Reception Time

mrs 080908 my ceremony and reception will be at the same place and we have the hall from 8am til midnight althoughi put the time on the invites at 330 in the afternoon the ceremony will start at 4pm we will be taking our formal pics before the ceremony so the limos dont go into overtime so you have to weigh all of your options with this one. do you have ur invites already?

Mrs080908, Pebbles gave some terrific advice there. How long is your ceremony? You have to ask your Pastor if it's a simple ceremony or will you be having a full ceremony with the bells and whisles (meaning, lots of attendants, special songs being sung, the scripture being read, pastor's preaching for 20 - 30 minutes, communion,etc...) A lot plays in the time factor. Usually, a simple wedding ceremony would probaby take about 30 - 45 minutes from start to finish. If that's your choice, then, ceremony starts at 2PM with your FH entering the church at 2PM with his Best Man, by the time everyone enters the church and waiting for your grand entrance it's 2:10 PM, then the ceremony and everything over by 3PM. What will your guest do for 2 hours since it doesn't start until 5PM, even with the 45 minute drive, they'll get there before 4PM and they must keep themselves entertained for an hour?

I'm not sure how long you have the reception hall for, but I would suggest maybe having the ceremony start at 3:00 PM, even if you should be running late for some reason, it would get under way by 3:15 PM. Everyone of your bridal party enters and you make your grand entrance by 3:25 PM, ceremony takes half an hour and you and your DH is in processional by 4:05 PM 4:10 PM at the latest. See? Now, the drive is 45 minutes away, so by the time the guests leave the church, find their cars, get into their cars and join the caravan to the reception hall, more time would've elapsed. Your guests finally reach the destination by 4:55 PM. 5:05 PM at the latest. Your cocktail hour has started at 5PM, your guests begin to arrive, the DJ plays something appropriate because people will be streaming it anytime pass that 5PM and while they're waiting on your grand entrance at 6PM or 6:15 PM whatever time you want, they're nibbling on hors d'oeuvres, champagne or a signature drink,sodas, juices, etc... and mingling with each other until your MC starts things going. Are you making your invites yourself? Because you have to send them out 2 months prior to your wedding and if you're having a lot of out of town guests, you must send them out 3 months prior to your wedding.

I will be getting married on 7/18/08, it is a friday evening wedding. The wedding is scheduled to start promptly at 6:00pm, however I am asking my guest to be there at 5:30. The ceremony should last about 45-60 minutes. The reception venue is about 20 minutes away if you know where you are going. My cocktail hour will start at 7:30pm. So when they arrive cocktail should be begining

because you have your invites aready that could be a problem and very costly to change how long do u have your reception hall for? if you have it for 4-5 hours you could have a problem you want your guess to enjoy themselves

Wow, Mrs080908, I guess it's not so bad if you push your cocktail hour up by one hour. That would give you plenty of time. Just make sure to tell your attendants that when they're entering the church to walk very, very slowly. That will buy you some more time.

As for me, I'm Haitiana, so I'm having a very traditional Haitian wedding with all the bells and whistles. I have 28 attendants (yes, it's huge, I know). My wedding ceremony starts at 6PM. We're getting to the church at 4 PM for pictures before the guests arrive and will be leaving for another location shoot by 4:45 PM. My wedding ceremony will be 1 1/2 hours long. It's only 10 minutes away from the reception hall and my cocktail hour starts at 8:45 PM. I have my reception hall for 8 hours of party time, plus, they gave me 2 additional hours to set up, so it's a total of 10 hours that I have the hall for. My reception is over officially by 12:30 AM because I want to give the clean up crew 1 1/2 hours to clean up, so I could have my cleaning deposit back.

[quote="Ginoue"]Wow, Mrs080908, I guess it's not so bad if you push your *bleep*tail hour up by one hour. That would give you plenty of time. Just make sure to tell your attendants that when they're entering the church to walk very, very slowly. That will buy you some more time.

As for me, I'm Haitiana, so I'm having a very traditional Haitian wedding with all the bells and whistles. I have 28 attendants (yes, it's huge, I know). My wedding ceremony starts at 6PM. We're getting to the church at 4 PM for pictures before the guests arrive and will be leaving for another location shoot by 4:45 PM. My wedding ceremony will be 1 1/2 hours long. It's only 10 minutes away from the reception hall and my *bleep*tail hour starts at 8:45 PM. I have my reception hall for 8 hours of party time, plus, they gave me 2 additional hours to set up, so it's a total of 10 hours that I have the hall for. My reception is over officially by 12:30 AM because I want to give the clean up crew 1 1/2 hours to clean up, so I could have my cleaning deposit back.
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Wow Diva G!!!!!! you are having a VERY full day!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you make sure you get plenty of rest the night before!

Soon ~ The details of this wedding in really doing me in. What helps is that I treat the planning of my wedding like any other client's wedding and that keeps me on my toes. Usually, when I do a wedding, I have everything wrapped up 2 weeks before the wedding itself as far as the planning goes. I'm such a perfectionist that I'm truly anal about details.

As for the day before, my MOH is treating me to the spa and we have our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner afterwards, which she's also planning and hosting. All I know is that my bachelorette party is 2 days before, so you know I'm going to need that spa date the next day.

I wouldn't worry about it too much mrs080908, once you start working on timeline, it's easy to see how you'll easily burn that time. You have a very nice size bridal party, all you have to do is have the bridesmaids and groomsmen walk in pairs. What you do is you have one set of attendant walk down the aisle, wait until they get half way down and you send the next group of 2 and so on and so forth. Everyone will think that it's so very dreamy. They won't need to know that you're stalling for time. And when it comes time for you to make your grand entrance, I would suggest you stand at the door for about 1 minute. They'll think someone is straightening out or fluffing your gown before your walk down the aisle. Then, put on your prettiest smile and snail walk down the aisle sister. Right there, you've just burned nearly a half an hour. Then include a special scripture reading and instead of 1 solo, have 2. See how you're stretching time?

Yes, Mrs080908, I'm having my wedding in NY as well, in Queens to be exact. My reception hall only costed me $1,600 (after negotiations, of course) and I have the hall for 10 glorious hours.

So, don't worry too much. Just take your time and plan your timeline exactly and make sure that your Coordinator/host/hostess follow it to the letter.

Mrs080908 I wouldn't worry to much about it. Just make sure in your programs you add directions to the reception site and make mention that bleeptail hour start at 5:00pm. Do a receiving line after the ceremony and maybe even offer cookies and punch at the church to help tide people over for the 45 minute drive.

Nicely said Pamcrow!!!

Hello Mrs080908

My wedding ceremony is not starting until 3pm. My cocktail hour does not start until 6pm, so I have a cap in between. But with my reception hall they are allowing my guest to go into the cocktail room if they arrive early but they will not be serving any drinks, etc. until 6pm. Which I said that will be find. My ceremony program should be about and 1 to and 1 and a half. I have singing and reading on my program.

wonderful idea mrs080908

mrs080908 i personally think cookie favours and personalised bottled water will be great and the fact that is gonna be summer then it makes it more perfect .. im also thinking of doing the personalised bottled water thing too but with pink and chocolate candies in a personalised box and a mesage .. good lucck sis

EXCELLENT idea Mrs080908. I'm sure that will be a huge hit with your guests. If you decide to do a receiving line you can position yourselfs near the water and cookies so that as people line to shake your hands with you, they can grab a water and cookies and head towards their cars. Great idea.

Great idea Diva!!!