Reception End Time

marissa_claire

What time did everyone end their reception?  

I'm trying to work this out because we start the ceremony at 4, meaning cocktail hour will start inside the hall at 4:30 (both are taking place at the same venue).  All of our vendors are currently on 6 hour contracts, so it 10:30 too early to end a reception?  We'll have 1 1/2 hour per course for dinner, which is 4 1/2 hours starting from 4:30, so I guess food will be out of there at 9.  We'll have a bar and dancing, but I'm also thinking about the fact that we have a lot of OOT guests who will get on the road in the morning, and I would say that even though we're 24, about 20% of our wedding guests will be around our age (aka partying.)  

What do you think? What was your schedule like?  

tashala107

We're on the same time line as you, but bumped up an hour. Ceremony at 5, cocktail hour at 5:30 with reception ending at 11:30. We have a larger percentage of guests around our age who will be taking full advantage of the open bar. If you think 10:30 is an early night, you can always move the party to a local bar- we intend on doing that.

kari829

Our ceremony is at 3:30. We figure it will last 30 mins & then we will finish pictures. It's a 15 minute drive to the reception venue. Dinner from 5-6 or 7 and then cake cutting, dances and all the good stuff. We have to be out of the venue by 12.

Ronalds_Bride

Our reception is ending at 10 but we are moving the after party to the rooftop bar, you can always move the party somewhere else!

a2joy

Ours is:
Ceremony at 2
Reception from 5-11

zantster

Hi:

I have really been wrestling with having a ceremony at 2 (catholic church) and starting off the festivities at 5.  How are you making sure your guests don't feel lost for those couple of hours in between?