Wedding Set-up Time Frame

Knottie1444270031 · October 2015

I need opinions please! The venue we are booking at has a 50th anniversary lunch from 11:30am - 2:30pm in their banquet room. Our ceremony would be outside at 5pm so we would need the banquet room starting at 5:30pm.

My question is, the venue says this is enough time for them to turnover the room for 120 people, however is this enough time for vendors to set up as well?

I would like opinions and or experience with day-of setup.

Thank you!

KatWAG · October 2015

have your vendors said its enough time?

Knottie1444270031 · October 2015

I just booked the venue, haven't booked vendors yet..

charcoalandblush · October 2015

Our venue had two setup options: (1) have the ceremony (<180 people) in the smaller room, then reception in the larger room, or (2) have the ceremony (180-550 people) in the big room, move everyone into the smaller room for cocktail hour, and during that hour they set up the large room for dinner/dancing, at the end of cocktail hour everyone returns to the large room for the rest of the reception. We went with option 1 because we only had 130 guests, but they assured us that an hour was enough time to execute option 2.

Assuming the venue has adequate staff, 3 hours should be more than enough time to set the room up for 120 people. I would think about asking them how often they do a flip like this between two events, but ultimately, professionals should be able to handle this easily.

lyndausvi · October 2015

My sister's reception venue had a 1-1.5 hour turn. My sister had 267 people at their wedding. Not sure what the next one was, but they do tight turns every weekend.

I would think 3 hours is enough time to do a turn. The vendors will just have to deal with the tight turn.

Knottie1444270031 · October 2015

See I guess I am more worried about the extras. I'm not concerned about the room getting cleaned or the tables being set, but for everything else...

simcal18 · October 2015

What are the "extras" you are talking about? What are you having your vendors do to the room? Lighting? Ceiling draping? Other decor?

The key is to talk to your vendors and make sure that they are okay with the timeframe. If they say they can do what you've hired them to do in that timeframe, you should be golden. They're professionals and you can take them at your word.

FWIW, I believe my vendors started arriving at around 2:00 for my 5:30 PM ceremony/6:00 reception. But there were no external time pressures. Your timeframe sounds reasonable to me, especially if this vendor has a tight turnaround for events all the time.

julieanne912 · October 2015

I don't see why it wouldn't be. We did our own setup and were done in under 4 hours... and that's with only a few of us and involved hanging lights and bunting, figuring out a layout, and even setting up ceremony chairs outside.

The thing that took the longest was the flowers but that was because my aunt, who is a professional florist in another state, didn't do the centerpiece arranging (24 of them) until she got there. That's not what she would do normally but since she wasn't at her shop she didn't have anywhere else to do it at. A regular florist would come already put together.

Knottie1444270031 · October 2015

So in reality, I should trust the professionals of the venue to turnover from the first event in about 2.5 hours?

lyndausvi · October 2015

Knottie1444270031 said:

So in reality, I should trust the professionals of the venue to turnover from the first event in about 2.5 hours?

pretty much.

I would give a heads up to outside vendors of the short time they have to setup, but unless you have a 15-piece band with lots of lights, video, etc. You should be fine.

cupcait927 · October 2015

We had our ceremony and reception at a winery with its own restaurant. The restaurant is open during the day to the public for lunch and closes by 5 pm for events in the evening. The day of my wedding, there was a huge tasting event for the public. So hundreds of people coming in and out, eating lunch from noon to 5 pm. The venue had everything cleaned up and set up for my wedding by 6 pm - so less than an hour after they were done serving lunch for the day Trust the professionals - they can definitely get everything set up in 2.5 hours.

madamerwin · October 2015

We got to our venue at 2pm for a 5:00 ceremony start time. It took a group of four of us an hour to get all the decor set up, move alcohol/bar equipment into place, and make sure the tables were in order. Our caterer and bartenders didn't get there until 4pm, and the DJ got there just before 5, and everything was completely set up well before the end of the ceremony.

Definitely just trust the venue coordinator to do their job; they have a lot of experience turning their venue over (presumably) and know how long it will take. Just make sure when you book other vendors that you tell them the time frame to make sure it works for them.

anjemon · October 2015

My venue was one big space with a cocktail area/bar off to the side. So we had our ceremony in the big space with chairs setup like a church. Then everyone moved over to the bar area for cocktail hour and came back in for dinner. I had 150 people at my wedding and about half the tables were on the main floor of the big space. The venue changed it over with no problems.

I think 3 hours is plenty of time for them to get things changed over. I also think it's a good idea to ask them how often they do this etc. And perhaps when you're talking to vendors like your DJ and anyone else who would need to come in and setup, ask them how early or how much time they would require. And maybe ask the venue about deliveries earlier in the day, do they allow and handle those? I think it's totally manageable, but you'll want to make sure you ask a lot of questions before you book your vendors.

Knottie1444270031 · October 2015

It sounds like it's do-able for sure, and that I am just over thinking it and stressing myself out

Thanks everyone!

Wedding Set-up Time Frame

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