I am renting a "high-end" farm for the weekend. We can go there at 2pm on Friday to set up, and want to have a bbq/rehearsal dinner that night, which any wedding guest is invited to. So first question, what time do you think I should say the bbq/rehearsal starts?..giving ourselves enough time to set up/decorate/and start to cook.
Then as for the wedding on Saturday, we can start the ceremony at any time. Our photographer comes for 10 hours. I was thinking about having him come around 11am and leave at 9pm.. (or will alter this depending on what I decide for my ceremony start time.)
If the weather is nice, I want people to really enjoy their time at the farm since were paying for it.. wandering around, feeding animals, playing games, eating, drinking (there's even a swimming hole).
So I can't decide for sure about the ceremony start time. If I had a later start time, I could possibly say on the invites that guests are invited to stop by the farm ahead of time, or is that a bad idea in case there is a lot of last min setting up?
The other concern is if I start it too early, will I need to feed people 2 meals? I am planning on making salads/side dishes/cheese/etc and then also having a food truck, which will be there for a few hours, so people can kind of eat as they please and then I will also have a pretty extensive dessert table.
So I was thinking maybe ceremony at 1:30 or 2pm.. and then allowing people to go right for the drinks/salad/cheese and then maybe at 2:30-3pm, the food truck will come and stay for a few hours?
Last thing to consider is that I dont want people to be too tired at night, because we can dance as late into the night as we'd like.. although the sun will be setting pretty late in August anyway, so maybe that will help.
Opinions/advice on when I should start the ceremony?