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Beach Wedding...Hopefully

bridetobehollybridetobeholly member
in Wedding Etiquette Forum
My fiance and I have booked a reception venue right off of the beach. We cannot get inside the reception venue until 7 p.m. (non-negotiable). In an ideal world, we would get married on the beach at about 6:30 p.m., but we need a plan B for inclement weather. The venue will not allow us to put up a tent on the beach. I can only seem to come up with two options, but would LOVE any other suggestions. The two options I see are:

1. Send out invitations for a wedding at 6:30, have a mass amount of umbrellas for light rain, and if weather is too bad, I think everyone will just have to end up waiting until 7:00 to get out of their cars and go into the venue.

2. Send out invitations for a wedding at 7:00, so we can use the venue in case of rain. I know this option seems much less complicated/more enjoyable, but my only concern is that with a 7:00 p.m. wedding, our guests won't get dinner until after 8:00 p.m. between the ceremony and then pictures of the bridal party (I'm not okay with doing the pictures before the ceremony and having my finance see me in my dress before the wedding).

The wedding will be May 10th in Virginia. Sunset is around 8:00 p.m. and weather can be kind of hard to predict. Any better solutions out there or any thoughts on which of these solutions would work best?

Thank you.
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Re: Beach Wedding...Hopefully

  • tcnobletcnoble member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer
    I think option 2 sounds best, and as grown adults you'd hope if they know dinner us at 8pm, they can plan accordingly and have a light meal earlier in the day prior to your wedding, to tide themselves over.
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  • Blue_BirdBlue_Bird member
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Love Its 500 Comments First Answer
    I agree that option two is best. Also, since you chose to have a beach wedding, you may have to make some sacrifices for your guests' comfort., Have as many pictures as you can before the ceremony. That way, the ones with you and your husband will be 20 minutes tops.
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  • mrs4everhartmrs4everhart member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer
    Option 2. You'll also have a fairly correct forecast within 24 hours for planning purposes. There's no reason most of your pics can't be done first. Also, will you be providing any type of appetizer for people to munch on so normally early eaters won't be getting hangry waiting for the rest of the pics?
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  • dramamonkeydramamonkey member
    250 Love Its Third Anniversary 100 Comments First Answer
    As pp said, do all of your separate photos pre-ceremony (individual portraits, pics with family, your side/his side, etc. Then you can do a couple of whole wedding party shots right after the ceremony, followed by your couple . 20-30 min tops.
    DH and I did this (though we did do a first look so we could squeeze in a few more pre ceremony shots) and were done our couple portraits in 20.
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  • jessicabessicajessicabessica member
    2500 Comments Third Anniversary 100 Love Its Name Dropper
    Go with option 2.  Make sure you have drinks and snacks available right after the ceremony for guests while you are taking photos, and try to take as many of your photos beforehand as PPs suggested.  

    Just to dissuade you from option 1, it's a bad idea to have your guests outside in any kind of inclement weather.  Even if it's a light rain, the chairs will be wet, the ground will be wet, and views will be obstructed by umbrellas.  Guests typically arrive for wedding ceremonies at least 15 minutes in advance, so if you say 6:30 and cannot get into the venue until 7, guests will be waiting in their cars for longer than half an hour (which is already too long).  Likewise, if you hold it outside in the rain, guests will be sitting around getting wet waiting for it to start.  
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  • misssunshine17misssunshine17 member
    2500 Comments 500 Love Its Fourth Anniversary 5 Answers
    Definitely option 2. I agree- make a serious list of pre wedding shots and post wedding shots. I didn't see H before and our pictures after the ceremony were done in 20 minutes because my MOH kept the list moving. 
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  • indianaalumindianaalum member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Definitely NOT option 1, it is totally a disaster waiting to happen if it rains. If you force people to sit in their car OR stand in the rain, they will hate you for it.

    Go with Option 2. give them appetizers to eat while you take your pics
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  • purefluffpurefluff member
    10 Comments 5 Love Its
    As someone that lives at the beach in Oregon, I hate beach weddings. They never end up quite how people expect them to. There's wind, there's sand, and it generally ends up including people having to carry their chairs back which I consider a huge etiquette no-no. Then when you account weather, and the surprising amount of people who don't have their wedding at an actual venue so that they can have a back up plan. I just think it's a disaster waiting to happen if you ask me.

    Then again, I'm considering having a wedding at a farm so REALLY what can I say about it?

    So plan for 7 o'clock. I think an hour for dinner isn't too late to wait, even if it's at 8, because I would personally eat accordingly to the time anyway.
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  • KatWAGKatWAG member
    2500 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    Side note, you know it won't be a true Mass since the ceremony wont take place in a church, right?
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  • purefluffpurefluff member
    10 Comments 5 Love Its
    I don't think she said anything about a mass, other than a "mass amount of umbrellas,"
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  • KatWAGKatWAG member
    2500 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    purefluff said:
    I don't think she said anything about a mass, other than a "mass amount of umbrellas,"

    Haha, you are right. Huge reading fail on my part!
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  • cowgirl8238cowgirl8238 member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its Fourth Anniversary First Answer

    I would also choose option 2.  And agree to do all of your seperate shots before the ceremony.  Then afterwards all your need to get at the ones with you and your husband and the full group shots.  (Plus better lighting if the sunsets at 8 and you start at 7.  The only thing I would be concerned with is feeding your guests during this downtime some form of cocktail hour/passed apps.  If your photos do take a little while you don't want people waiting and hungry. 

    Also is this a buffet style or seated served?  Remember to that if you start the buffet at 8pm not everyone gets to eat right away...and if it is seated served, are they serving at 8?  Just some thoughts on feeding people!

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