Wedding

littlehedgy

On The Knot just stay away from the etiquette board! that is where the snark is, if you have any part of your wedding that is even slightly unusual it will get trashed by the ladies on that board. Go to your wedding month board. Lots of support there. You're timeline sounds good and I think that 45 minutes for the ceremony is perfect. I personally hate super long ceremonies at weddings, not that my comfort is what anyone should consider but those ceremonies that drag on and on make me itchy. Congrats on the wedding!

magj0y

On The Knot just stay away from the etiquette board! that is where the snark is, if you have any part of your wedding that is even slightly unusual it will get trashed by the ladies on that board. Go to your wedding month board. Lots of support there. You're timeline sounds good and I think that 45 minutes for the ceremony is perfect. I personally hate super long ceremonies at weddings, not that my comfort is what anyone should consider but those ceremonies that drag on and on make me itchy. Congrats on the wedding!

Yes. they are MOTHER F*CKING KRAZY.

wanna know how krazy? Lawsuit krazy.

http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/alkateeb-v-does

Wabbit05

20 min ceremony
1 hour for cocktails
4 hour reception

alcon79

My wedding's not until April, but since I'm doing everything in a hotel, they've given me a standard timeline. We are expecting about 75 people.

530-6 - Ceremony - civil ceremony - short and sweet
6-7 - Cocktail Hour - also some family pictures
7-9 - Dinner which includes cake cutting & serving and the toasts
9-11 - 3 official dances and then time to boogie down.
11-??? - Karaoke bar across the street

Edit: The Knot has A LOT of information but I found many pieces of it useful - including the discounts for other vendors.

Rogiefreida

I think it all depends upon what you like. I'm getting married next year and we are both just looking to have a big blow out of a party. We are paying for it ourselves and are a little bit older, so we have total control over things.

We are starting the ceremony at 6 and then right into to cocktail hour, interactive food stations and dancing right after.

We are planning it that way because we have been to way too many formal/fancy weddings that just aren't guest friendly.

I think it's all personal choice and what you really want.

That schedule is similar to my wedding in April. 530pm-11pm beginning with the ceremony and going straight into the cocktail hour at 6. Lots of time for eating and dancing.

We're doing our pictures before the ceremony because if I'm paying for open bar, I'm not missing a moment

I'm going to a wedding in Nov with a Catholic ceremony at 2 and the reception doesn't start til 6. I'm never a fan of the big break, esp. away from home and not in a major city.

This timeline is basically what we did (except it was from 4:30-10...it was on a Sunday) We did pictures before the ceremony and had a 30 minute appetizer/mingle/kill time window for me and hubs to go catch our breath (which he needed after the ceremony. lol), and for our venue to rearrange the ballroom from ceremony seating to our reception seating (everything was in the same room).

I also agree with joining the knot for more info on timelines. As far as the ettiquette board goes, the ladies there are brutally honest. They're perceived as mean by some, but I think they are nice and honest people, if you get to know them. That being said, if your thin skinned and get offended easily by other people on the internets, stay away from ettiquette board and stick to your wedding month board, or your local board.

Congrats on getting married!

tashjs21

Our ceremony was at 7 and the reception went to 11.

Although my reception actually ended a tad early because my MOH threw a pie in my husbands face and I had a mild freak out about the original wood floors that the venue was very adamant about not messing up.

I had a timeline and we ended up not following it and just did everything when we felt like it. I started getting too worried about "being on schedule" that I wasn't enjoying myself so I said "screw that" and started partying and let everything unfold as it did.:drinker:

oregonzoo

Our ceremony was at 7 and the reception went to 11.

Although my reception actually ended a tad early because my MOH threw a pie in my husbands face and I had a mild freak out about the original wood floors that the venue was very adamant about not messing up.

I had a timeline and we ended up not following it and just did everything when we felt like it. I started getting too worried about "being on schedule" that I wasn't enjoying myself so I said "screw that" and started partying and let everything unfold as it did.:drinker:

7-11 is what I plan on.v And probably an afterparty.

harleydall76

I JUST got married and 4 hours is NOT enough time. Trust me..you don't want to rush it at all and pictures take longer than you think. We had a one hour cocktail hour, followed by dinner then the toasts, cake cutting and dances. Then everyone let loose for awhile then we did the garter and bouquet. Ours from ceremony beginning until the last song was 6 hours.

This was mine if I remember correctly.

We got married right at the reception place at 11am. Ceremony was a very short one. While we took pics outside, guests went up to reception room and had cocktail hour. When we were done, we joined them. Ate at like 1pm. The whole thing was done by 5.

TrimAnew

Depends on what you want and the size and formality of the wedding.

I had a smallish wedding (less than 60 guests). It was sort of a destination wedding, although the destination was only 1.5 hour drive from my hometown. And it wasn't super formal. I wore a white dress but it wasn't from a bridal shop. Groom bought a poplin suit instead of a rented tux. Most guests wore something like summer "Sunday best." We were with most of our guests for the entire weekend because we had booked the whole inn for our family who were mostly from out of state. The best part of that was that we had all weekend to hang out with everyone, so we didn't have to worry about "making the rounds" during the reception. At the reception we could focus on the people that weren't with us all weekend. Even then, we still had lots of time with everyone.

I had my nails done the day before.
Got my hair and make up done at 2 on the day of because that was the last time slot at the salon and I was the only one getting professionally done up. A good friend kept me company and apart from my groom, who didn't want to see me until photo time. Meanwhile he hung out with the guys playing games.
Those of us in staged pictures started getting dressed around 5pm. I didn't have any photos of me getting ready, and didn't want any.
Professional photographer was there from 6-9pm.
Staged photos were taken from 6 to 6:30ish (no bridesmaids, no groomsmen, no flower girl, and no ring bearer, so just groom and I, plus parents and siblings).
Musician was there from just before 7 and played to 10pm. (He was awesome!)
Ceremony at 7. I had written the wedding script and my groom and I were all for a short ceremony. Including the ring warming, the ceremony itself took about 15 minutes. We then had a group shot of everyone present (taken from overhead--very cool).
Champagne toasts at 7:20ish (both dads, the groom, and I had the prayer).
Reception w/ sit down dinner (no buffet) started at 7:30 with cake cutting and dessert about 45-60minutes later.
Most everyone spent the night at the venue, so there was no "great escape" at the end of the night.
I'm pretty sure some of our guests were up well past 1am, although my groom and I headed for bed well before they did.

Our ceremony was a little later than "normal" but we had timed it to match twilight in the mountains. Plus, we fed everyone a late lunch earlier that day (and hors d'oeuvres the night before, and brunch the next morning), and had snacks available for them all weekend, so we knew they wouldn't be completely starving by having to wait for 7:30.

It was perfect. Very low stress too. The service and the killer game room on the second floor were big selling points that drew us to the place. Plus it was gorgeous inside and out!

And it wasn't nearly as expensive as it sounds. We crunched the numbers when we were planning and realized that a 4 hour party with all the "normal" bells and whistles at a traditional venue in our area with 150 guests, was just as or even more expensive than a whole weekend getting truly spoiled at this beautiful historic inn the mountains with just 60 of our closest friends and family.

With our route, we could even pay for most of the guest's rooms, feed them for the entire weekend, and still come out cheaper than most of the other traditional venues. Part of this is because the guest list was kept small, and the other part was because if you book the entire inn for the weekend we only had to pay the room cost, not the venue fee. So we paid for rooms and got the venue for free. Then because they had their own restaurant, we got gourmet catering without all the hassle of renting things from an outside catering company.

We had great service all weekend and we and our guests were the only people the staff had to take care of, so we had full run of the place. If you are thinking of a smaller wedding, be sure to check out what sort of arrangements small inns and bed and breakfasts can do for you!

A lot of family told us afterwards that it was the most enjoyable wedding they'd ever been a part of. Even one of my uncles who hates weddings was raving with praise about the whole thing.