Ceremony time

More time will be needed to get seated done before guests arrive half hour prior to the ceremony time plus pictures done in the way you want of groups and family. It would be a good idea to make a list of whom you want in groups to form a line. Family can be left to the end to have both and then each side separately. Account how long of a time if 3 hours will be enough given the break down time too.

I would think 2-3 would be safer. As others have mentioned people may arrive early and hang around after the ceremony. Too much time is usually better than too little!

View quoted message Ok thank you! I hadn’t even thought about getting guests to their seats and that.

View quoted message Ok that is super helpful, thank you! We were thinking of doing photos around the premises because it is in a park on public property and there’s a beautiful lake beside it.

View quoted message I agree with Hank that you should definitely budget 30 mins before and 30 mins during for guests to be there, I’d even add 15-20 mins after in case you get lingerers (unless they’re going straight to the reception, then 30 mins will be plenty for people to leave and take down afterwards). Go for at least 2 hours. Depending on how much labour available, you may have to use more time but hopefully that can get done quickly

View quoted message We are estimating around 50 people. It’s in a frame of an old barn (hard to explain lol) so I was thinking of just rows of 5 on both sides.

Half hour for the ceremony + half hour for people to get seated (trust me, it takes that long, especially when everyone sees each other and won't stop milling around and talking). Depending on the number of chairs, an hour should do. So two hours would be safe.

Are you going to want to take photos there? If so, I'd add more time.

You might want a little more time in the beginning in case your guests show up early and people are still setting up chairs. It will also depend on how many chairs will be set up and how much labour you’ll have. What are you thinking in terms of size and setup?