wedding day times - help!

pinkmum2010

Hi all,

I'm getting married at 1 o'clock 18/08/12 and after meeting with my photographer yesterday i'm a little concerned about the timings of the day, here's the timings we came up with.

1.00 - 1.30 ceremony
1.30 - 2.00 catch up with guests
2.00 - 2.10 drive to have photographs
2.10 - 3.10 photographs
3.10 - 3.20 drive back to hotel
3.20 - 4.00 - group photos with guests
4.00 - 6.00 - dinner and speaches
7.00 - arrival of evening guests

have i allowed myself enough time for everything, is there anything i need to allow more/ less time for?

RainbowDrops

Did the photographer raise the concerns? Because taking pics takes quite a long time, especially trying to round up various people for them - it took us 2 soilid hours. Especially when you have to factor the travelling time in too.
You might have to sacrifice the catching up with guests to give you some more time.

I'd have suggested pushing back the dinner, but 3hours is quite a long time to wait for food after a lunchtime ceremony.

Hollie84

Id give alot more time for pics hun,once the photographer starts clicking away he dont stop.is it a church wedding or civil ceremony?

pinkmum2010

it's a civil ceremony in the same hotel as the reception, i think i'll try amd get the registrar to come earlier if they are not already booked

clearing_out_my_pockets

Out of interest, what will your guests be doing between 2.00 and 3.20?

Sammy85_2

Im afraid i have mixed experiences of photographs! It really depends on your photographer.

At weddings ive been to as a guest at it has taken hours in some cases to do all the photos, but at our wedding the group photos took 20 minutes.

Our photographer was very organised with a list of photos we wanted. He then got everyone together in a group and did the big group photo of everyone. We then stood in the middle and he organised my family on one side in a group, OH's family in another group opposite and then friends in another group. He then raced through the list. It honestly took 20 minutes in total. Everyone commented on how good it was and how they didnt have to mill about for ages waiting.

I think if we had done all the photos in one place in one go then it wouldnt have taken longer than 40 minutes all together.

Our timings for the day (which ran very smoothly) -

12.30 - wedding ceremony (church)
13.40 - ceremony finished
13-40- 13.50 we did confetti photos outside church (10mins) and then went off on our own for pics on the beach
14.00 - guests had arrived at reception venue and canapes were served.
14.20 - we arrived at reception (the photos on our own took 15 minutes and then i would say another 15 minutes travel time)
14.20-15.00 Mingling with our guests
15.00-15.10 Photos of cutting cake (fake and on our own)
15.10-15.30 Group photos outside
15.30-16.00 Receiving Line (dont underestimate how long it takes to speak to each guest! We had 80ish people and it took the full half hour to say hello to each one)
16.00 Meal served
18.00 - 1840 Speeches
1900 -1930 Night do started
2030ish first dance
2100 - evening pie and peas served

lovecake

I think those timings look fine. I wouldn't stress! As Sammy85 says it depends on the photographer - I am only allowing 1hr for photos (half an hr for group shots and half an hr for just me and the other half) My photographer says that is plenty of time! She does more of a reportage style where she'll be clicking away throughout the whole day and into the evening so no need to leave the guests for hours and hours while your getting your photos done - they want to share your day / see you / chat to you so I wouldn't allocate any more time to photos that will take you away from them.

As long as your venue are good at keeping everything running to time you should be fine!

My timings are -
Ceremony - 3.00-3.30 (max, will probably finish sooner)
Catch up woth guests -3.30-4.00
Photos - 4.00-5.00 (while guests enjoy drinks reception)
Speeches & Meal - 5.00 - 7.30
Evening guests arrive - 7.30

My venue and photographer assure me that the timings are perfect so as long as your venue and photographer are happy then I'm sure it will be spot on! They are the experts so I would trust what they say! x

pinkmum2010

fab thank you for that advice