length of reception

maccor16

So I was wondering what you guys thought of this.

We are getting married at 4pm.  Cocktail hour starts at 5pm.  The venue does 4 hr receptions but you can pay for additional hrs, up to a total of 6 hrs max...

My questions is if cocktail hr starts at 5 and we don't get there till 5:30 or 6 from taking pictures do you think 4 hours is too short of a reception?  It would be 5pm to 9pm including cocktail hr.  I just want to make sure there is time for a sit down dinner, toast, dances, cake cutting, flower toss and dancing and mingleing.  I don't want to rush to try to fit everything in.  My Dad was saying that 4 hours is, good but I'm not sure...

TiffannieF

We had our hall reserved for 5 hours and I think we left at exactly the 5 hour mark (we were the last to leave) but there was still dancing going on at the 4 hour mark so I would say 5, especially since you have a cocktail hour.

fallbride1109

Ours was 4.5 hours total--including the cocktail hour (which was more like 45 minutes) and it was fine, although we certainly could have went 30 more minutes.  I might go ahead and extend it until 10 if you have the budget for it, especially if you are having spotlight dances.  We only did the B&G first dance and 2 toasts in that 4.5 hours.

Peavy

If you are doing a Saturday night with a full dinner, I would say reserve the extra hour.  A 9P end time on a Saturday seems early.

ElisabethJoanne

9 does seem early for a Saturday night, but it's still plenty of time for a reception.

Dinner should take less than an hour. Toasts, cake cutting, and bouquet toss should take less than an hour. That's more than 2 hours for dancing and mingling, which is enough, but not a lot.

[We're trying to arrange for our Monday night reception to go from 5 to before 9pm, after a cocktail hour from 4 to 5. The Monday is a holiday, and we don't expect much dancing.]

maccor16

Thanks everyone,  I think I am going to go ahead and extend it an extra hour. thanks for the advice.