Meal

Are your guests going to be ok waiting all that time inbetween the wedding and beyond cocktail hour? Any games or activities to keep them occupied and to interact?

Why not keep the original timing to start the reception and the evening will be less waiting time.

We are having our ceremony at 3:00 with dinner at about 5:30 or 6:00. And we will have snacks provided during the cocktail hour (4:00-dinner).

If you choose not to do a full meal (which is totally an acceptable option) just make sure you let yours guests know so they can plan their meals accordingly. Ive been to a whole lot of weddings and had fun at them all, but my biggest complaint is when i didnt know what to expect (because every wedding is diffrrent these days) and had to wait too long between meals. I have actually left weddings during cocktail hours to go get food elsewhere when i realized dinner was too far away and i was getting hangry. And then returned to the wedding of course but it wouldnt have been a problem if id have know to eat a large meal ahead of time or pack my own snacks


i would recomend if you are having your ceremony at 6/6:30 to put the food at at like 8 rather than 9. Not everyone will want to snack right away but it will let people that are hungry have the option to have a snack a bit earlier. Its a pretty big gap between when they will eat dinner (likely around 4:30-5) in order to make it to the ceremony on time and when you put out snacks if you wait until 9:00.

We had our ceremony from 4-4:30 and then dinner at about 6:30. It was great!

I think if you are doing a later ceremony then either hors d'oeuvres or something is a great way to feed your guests on a budget. I would caution having them out earlier than 9pm though if your ceremony is taking place right in the middle of normal dinner time. Most people won't think to eat accordingly.

I think if you aren't serving a meal to definitely do a later ceremony. If you are having an earlier ceremony I think your guests would expect a meal! As previously mentioned, make sure your invites clearly state the timeline etc! This way nobody will be surprised if there is no formal meal served!

Our ceremony is at 2:30 with our reception cocktail hour starting at 5. There is alot to do onsite at our venue, including food stands for refreshments and snacks, as well as alot of different activities to keep our guests busy.

If you're planning on a very long gap between the ceremony and reception, you could recommend a couple of places for your guests to grab a bite to eat before making their way back to the reception and then serve a late night snack.

If the two are closer together, then some appetizers would be welcomed + a late night snacks.

Whatever you decide make sure it is communicated clearly on the invitation and/or wedding website. The last thing you want are guests complaining they didn't know about the food situation.

As for the wedding day timeline, here's a link I found super helpful, with different types of ceremony & receptions:

https://apracticalwedding.com/calculate-wedding-timeline/

We are still deciding too. We were going to get married around 2 pm, reception around 7pm and serve late night snacks. This is both our second marriages so we are keeping it very simple.