Booking the park, help please!

JK10910

So I went to book our park for our ceremony today under the impression we could just book it for the whole day.  Well they changed that, and now we have to book by the hour.  We don't have a reception time figured out yet, so we can't go off that, though we are doing a full seated dinner. 

We're doing photos before the ceremony, but I do want to get some outdoor photos post ceremony as well.  The wedding is in October, so I figured we'll start losing our light by around 6ish? 

The ceremony will be short, as it's not religious or anything.  Probably 20-30 minutes TOPS. 

So if we did ceremony at 3, figure we'll realistically start by 3:15 or 3:30, and be done by 3:45 or 4, does doing the cocktail hour from 4:30-5:30 make sense?  Is that too early?  Is 6ish too early for dinner?  How long should I reserve the park for before the ceremony (we'll have to set up chairs and such) and after?  Why is this so difficult in my brain? 

vallyhoo

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_booking-park-please?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:3ae2e477-0677-4fbc-a0b0-75ebf1cfb59ePost:c5c86a97-7e0b-4002-8eb9-bd8ca337d4e1">Booking the park, help please!</a>:
[QUOTE]So if we did ceremony at 3, figure we'll realistically start by 3:15 or 3:30, and be done by 3:45 or 4, does doing the cocktail hour from 4:30-5:30 make sense?  Is that too early?  Is 6ish too early for dinner?  How long should I reserve the park for before the ceremony (we'll have to set up chairs and such) and after?  Why is this so difficult in my brain? 
Posted by JK10910[/QUOTE]

I think that cocktail hour time makes sense, and is not too early.
6ish is not to early for dinner IMO.
I would reserve the park starting at 3:30 to allow for any set-up and through 9:00 to allow for tear-down. My only question would be do they charge by the hour?

beatlesgirl25

It seems really convoluted now, but once you nail down a start time you'll be able to shift your schedule as needed. Who is doing the set up for chairs, etc. for ceremony? Is the whole reception going to be in the park?

I had an outdoor ceremony early October wedding, and our scheduled start time was at 4pm. Actual start time was 4:15, cocktail hour from 4:45 - 5:45. Reception started by 6pm, so after dances, toasts, etc., dinner wasn't served until 6:30-ish. Which seemed about right for a Sunday. If you're worried about sunlight for pics, etc., look at my bio pics. All of the formal shots were taken during cocktail hour, EST. So I think you're planning for plenty of sunlight with your timing, especially if you're doing pictures before the ceremony. I think you could easily shift it a bit later, actually.

JK10910

They do charge by the hour and but it's not much (it's a city park) so either way it's not going to break the bank. 

And I'm afraid your timing doesn't make much sense to me as if we book at 3:30, that's after our potential start time?  (PS, I actually liked what you suggested in your email better than my own idea.)

So EDIT:  What about ceremony at 4, cocktails from 5:30-6:30, etc.  Does that make sense?  WHY is this so hard for me?

sarah0725

I'm confused - is your reception also in the park?

I don't know if this helps, but for our ceremony venue, they're letting us reserve it for an hour and a half. Half hour to pack 85 guests up a tiny spiral staircase, half hour to have the ceremony, and half hour to get them all back down again. We don't have chairs to worry about or anything, though, so it may be different.

6 is definitely not too early for dinner. Remember that your guests probably won't be sitting around eating all afternoon, since they'll be getting ready for or at your wedding, so everyone should be pretty hungry by the time dinner rolls around.

JK10910

Damn it, no, the reception is elsewhere, the park is just for the ceremony.  I presume we will recruit some trusted friends (read: ushers probably and my DOC) to do the set up.

vallyhoo

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_booking-park-please?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:3ae2e477-0677-4fbc-a0b0-75ebf1cfb59ePost:3c6d2c6b-87eb-413e-be0f-84efb8c2a77a">Re: Booking the park, help please!</a>:
[QUOTE]They do charge by the hour and but it's not much (it's a city park) so either way it's not going to break the bank. <strong> And I'm afraid your timing doesn't make much sense to me as if we book at 3:30, that's after our potential start time?</strong>  (PS, I actually liked what you suggested in your email better than my own idea.) So EDIT:  What about ceremony at 4, cocktails from 5:30-6:30, etc.  Does that make sense?  WHY is this so hard for me?
Posted by JK10910[/QUOTE]

Gah! You got me. So yes ceremony at 4 makes sense, and that would allow you to book the park at the original time of 3:30. I think this still makes me right in a way and I'm coo' with that.

beatlesgirl25

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_booking-park-please?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:3ae2e477-0677-4fbc-a0b0-75ebf1cfb59ePost:3c6d2c6b-87eb-413e-be0f-84efb8c2a77a">Re: Booking the park, help please!</a>:
[QUOTE]They do charge by the hour and but it's not much (it's a city park) so either way it's not going to break the bank.  And I'm afraid your timing doesn't make much sense to me as if we book at 3:30, that's after our potential start time?  (PS, I actually liked what you suggested in your email better than my own idea.) So EDIT:  What about ceremony at 4, cocktails from 5:30-6:30, etc.  Does that make sense?  WHY is this so hard for me?
Posted by JK10910[/QUOTE]

It's okay, this is a big deal to nail down a time, contract-wise. This might simplify it: Do they allow you to cut into hours? i.e., booking from 3:45-4:45 as one hour or does it have to be on the :00 hour? If it's the latter, then for a ceremony at 4, you would book at 3pm and be out of there by 5pm. Take your pics from 3-4 while friends set up the ceremony area, and breakdown should take no more than 20 minutes. That should give people enough time to make it to your cockail hour at 5:30.

JK10910

I'm pretty sure it has to be on the :00.  That makes sense Beatles!  What time will people start showing up though?  Hopefully they won't get there prior to everything being set up.

Am I just over thinking this big time?

beatlesgirl25

No, you're not overthinking it. It's really abstract to plan something that is subject to change the day of for reasons beyond your control. It made me nuts, so I just used my sister's timeline for her wedding and it helped to have as a base.

Guests should start arriving at 3:30 for a 4pm ceremony. Tell us about your ceremony. How many guests (chairs)? Do you have any elaborate setups or decorations required for it? I think this will influence your setup/breakdown time.

JK10910

Well, our guest list is about 150, we're estimating between 100-125 (don't worry, we're prepared for all of them, but realistically, that makes sense) will actually be there.  The park itself is beautiful, so we won't do much for decoration--I'd rather let nature do the decorating   So really just mostly chairs is all that will be needed for set up.

beatlesgirl25

Hm, I wonder if it would be better to have your ceremony start time at 4:30 then (since you can adjust that within the hour), just in case there is a delay in getting the chairs, etc. I don't know how long it takes to set up that many chairs. Maybe someone else out there could chime in about this? *cough cough*

I still think you'll need more time for setup than breakdown though. What would be the max number of hours you'd be willing to book the park for, $$-wise?

JK10910

We could easily go up to 4 hours or so.  So maybe booking 2 hours before the ceremony starts, just in case there are any problems, and so people aren't rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off? 

beatlesgirl25

Do you need to book the park for when you take your pics too? If so, then I'd definitely do 2 hours: 1 hour for pics while others set up, then guests can start arriving a 1/2 hr later during hour #2. Hour #3 would be for ceremony and breakdown. And you could do your post-ceremony pics while others break down the chairs. Sounds okay to me!

JK10910

No, we don't need to book it for pics I don't think, but we could at least guarantee that there wouldn't be random people hanging out in our gazebo if we did have it booked.

Thanks Beatles!  It all makes sense now

beatlesgirl25

Haha, no problem. It wouldn't hurt to run it by some others (which I'm sure you will), because my ceremony/reception were in the same place and we had staff set up everything. But for the October wedding thing, I'm your girl. Good luck!