Day of Timeline/order of Events

View quoted message Sometimes its how you can see it differently too. Your guests may feel bored sitting for a longer time and not moving around.
The way we have done in our family weddings is getting on the dance floor after dinner to enjoy the party time. Plus if you do have plated service, cake for dessert is set for guests to eat.

View quoted message I thought it was dinner then the first dance/father daughter dance/cake cutting/speeches (not in that order). But I thought all that was after the dinner.

Your order for the wedding to reception should be

Wedding Ceremony 3:00 - 3:30

Pictures of groups 3:30 - 4:00 You two alone 4:00 -4:15

Cocktail 4:30 - 5:00

Reception 5:00

First Dance 5:05

Father/Daughter & Mother/Son Dances 5:15

Cake cutting (if happening) 5:20

Speeches 5:25

Dinner 6:00

Dancing followed after dinner

View quoted message Lawn games is a great idea. I’ll definitely be doing that.

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You could bring in some entertainment or create some lawn games.

View quoted message The bar is run by the venue so I’m not sure. But honestly I’m not too worried. Most of our guests are family that don’t drink a whole lot or friends that are very respectful for this kind of thing. They definitely wouldn’t be doing that before dinner.
And yeah, I’ll definitely look into having more time. I just don’t want the guests that are only in a few pictures standing around for an hour or more bored

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Not sure what kind of bar you're running but in many jurisdictions, you can't serve alcohol without having some kind of food available. This is to prevent patrons from getting too intoxicated. Even if there are no laws in your area against this, if your guests are downing a bunch of drinks on an empty stomach for an hour or more straight before dinner, you might get a rowdy crowd (and not in a good way). Just a heads up.

Normally the "cocktail hour" for photos is usually just for the bridal party to run off and do their thing while everyone else is having a small bite and sipping a drink. But because you're taking pictures with all 100 guests, I think you'll need more time.

View quoted message Yeah for sure! Nothing is too set in stone yet. We have plenty of time to determine what time dinner starts so I’ll chat with the photographer a bit! And I guess I don’t really need to “schedule” when dinner ends. Honestly whatever happens happens😂 I’m not too worried about everything being perfectly to a schedule. I was kinda worried about having so much time between ceremony and dinner but I want to make sure we have time for pictures. My dad was saying it shouldn’t be more than an hour since our venue is far away so people can’t go home in between, but I figure if we have some games and the bar is open it shouldn’t matter too much as people should be distracted enough and socializing enough to pass the time

I'd include some time between photos/'cocktail hour' and dinner to give people time to realize it's time for dinner and to find their seats. (Herding groups of people is a lot more effort than people think lol). Generally, I'd say do what works for you and your family! There's no set time that anything needs to happen, but sit down and talk about a timeline with your photographer, because they'll likely have a good idea of how much time you'll want for photos before and after the ceremony, etc. But other than that, do whatever you want!

My partner and I are doing first look photos so we can take all the family pics beforehand and then a handful of the two of us after the fact, so we can enjoy our cocktail hour xD If you'd like a reference, ours will be:
Getting ready, first look, wedding party, and family photos: 1:00-3:30
Ceremony: 4-4:30
Cocktail hour/some photos: 4:30-5:30
Dinner: 6-7:30 (We're doing a simple buffet, but for a plated dinner, you might to make sure there's enough time to serve/collect all the plates, etc.)
Cake and dancing: 7:30-onward

It's your day - do what makes you happy!

View quoted message Typo. That was supposed to say shoe game

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I would give yourself more than an hour for your photos. With 100 guests, those photos alone could be an hour long and I'd imagine you'll want to have a good bunch with just the wedding party.

Also, what is the show game?

View quoted message The only pictures before the ceremony are for the first look. Just me and the groom. Wedding party and guest pictures will be after the ceremony.
And no set cocktail hour. I don’t want to pay for more food when dinner will be directly after. But the bar will be open.
Under 100 guests so not too much.Dinner is just an entree. Then desert will be when we do the cake cutting.And speeches will most likely be after dinner.

This is my fiance and I's timeline for our upcoming wedding crossing our fingers it stays the same!

Ceremony 330pm-4pm

Our photos 4pm-6pm

Cocktail Hour 5pm

Reception to start at 6pm with dinner at 615pm

You can always ask you venue what other weddings have done for timelines as well

If you're doing all photos prior to the ceremony, is the picture taking after the ceremony for the guests? Are you having a cocktail hour or is everyone just waiting around for their turn to take a picture with you. How many people are there? These will all factor into your timeline.

Personally I think dinner at 4:30 is pretty early but if that's what you and your family/friends are used to, then by all means. How many courses are you having with dinner? An hour for dinner might seem short if you're having an appetizer, an entree, and dessert, especially if you're incorporating speeches in between.

We're doing all bridal and family photos during the day with first look. We were planning ceremony for 4:30 ( more likely 4:45-5 since they never start on time.) Straight down the hall for cocktail hour and any pictures with guests who would like. Welcome and thank you for coming speech, bridesmaid/best man speech, mother and father having a quick chance to speak. Dinner at 6:30. Probably 8 before its done. Cake cutting then into dance.

Our ceremony start time is 3:30pm and dinner starts at 6:30pm our venue suggested that timing between for cocktail hour

View quoted message We plan on doing a first look and then family pictures after! Not sure if we will do the wedding party pictures before or after the ceremony.

It’s going to all depend on what you want to do for pictures. Unless you have only a couple pre-planned shots in mind, you’ll want a full hour after the ceremony. Also are you doing party and family photos? Will they be before or after the ceremony? With just parents or extended family too? You’ll need to have the details in mind in order to plan the time out. For example, ours was a similar timeline but we had to have most of our pictures done before the ceremony to account for light (we got married outside in late September). We had the first look at 3, then family and party shots until 4, the ceremony from 4:30-5, then an hour of party and couple photos while the guests enjoyed the cocktail reception. We rejoined and dinner started at 6.
As for what to do between dinner and dancing, you could have the cake cutting after dinner, then the show game and then the dancing. You can also incorporate speeches around this time too since many start during or after dinner.