Timeline

knottie929e189da8be111b

I get married in 3 weeks and I'm just working out my timeline. It's a wedding of 45 people with the ceremony and reception in the same venue. How does this sound timing wise?

4pm-4:3pm Ceremony

4:30-5:30pm cocktail hour

5:30-7pm dinner (main course and dessert)

7-7:15pm 3 speeches

7:15-7:30pm first dance & cut cake

7:30-10:50pm Reception

10:50 - 11:20pm evening buffet

11:20- 2am second part of the reception (party)

banana468

I think some of this may be regional but the way we did our wedding was similar to others.  Once the cocktail hour ended, we had the intro into the 1st dance, followed by grace and then toasts/speeches.  It helped that way because the champagne was poured for people to consume as they sat down to dinner.

What is the difference between dinner and reception? 

MobKaz

knottie929e189da8be111b said:

I get married in 3 weeks and I'm just working out my timeline. It's a wedding of 45 people with the ceremony and reception in the same venue. How does this sound timing wise?

4pm-4:3pm Ceremony

4:30-5:30pm cocktail hour

5:30-7pm dinner (main course and dessert)

7-7:15pm 3 speeches

7:15-7:30pm first dance & cut cake

7:30-10:50pm Reception

10:50 - 11:20pm evening buffet

11:20- 2am second part of the reception (party)

Is the after party also in the same venue?  

Don’t be surprised if the timeline gets “bumped” a bit as nothing ever starts on time, and there is always a need for some “grace” in any timeline.  The time line looks good but typically I have seen the toasts/speeches built into the dinner hour.  

The evening buffet sounds intriguing and is a nice break/segue into the after party.  I applaud the stamina of your guests!!

ILoveBeachMusic

At DD's wedding the toasts were in between courses. They cut the cake right after the wedding party was introduced which allowed the servers to get the cake cut and out on the dessert tables by the end of dinner. It worked well.