I Have No Idea

faithy13

I am a person who just doesn't know how my wedding is going to come together.  I want to have an early afternoon wedding, but I want the dancing that is involved in a night wedding.  I want to have the first dances and the other various dances that come with the package of getting married. Is there anything I can really do about this?  By the way, I am not having alcohol at my wedding. I am underage and don't feel it is appropriate. Thank you for any help.

JadziaDax

You can still have the "night wedding" you want during the day. All you are doing is choosing different hours. If you look at a lot of wedding bios and wedding pics on here, you'll see that many brides had beautiful weddings during early afternoon hours.
The lack of alcohol may lead to less dancing- I am making a general assumption but this may not be the case. You can still provide a DJ, first dance, father-daughter dance, but i think it depends on your crowd whether or not the dance floor will be packed- minus the alcohol. 
 

preciosa4

what is the custom in your area?  Every wedding I have ever been to (with only 2 exceptions out of over 20 weddings in all) has taken place during the day, usually early afternoon, then lasted until midnight or so.  My own wedding is at 2:30, (Catholic Mass, will last about an hour) then enough time to get to the venue, a cocktail reception, then dinner/cake, then dancing.  This has pretty much been the timeline for the weddings in my geographical area.  It's totally doable.  If you aren't religious and are having a "15 minute type" wedding, then I'd just make it a little bit later in the afternoon.  You honestly don't want it TOO early, or you won't have enough time to get yourself fully ready.  (You want a chance to eat something, do hair and makeup, get dressed, etc, in a way that doesn't leave you feeling frantic.)

As for alcohol...  You don't say, but is it a religious thing for you?  If it is a religious issue for you and your family, that is different, but if it is purely an issue of YOUR age, I'd consider your guests.  There is nothing that says YOU should be drinking, just because your guests are.  If, like you, a lot of your guests are under age, consider fun, non-alcoholic "cocktails" as an additional alternative.  I'm not sure I'd make everyone else there go without alcohol though...   Personally, I'm not much of a drinker, so I wouldn't care, but there are other people who would enjoy a glass of wine or a beer at some point.  I don't think it's inappropriate...just being a thoughtful host.  (What WOULD be inappropriate is if YOU started throwing them back.)  Maybe, as an acknowledgement of your young age, you can have paired alternatives: a choice of wine or sparkling cider, or a signature cocktail and its virgin alternative?  Just a thought.

But back to the original question... no, I don't think you have to limit yourself to a 4 hour wedding.  Make it an all-evening affair.  Just put your wedding late enough in the afternoon.  (Clearly after lunch hours), then serve dinner and have dancing afterward. 

faithy13

A lot of my guests are people from my church and a lot of my underage friends. Most people wouldn't find it appropriate for us to have alcohol. I plan on a simple and short ceremony. I don't want the wedding to go on forever, but I want the wedding to stay within the afternoon to early evening.  Thank you for all your help. It has for the most part reassured me.

Kirsti44

I agree with the previous posts, but I wanted to say what hasn't yet. 

I've been to one wedding that did this, and have heard about others. It's generally a hassle for your guests but totally doable. Have your afternoon wedding and then either have your reception at a further location (which is what I've been through) it took about 45 minutes to get to it from the church, so naturally, it was darker by the time we got there. However, the problem with this is that some people won't go to the reception or won't go to the church.

Also, something to think about is the time of year you get married. If you get married in Jan/Feb it's dark outside by 4 thus making a 2 o'clock wedding and "night time" dancing a possibility. However, if you're getting married in the summer, it's not dark until around 7 or 8. 

Have fun planning your wedding. I'm not having alcohol at mine for religious and family reasons, so I understand your predicament. However, one thing that I'm doing is spending money on a good DJ to get people dancing, as well as playing one or two parlor games which will get the crowd up and out of their chairs. 

I am also setting a precedent by asking the wedding party to dance all night. They can eat, of course, but for the most part I want them to be up and dancing. I may catch heat for it but it'll help if the "in-crowd" of the wedding is on the floor rather than sitting and watching the night unfold.

dittmerbullard2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_idea-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:5707b5bd-a655-4cb1-8ca0-468193bc72dcPost:82d6c931-b1a6-4699-9511-1ec00cbd7dff">Re: I Have No Idea</a>:
[QUOTE]You honestly don't want it TOO early, or you won't have enough time to get yourself fully ready.  (You want a chance to eat something, do hair and makeup, get dressed, etc, in a way that doesn't leave you feeling frantic.)
Posted by preciosa4[/QUOTE]

Sooo I guess I shouldn't be getting married at 10am then? <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" /> I will be getting up at 5am!