Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions

4 hour only rental

Hello everyone, we are looking at a beach venue - it only allows 4 hours for the entire event (ceremony, meal reception and dancing), We are not allowed to add extra hours and they have only two 4 hour timeslots, starting at 12pm or 7pm. I shortened the timeline to 30 minute ceremony, 60 minutes for lunch, 20 minutes for husband/wife dance; mother/son dance; i will take out my dance with my bridal party to maximize time, leaves about 2 hours for dancing. . -- We would have to take our pictures while everyone is dining. Is it me, that this doesn't seem like a lot of time, and very rigid. Thank you

Re: 4 hour only rental

  • rojo0814 said:

    Hello everyone, we are looking at a beach venue - it only allows 4 hours for the entire event (ceremony, meal reception and dancing), We are not allowed to add extra hours and they have only two 4 hour timeslots, starting at 12pm or 7pm. I shortened the timeline to 30 minute ceremony, 60 minutes for lunch, 20 minutes for husband/wife dance; mother/son dance; i will take out my dance with my bridal party to maximize time, leaves about 2 hours for dancing. . -- We would have to take our pictures while everyone is dining. Is it me, that this doesn't seem like a lot of time, and very rigid. Thank you

    20 minutes for spotlight dances sounds like a long time- maybe that's just me. Skip the bridal party dance - those are awkward anyway.I'd also try not to do pictures during dinner if at all possible. You're supposed to receive and host your guests during the reception - that's hard to do if you aren't there.

    No 4 hours isn't a ton of time, but it sounds fine for a mid-day wedding or even an evening wedding really. In my experience, mid-day receptions don't usually last much longer than that. Our reception is only 4 hours total and it's an evening reception (plus an hour long cocktail hour).

    Since you're concerned about time, Can you look into a different beach?
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  • If you do the earlier time slot it could work (but I'd shorten the spotlight dances too). If you want to have an evening wedding though I would definitely find somewhere else.
  • Thank you everyone, great responses!
  • I would find another venue.  4 hours is plenty if you were just doing a cocktail reception with no dancing. But, that sounds really tight.
  • Could you have the ceremony someplace else so your timeslot starts with lunch? Or is the ability to have your ceremony at this particular place what drew you to it? 

    How many other places have you looked at? It's so easy to jump on the first place you love, but I'm sure there are other places out there that will give you more time. I have 6 hours total to do these things and when I saw our schedule, I wanted to add another hour. 
  • You should NOT be leaving your guests during  your reception to do your pictures.  Either do them all before your ceremony, or after your reception.  I would recommend before your ceremony so everyone's hair/makeup/clothes are fresher looking.

    I would find another venue - that is crazy short for everything, start to finish, when you are serving a meal.
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