I am really struggling with figuring out the day of timeline. I am getting married 6/18/11 and to order invites, I need to nail down the timeline! Here is what I have so far:
Ceremony: 1:00pm-1:30pm
Recieving line: 1:30pm-2:00pm
Pictures: 2:15pm-4:30pm
Cocktail Hour: 5:00pm-6:00pm
Dinner: 6:30pm-7:30pm
Dancing/Reception: 8:00pm-12:00am
My concerns lie in that between the hours of 2:00pm and 5:00 when the cocktails hour starts, I don't know what my guests are going to do between this time. My thought is that guests who have a hotel room will go back to their hotel and relax. But, I am not sure what guests that do not have a room will do. Do I need to be / should I be concerned with this fact? Should I just let them figure it out? Should I provide them with suggestions on what to do during the break? Ahh! Please, suggestions are needed!
Thanks so much in advance
Re: Day Of Timeline (Help!!)
That is a pretty big gap! We were at a wedding last summer that had a gap like that and we struggled to find something to do to fill the time (wedding in a small town, no restaurants or bars open to kill time, hot sunny day with nowhere to go = cranky people) and many of the guests were complaining about the time gap when we arrived at the reception hall for the cocktail hour. Is there any way you can adjust any of the times?
Can you move the ceremony later or the cocktail hour & dinner earlier? A 3 hour gap is a long time... and I hate it as a guest.
Here was my timeline (Ceremony and Reception were at same location):
Ceremony 4:30 - 5 PM
Cocktail hour (guests) & Pictures (WP) 5 - 6
Toasts 6:15
Dinner 6:20
Cake Cutting and first dance: 7:45
Dance: 8-11:30
Photobooth: 7-10
Cake Station starts: 8:30
Late Night Snacks served: 9:30-11:30
1:30-2:15 Ceremony
2:15-3:00 Receiving Line/getting everyone out of church
3:00-5:30 Pictures at church/pictures at another location
4:30-6:00 Cocktails
6:00-Dinner
6:30-Toasts
7:00-Cake/Slideshow
8:00-12:00-Dance
Does mine look ok?
The gap is a huge PITA for people who traveled 30 minutes to a few hours to get to your wedding. Unless everyone has a hotel room, or thier own home within a few minutes drive, it is annoying. Even with a hotel room, I don't especially enjoy sitting around on my duff "waiting" for 3 hours.
One irritating time was when we went to Detroit for a wedding (10 hour drive for us) and stayed in a hotel near the ceremony site (40 minutes away from the reception). We went to the ceremony and then drove around and took a tour of the city to kill some time. Then we went to a little zoo we found near the reception site. Then it closed and we had nothing else to do, so we just went to the reception. They "weren't ready for us" so we walked arround in the 90 degree heat and waited for another hour.
Another wedding in Nashville had a 3+ hour gap. We were staying at the hotel and met friends in the lobby bar... 3 hours is a long time to waste at a bar in the afternoon.
It's not the end of the world, but if you can make the gap smaller, I think many people will appreciate it (move ceremony later, or have dinner/cocktails sooner and end the night a little sooner). None of your guests will tell you to your face that the gap is annoying... but they will think it.
As for your guests, they too need to refresh or change their attire. If they are out of town, they would probably go sight seeing. You may want to warn the facilitator that you might have early arrivals in case they are bored at the hotel.
Remember that this day is about you and your new husband. They are celebrating this special occasion with you and shouldn't complain about anything else.
Good Luck!
A couple of suggestions/questions:
Can you take some pictures before the ceremony to cut down photo time? Is that the amount of time that your photographer suggested (it seems like a REALLY long time). If you haven't checked with them I would ask them how long they think it will take. Can you cut out a photo location if you're having numerous?
Many people use the cocktail hour so that the guests have something to do while you take pics--you don't have to be there.
Could you provide an activity for the guests during the break--someone on my month board is providing trolley rides in SanFran during photos for example.
If you have that long of a gap you should expect that some guests may choose not to attend the ceremony and just come to the reception. Also, I have heard of people getting a little too tipsy before dinner because they spent the time in a bar....
My photographers said they were open to stealing us away from the reception once it all gets going in order to get some more photos just the two of us. That will help you and your timeline a lot!
I have to agree w/ most of the people above that a gap like that is not fun as a guest.
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We're planning to do bride & bridesmaid photos and groom & groomsmen photos prior to the ceremony to get those out of the way.
Here's our tenative schedule (this will be finalized tonight as we are having our tasting!)
2:30 - 3:00 Wedding Ceremony
3:00 - 3:30 Family Photos
3:30 - 4:30 Wedding Party Photos (as a large group...we're going down by the RiverWalk so as not to waste time driving around the city. I wanted to go to the Art Museum, but budget is not allowing for a limo for that short amount of time)
4:30 - 5:30 Cocktails & Appetizers
5:30 - 6:00 Guest enter the ballroom, wedding party entrance, toasts, and cake cutting.
6:00 - 7:00 or 7:15 Dinner (Buffet with plated salad and plated cake).
7:15 or after First dance, photobooth, and general merriment!
Originally, the "Wedding Party Photo" time was 2 hours to allow for us to go to the Art Museum for photos, but as mentioned above, we don't have the money to spend on just 2 hours for a limo, plus my FSIL/bridesmaid mentioned that it is a really long time for the guests to sit around.
I think that in reality, an hour (to hour and a half) is fair for guests to hang out a bit after the ceremony. There are bars/restaurants downtown if they want to go get a drink, or go exploring down by the River, otherwise I'm sure most people will just hang out and chat with relatives and friends they haven't seen in a while! That's the hope, anyhow!
Good luck!