The Big day: i dont know what to do.

Raidden

So my wedding is in about 2 weeks. i have everything all set up and read ... almost.we have the reception hall from 9am to midnight on Friday the 6th. Guests are going to show up around 5-5:30 and the ceremony is at 6pm i have no idea what to do after that. how long should "cocktail hour" be when should i do the first dances/ cake cutting/ bouquet toss? anyone else having a Friday wedding want to send me your day plan?

Raidden

oh and the ceremony and reception are at the same place,

Leah&Christian09

Keep the cocktail hour to an actual hour. Talk to your photog about keeping the post ceremony photos under and hour. With the actual reception, you can order things however you want. Some people prefer to get all the stuff out of the way first, others prefer to break it up so to not have open dancing for 3 hours at the end. I would do: 5:00-6:00 drinks served, guests mingle 6:00-6:30 ceremony 6:30-7:30 cocktail hour 7:30 intros, dinner, toasts at end of dinner 8:30 first dance/parent dances 8:45-10:00 open dance floor 10:00 cut cake, tosses 10:15-open dance floor until end

ExpatPumpkin

No snarkiness intended, but if you're really this unprepared with so little time left, you should seriously consider hiring a day-of wedding coordinator. She can help you with the timeline and then be there to make sure it all flows smoothly. Good luck

mbcdefg

Does your reception hall have a maitre d' or a coordinator? Are you hiring a DJ or a band with an emcee? These people should be the ones running the show. If you're hiring a catering company, the head caterer may be able to help you with this as well. Or are you renting a plain hall where you and FI need to take care of everything?

Raidden

we are renting a hall where we take care of everything. we really didnt want some person trying to run our wedding - i have bee to a few weddings where the coordinators really just took over and  were treating everyone like little kids with the scheduled events taking place at the wedding.  our friends is DJ'ing, my aunt and cousins are catering. its really jsut when ever/ what ever we want. i have a PRETTY good idea of how im going to do things. i jsut wanted advice to see different ideas

jensagep

I was in your shoes recently, but with 6 months left in the planning. I am also planning our wedding without a planner/coordinator. I went to the library expecting to find, well, not much. I was soooooo wrong!! There was even a book the The Knot published that broke everything down and gave lots of ideas for the ceremony and reception - including timelines. There was almost too MUCH info at the library. Good luck!