Help with timeline

knottie569ccb4894228a73

Hope that I am posting this in the right section - let me know if not. 

We are having out wedding in the Adirondacks (upstate NY). It is a minimum 5 hour drive for US guests. Fiance is from Ireland so a lot of guests will be flying in for the wedding. 

We wanted a wedding that is fun and relaxed. In Ireland weddings go from the afternoon ceremony through the night. We wanted to channel this in our wedding but also be realistic about the amount of unstructured time Americans can handle. 

We do have a wedding coordinator at the venue - but, she is responsible for the wedding once everything arrives at the venue and tbh hasn't been super responsive this far our from the wedding. We are the ones planning and booking people.

I am wondering about our timeline for the day of the wedding. Transition times in particular.

2pm-Ceremony
2:30pm- Ceremony ends (we will go and take photos now and get on 2nd bus)
3:00pm- 1st bus leaves to take 43 guests to ferry (15 mins away)
3:40pm- 2nd bus leaves to take 43 guests to ferry 
4:10pm- Ferry leaves for lake cruise, will have open bar and hors d'oeuvres 
5:40pm- Ferry arrives reception (want 1st photo with everyone lined up along decks of ferry and us on the dock and 2nd photo guests throwing white birdseed at us)
6:00pm-guests at reception area (short walk up from dock), get drinks, find table...
6:15pm-entrance bride and groom
6:20pm-Buffet dinner starts - beer/wine/soda
7:20pm-Open toasts (anyone can offer a story or toast)
7:40pm- Desserts offered (time for guests to get up mix and mingle)
8:00pm- First dance (legit 30 seconds)
8:00-11pm- Dueling Pianos- open bar
11-12pm- Bar with late-night snacks

Concerns:
1) people having 1/2-1 hour between ceremony and bus boarding 
2) enough time for dinner/toasts/dessert before dueling pianos
3) should dueling pianos start sooner?

climbingsingle

knottie569ccb4894228a73 said:

Hope that I am posting this in the right section - let me know if not. 

We are having out wedding in the Adirondacks (upstate NY). It is a minimum 5 hour drive for US guests. Fiance is from Ireland so a lot of guests will be flying in for the wedding. 

We wanted a wedding that is fun and relaxed. In Ireland weddings go from the afternoon ceremony through the night. We wanted to channel this in our wedding but also be realistic about the amount of unstructured time Americans can handle. 

We do have a wedding coordinator at the venue - but, she is responsible for the wedding once everything arrives at the venue and tbh hasn't been super responsive this far our from the wedding. We are the ones planning and booking people.

I am wondering about our timeline for the day of the wedding. Transition times in particular.

2pm-Ceremony
2:30pm- Ceremony ends (we will go and take photos now and get on 2nd bus)
3:00pm- 1st bus leaves to take 43 guests to ferry (15 mins away)
3:40pm- 2nd bus leaves to take 43 guests to ferry 
4:10pm- Ferry leaves for lake cruise, will have open bar and hors d'oeuvres 
5:40pm- Ferry arrives reception (want 1st photo with everyone lined up along decks of ferry and us on the dock and 2nd photo guests throwing white birdseed at us)
6:00pm-guests at reception area (short walk up from dock), get drinks, find table...
6:15pm-entrance bride and groom
6:20pm-Buffet dinner starts - beer/wine/soda
7:20pm-Open toasts (anyone can offer a story or toast)
7:40pm- Desserts offered (time for guests to get up mix and mingle)
8:00pm- First dance (legit 30 seconds)
8:00-11pm- Dueling Pianos- open bar
11-12pm- Bar with late-night snacks

Concerns:
1) people having 1/2-1 hour between ceremony and bus boarding 
2) enough time for dinner/toasts/dessert before dueling pianos
3) should dueling pianos start sooner?

Why is the first bus leaving 30 minutes after the end of the ceremony? Can you move that up? Are guests all not able to fit on one bus, and that's why there are two? If you're on the second bus, you've then been waiting around for over an hour after the ceremony has ended. I think that's way too long. 

ShesSoCold

So, it sounds like everyone will be waiting basically from 2:30 when the ceremony ends to 4:10 when the ferry leaves, with the exception of the 15 minute bus ride. That's way too much. The people on the first bus will have to wait forever at the ferry and the people on the second bus will have to wait forever for the bus. 

Can you have the ceremony from 2:45 - 3:15, have the first bus leave at 3:30 and the second leave at 3:45 (assuming you have two buses, rather than one making two trips)? That way there's not a ton of time spend waiting for transportation and you still get a half hour for some pictures.

flantastic

The buses are your main issue. How do you decide who's assigned bus 1 or bus 2? 43 is a very specific number, which says to me there's little flexibility. What if someone is still talking and misses bus 1, while someone else doesn't take their place because they know they're supposed to be on bus 2?

What are people supposed to do with that half hour/hour? I don't at all mind your non-traditional lake cruise, dueling pianos, etc., and it's great that the cruise is hosted well. Sounds fun, on the whole, except the bus timeline.

"Unstructured time" is not difficult for people if there's a seat available and a minimum amount of refreshment, but without those things - 30-60 minutes of standing around with literally nothing to do but wait for the bus, even if chatting with friends and family, is too many minutes. "Bus stop" is not the vibe I would want for an hour's worth of my wedding. Is there a way to host the wait time at the ceremony venue as a sort of mini cocktail hour?

Why can the buses not leave at the same time? Pictures for you/wedding party are not a good enough reason. You can't make half your guests wait around for your pictures. You need two buses that can leave within a reasonable amount of time from the ceremony's end, and if you want extra time at the ceremony location while everyone else has a cocktail hour, you need a third small bus for you.

One other thing, since it's not currently listed on your timeline - what is your plan for greeting all your guests? Table visits before dueling pianos? A receiving line somewhere?

Also, cut the open toasts. That can be okay for a rehearsal dinner and a small group, but people are really bad at keeping toasts short and sweet, and most people do not want to be a captive audience for an unlimited number of people who may or may not know how to do public speaking.

thisismynickname2

I'd suggest getting everyone on the busses to the ferry a lot earlier, moving the cruise to earlier, and moving up dinner to the 5pm hour rather than 6pm hour.

Take pictures before the ceremony. First looks are super fun (plus, sounds like you'll have some great scenery to work with). We did a first look and ALL portraits prior to the ceremony and were able to go directly from the ceremony to mingling at cocktail hour, as all our stuff was in one location. A lot of people use cocktail hour for pictures but we didn't and it was great; plus, sounds like you need to be on your cruise- so you can't have an unhosted gap while you take pictures. 

Sounds like a great event! Cruise, dueling pianos? I'd be there, haha.