have 2 display stations of cheese/crackers/meats and 7 passed hors d'oeuvres, so it might give people a little break from the apps and dinner, which I would like myself. 

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    kahluakoalakahluakoala member
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    CharmedPam said:

    This weekend we did our food tasting and met with our planner/venue.  Everything turned out excellent and we got a lot done, including the reception timeline.  I've said this before, I'll say it again, I don't go to many weddings but the ones I remember, we always ate first, had the first dance(s) and then that opened up the dance floor.

    Our planner suggested that after cocktail hour (don't worry, there is NO gap) we'll do the bride/groom/party intro's and THEN do the first dance/daughter-father dance.  Toasts, blessing and dinner.  Dancing to follow.

    Is that flow right? I don't mind it, but I'm not sure it's the traditional flow so to speak.  Pros? cons?  (edited for words)


    @CharmedPam are you doing the early catholic wedding thing? I've seen both done as a guest. Personally, for a wedding that starts at 4pm or so (catholic no gap weddings) I'd rather do it the way the planner suggested since it lets me sort of get into evening party mode and wait a bit for dinner so it's not so early. For weddings that start later I'd rather do the way you're used to.
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    CharmedPamCharmedPam member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    It's a 4:00 start yes, but not a catholic ceremony.  It's just the timeline they gave us.  I'm sure I can move it around if I asked, but I was fine with the 4:00 ceremony start. 

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    kahluakoalakahluakoala member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    edited May 2016
    Oh tha'ts not what I meant! I meant a lot of catholic ceremonies that start at 2 and then have cocktail hour at 3 and the reception starts at 4 (if the couple avoids the "gap"). This happens because it's often the latest the church will perform the ceremony.

    My point being, when the reception starts at 4, I don't mind a little padding before dinner (watching toasts and first dances and stuff). If the reception starts later (6pm or so) I'd rather eat and then party.
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    SP29SP29 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    It's up to you, there really isn't a right or wrong answer. Just consider your flow.

    We did introductions of the WP and ourselves after cocktail hour/into dinner. I think we did our first dance then as well. Dinner came, and we did toasts in between courses. We cut our cake later in the evening (though I see the benefit to cutting it earlier). We also did the Father/Daughter-Mother/Son dance (both at the same time) a little later.
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    charlotte989875charlotte989875 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    We did something similar. Our group are big dancers/partiers so we did cocktail (which we went to), introduce me and H (no WP or parent intros), cake cutting, first dance/parent dances, quick toasts then dinner. Although the servers started bringing out the salads during the dances, I think. We also had tons of passed apps and cheese/crackers/veggies so we weren't too worried about a slight break until dinner. Also, we wanted to get right to dancing after dinner. 
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    MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    JaxInBlue said:
    Our timeline was similar.  Cocktail hour was going when we arrived from pictures, did intro and our first dance.  Then dinner with 2 toasts and a blessing.  Following dinner, the parent dances opened up the floor for the rest of evening.  It worked for us - by doing the parent dances after dinner, there wasn't any awkwardness waiting for someone else to join in.
    This is what we did too. We took a break in the dancing for cake. 

    I liked that it wasn't a series of three boring spotlight dances in a row, and that we could use parent dances to open the dance floor. 
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