Sometimes the trickiest part of planning your wedding is figuring out how to put together a good timeline for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Pick up some helpful hints for determining the ideal timing for your wedding day.
The start time for your wedding ceremony may well be set in stone by your church. If they only do ceremonies on 1pm on Saturdays, then a 1pm ceremony it is. Knowing that, you will have to find a reception venue that can host your reception at a reasonably close time to the end of the ceremony. A typical marriage ceremony at a church runs for about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, there will usually be a receiving line outside and people may hang around and chat outside the church for a few minutes. The newlyweds and bridal party will also have pictures done at this point.
To calculate the ideal start time for your cocktail hour, first determine how long it is likely to take guests to drive to the reception site and park. Then add about a half hour from the end of your ceremony. For example, if you had a one o'clock ceremony expected to last up to one hour and your reception site is a thirty minute drive from the church, your cocktails would start around three o'clock. Timing is important, because it is not nice to have awkward gaps between the ceremony and reception. It breaks up the momentum of the day, and your guests will not appreciate being all dressed up in their best attire and wedding jewelry with no where to go.
Long gaps between the ceremony and reception are often caused by extended photo sessions. A good way to prevent that issue is by doing a lot of the wedding pictures before the start of the ceremony. Some couples like to do a "first look", where the bride and groom can get together to take some photographs before their ceremony. If you do not want your groom to see you before the ceremony, you can still do all of the formal pictures with your bridesmaids and immediate family to get those out of the way. That will limit the time you need to do pictures following the ceremony so you can keep the day moving forward on schedule. Besides, it is nice to get some pictures when you have just gotten into your bridal gown and elegant wedding jewelry while your hair and makeup are freshly done.
Cocktail hours typically last for 45 minutes to an hour. Anything less than that feels rushed, but if it runs too much longer, people drink too much. After about an hour, people are definitely ready to move on to the main part of the reception. Everyone moves into the dining room, and the bride and groom make their grand entrance. A lot of newlyweds will do their first dance immediately upon entering the room and being announced, while others will wait until after dinner to do the spotlight dances. You will need to decide if you will open the floor up to general dancing if you do your first dance in the beginning of the reception or move from there directly to the meal. People do not like to be kept waiting too long for dinner, so limit how long those pre-meal dances last.
The total length of your reception will be anywhere from three to six hours, depending on whether you serve a full meal or not, if there is dancing, and if you have a late night snack or Viennese hour. When you schedule your day well, your wedding will flow seamlessly from one part to the next, and everyone will have a fantastic time!
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