I'm getting married on a Friday in June and I'm driving myself bananas trying to figure out the timeline. Most of our guests will be traveling with commuter traffic so I'm not sure when the best time to start the ceremony is. Due to venue restrictions it can't start before 5:00 and we have booked it for 5 hours. We are planning to serve a BBQ buffet and I feel like it's kind of odd fare to serve too late in the evening, so what I've got right now is:
Ceremony: 5:30-6:00
Cocktails: 6:00-7:00
WP Announcement: 7:15
Dinner: 7:45
Dessert: 8:30
Dancing until 10:30
On this timeline the sun would set just after we cut the cake.
Does this look realistic? Would it be better to push it back an hour to give the guests more time to arrive? All opinions would be greatly appreciated!