Considering a lunchtime wedding... any advice?

I know that the meal will be cheaper.

That's what I was thinking! I could have a better variety with my smaller budget doing lunch. Do you think that everything else that you can see at a normal wedding (the dancing and party!) are still good? I've never been to a lunchtime wedding myself...

I think that brunch weddings are a totally cute idea! You will definitely save money and can have an elegant affair. But, I am not sure how many people will want to dance. I am personally not in the mood to dance and party hard at 1pm. I need a little bit of darkness to get in the mood. But I could be alone on that one. No matter what, a brunch is a great idea!

We had a lunchtime wedding: ceremony at 1:00, meal at 2:00. Our wedding was intimate with total guests numbering less than 30.

You can do everything at an afternoon event that you could do at an evening event. Well, you couldn't do fireworks, but you state you're working with a small budget anyway! Dancing and having a good time are not strictly limited to the evening hours - you realize that? It's a wedding, your guests will be there to celebrate you, have fun, and enjoy themselves. That can happen at anytime of the day.

My wedding ceremony starts at 11:30 and cocktails at 12pm and ends at 4pm...

It's cheaper and we get the same food and open bar. We're gonna party in the same way we would if it were a couple hours later!

It's in the fall so I wanted more light for my pictures and it to be warmer because the ceremony is outside.

Since it's ending in the afternoon...we might have an afterparty later on in Philly at one of the clubs for people who still want to party with us...

We are having an 11:30am Friday wedding in a ballroom, the hotel (gorgeous,elegant, way out of my budget on a weekend or evening) has waived the rental fee and we are paying the same $ for plated meals (but with the venue fee waived we can splurge there). We requested the guest to arrive @ 11:00am, as they enter we will have waiters poised with mimosas or lemonade and there will be cake pops to snack on (let them eat cake) and very upbeat music (think fun oldies/classics). Our wedding will be approx 60 people (our families are LARGE and we've only invited family and less than 10 friends) and we've asked them all to bring a framed photo of themselves as a couple (wedding pic if they are married) and have them set them about the room pre-ceremony. The groom and groomsmen will be welcoming everyone personally as they enter. It will be like a cocktail brunch atmosphere for the first 30 min. The idea is to have everyone comfortable and relaxed before they settle into their seats @ 11:30.

My wedding is at 11:30 with the reception over by 5. I think that the time of day doesn't matter. People are there to have fun. We also have a great DJ with an MC to be sure that people get up and party. Budget is of concern and that made the decision for us, but I still think that we will all have a great time.

We are actually having a Sunday lunchtime wedding with 100 people. Ceremony at 11 and reception we aren't sure of the start time yet. Because of us and our family there won't be much dancing so we are bring a laptop and playing music from that.People can dance if they want to but it's really going to be more background and slower music. We have also made the decision to not have alcohol. (There are a lot of reasons behind that) The ceremony is going to be outside. The reception is at the same place which looks like a log cabin bit a massive porch outside. There will be tables set up inside and outside since we are getting married at the end of May. That way people can be inside or outside. We will have little activities for kids like coloring and not sure what else yet. hmm...that's about as much as I can think of. Pretty much it's a day to just be with our families and celebrate.

If you want to have dancing though, go for it. I don't think it matters that it's in the afternoon.

I think it will be fine! ANd yea you can do an afterparty later.... heck my wedding is planned to end at 10 and im STILL doin an after party, lol

We had a 'lunchtime' wedding on a sunday.. it was just what worked best with our budget. it did not matter one bit...we had upligthing in our reception room so it gave people the 'night life' illusion and people danced and partied just like they would have at a 'dinner' wedding.

I'm considering a lunch wedding too, from what I hear (generally) it's cheaper than dinner weddings.

We are planning a lunchtime wedding. Our ceremony will be at 11 followed immediately by a luncheon. It is our hope that everyone comes causal so they can relax and enjoy lunch with us. Not sure on the dancing part. FH wants dancing (he is deaf so not sure how he knows the beat of the music) and I don't dance (2 left feet), but it is something we are still considering. My sister's FH has offered to do the music so we may still go for it.

Our saturday ceremony will be 11:30, cocktails 12-1, reception 1-5. it's going to be the first day of fall so the afternoon at an outdoor/indoor country club location just made more sense for light and warmth and omg they took off $25/head for the exact same package and even threw in a couple extras!! it's still going to be wonderful and include everything - and we can definitely have an after-party if we want to!

We did a lunch time wedding. Our ceremony was at 1, with lunch at 2pm. We informed our guests early.

It was great, but made getting ready in the morning more hectic than we wanted becaues of venue set up and stuff.

I'd say 11am is too early. It will take y0u at least 2 hours to get ready, not to mention last minute stuff to deal with- calling vendors, coordinating delivery of cake/flowers/whatever.

Move it to later in the day- like 1pm. Since most people like to sleep in Saturday anyway- they eat breakfast late, and are fine with a later lunch.

A lunch time wedding can be absolutely lovely, especially on a Sunday. You might even consider brunch. Did you happen to watch the wedding of Prince William and Kate? That took place at 11:00 a.m. and if anyone remembers when Charles and Diana wed, their morning ceremony was followed by a wedding breakfast.

Best wishes to you. Your wedding will be wonderful!

I do LOTS of brunch/lunch weddings. It will save on many things; apparel and flowers (usually less formal), food and drink too. Great idea.

Love the idea... This is becoming more and more popular!!

View Quoted Comment Im doing an afternoon wedding as well! I think going to the clubs would be so much fun to do after. I still want to dance!
I know that only a few will go though and I don't want to advertise to everyone, but I don't want anyone to feel left out