Cocktail Reception

We’re also doing a cocktail reception and evening ceremony in Sept! We’re starting our ceremony at 7PM, then the reception will take place right after. It’s all happening at the same place so it will be easy to accommodate that.

It was suggested to me to start the ceremony after dinner just so it gives guest enough time to have dinner. I also indicated on my invites an hors d’oeuvre reception will follow the ceremony so people know.

Hello! Our sunset is 7:57 pm we are getting married on Aug 25 at 7:00 pm. On our invitations we indicated 7:00 pm Ceremony at Ceremony location, undernesth that we put cocktails and hors doeurves (spelling?) to follow. I'd be careful about starting at 6:00 pm, that seems very close to dinner hour. Guests may expect a meal or arrive hungry because they didn't have time to eat. We are doing all of our pictures from 4:00 - 6:00 and some sunset ones after the ceremony. Since our wedding is late in the day, we wanted to have some time together on our wedding day, before being under a microscope. Sometning to consider

Thank you everyone for all the reassuring comments! I wanted to get feed back prior to printing my invitations. I'll confirm the times with my wedding coordinator!

The timing sounds great and I agree with Erin how you should check the time of the sunset for your area. ALSO, be sure to state on your invitation that it is a cocktail reception (so hopefully your guests will have dinner beforehand).

I think this should be fine. I would definitely look into the average sunset time for your area at that time of year though just to be sure. We sneaked out for a few sunset pictures during out dinner.

I think 6 is a good ceremony time. You could also indicate on the invitations that it isn't a full dinner. Something like "Ceremony at 6 followed by an hors d'oeuvres reception at 7" That way, people know what they will be served.

I would look up the average sunset time for your area and date. Usually in September the sun starts to set around 7:30-8pm so you should be good! My fiancé also didn’t want to see me before the ceremony so we won’t be able to take photos before so we’re having a 2.5hr gap after the ceremony for pictures.

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Thank-you!

Yes I was thinking that I could take as many photos ahead of time as possible, that once the ceremony is done, we can move forward with the reception. My FH is a little hesitant on seeing me prior to ceremony for photos, as he wanted his first look to be of me walking down the isle. But this will have to do!

I think your timeline should work perfectly. You could also consider doing a first look with your FH and try to get a lot of your pictures with you bridal party and family done during the day before the ceremony. This would allow you to have more time with your friends and family following the ceremony...and enough time to get some last minute pics of you and your partner before the sun goes down.