Timeline help - 2 part reception okay?

SarahInVegas

We will have our ceremony at 2.30 at Mandarin Oriental and we could do a cake and champagne reception there for about 90 mins. I love the idea of not running off straight away, but getting to spend some time with our guests, having a toast and I love cake, so I think it'd be a great way to have afternoon tea there. Then we would head off for photos and meet everybody back downtown at Freemont Street for our reception at a bar catered by Firefly 2.5 hours later. Is that okay? We do not want to see each other before the ceremony, so we can't do photos earlier. But I have never heard of anyone doing it this way - would it be weird? Thank you, I am really stuck on this one!

SnowWhiteMontreal

I love the idea!

MEMSJQ

I think that is a great idea!!! Dessert before dinner is my fave

I think it can work, gives ppl the opportunity to freshen up in between or change outfits if they wish.... or they may want to do their own pix too! It can totally work!

[Deleted User]

I like it! Your guests will probably appreciate a break before dinner.

Vireyda

I think this is a wonderful timeline idea!  Wish I'd thought of it...

vegasgroom

What month is your wedding?  How many guests?  And will you be transporting them downtown and back?

I've never been a fan of gaps between ceremony and receptions in Vegas because they're typically an awkward amount of time that is not long enough to be useful.  2.5 hours is one of those amounts of time.  Here's my thinking.  After ceremony in the middle of Vegas, what do you do?  You're dressed up, it's hot outside, it's not enough time to go to a show, you've got the reception coming up so going to a restaurant makes no sense, what do you do?  If you go outside you're going to get sweaty, if you go to the casino you're going to smell like smoke, if you don't know other guests you can't go hang out with them somewhere, you'll be rushed if you try to go back to wherever you're staying, change, go gamble, go back, change, catch your ride to the reception so you end up hanging out in your room and doing nothing for 90 minutes until you start figuring out how you're getting to the reception venue an hour later.

My personal opinion as a guest would be move the wedding earlier and/or reception later to make more of a gap if you can't decrease the gap to make the day one continuous event.  If I had five or six hours between ceremony and reception, it wouldn't be as ideal as one continuous day, but at least I could go change out of my suit, go do some gambling, pool, sight seeing, etc., come back and grab a shower and change back into my suit and get to the reception.

simonik

I agree with VG. I love the idea but lengthen the gap between cake and dinner.

SarahInVegas

Thanks for your input, everybody. @ VG - the wedding is in April, so it shouldn't be too hot and we will be having 20-30 people. And the reception will be near where we are all staying. Everybody knows each other, and they are all big gamblers. quite a few of them are smokers so they will be smelling either way ;-) But I get your point; I will reconsider.

starryeyed77

I got married in April this year and it was 103 on my wedding day.  It could be quite hot.

SarahInVegas

Oh thanks, starryeyed, that is great news. I would LOVE for it to be warm!

starryeyed77

What day are you getting married? 

SarahInVegas

It's a Wednesday. Why?

abigaildeanna

My wedding is at 2 and the reception starts at 4:30. I don't think the FI and I will be there until 5ish (after pictures and what not) but I wanted people to be able to take their time to get to the reception location and enjoy themselves while we take pictures.

I see nothing with with the gap, some may want to change, some may want to nap, same may way to gamble or some may head right over and find something to do.

Don't stress it girl, it will all work out!

SarahInVegas

Thanks abigail for such a sweet post!

soontobehasrouni

Sarah what date is your wedding? Ours is also on a wednesday, April 24th :)

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_timeline-help-2-part-reception-okay?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:91Discussion:17cb60a4-5977-4686-aa3b-2f8dccba9bd4Post:6a549595-acbb-43c5-ab53-9eaa21a12b08">Re: Timeline help - 2 part reception okay?</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks abigail for such a sweet post!
Posted by SarahInVegas[/QUOTE]

SarahInVegas

We are DATE TWINS, soontohasbe! Yay!