What time to have the ceremony?

We are getting married in November when the sun will set around 530. So we decided to have a 2pm wedding to allow for some outdoor photo opportunities. Hoping for a sunset pic with the hubs! Good luck with deciding on your time!

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I can't decide if I want the photos in the daytime or in the evening. My photographers take BEAUTIFUL photos, especially night ones, and I'm not sure what we would want. Although we could always step out in the evening for a photo if we decided to do earlier in the day.

My daughter is getting married November 8th. They way she decided the ceremony time was to decide if they wanted to do a first look or not. If they did a first look and pics before hand then the ceremony could have started later. If she didn't do a first look and wanted outside pics then she had to have the ceremony earlier. She decided to have the ceremony at 4 so they could enjoy the sunset for pics.

Besides considering when you want to take pictures, you should think about what you envision for your reception... how long it will be, when you want it to end, etc. Considering that there won’t be any need to factor in transportation time, I’d recommend planning reception times and working backwards.

I’m a sucker for the later more intimate ceremonies! Ours will be at 6pm. Although, we are having a destination wedding and want sunset beach photos.
If you think about it 4:40 isn’t late at all! You could do you’re ceremony at or around 4, get all you’re pictures after, then start you’re reception 5 or 6. I’ve been to numerous wedding that have started at 4!

This depends on if you do a first look or take most of your pictures before the ceremony. Pictures will take more than 2 hours so you have to factor that in your timeline. My wedding was December 23rd and our ceremony was at 3 p.m. with pictures beginning at 12:30. We did our first look at 1:30. Our ceremony was about an hour, with pictures afterwards in the church lasting about 45 minutes. We joined our guests for cocktail hour a little after 5 and it was already dark by then.

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Woah, two hours is a LONG time. We're not doing a first look. My photographers are a husband and wife team (one of the best in our state) and they've told us they spend no more than 30 minutes on portraits with everyone after the ceremony. So I'm not worried about that. (:

They're also documentary photographers so the only posed photos they take are the portraits after the ceremony with us, WP, and all our family members.

What time do you have to end the reception and be out of the venue? I'd work your timeline back from that time, including any time needed for clean up of the venue. If you have to be out by 10 pm, for example, and clean up has to occur, you'll want dancing to end by 9:30 or so. If want two hours for dancing, then dinner would need to end by 7:30 pm which means it needs to start by 6:30 to 6:45 pm. Earlier if you want to do the cake cutting/serving after dinner. Consider the time needed for toasts, cocktail hour and the length of the ceremony to arrive at the time your ceremony should start.

Whatever you do, don't have a lengthy gap. If you have the ceremony at say 3 pm, cocktail hour, dinner, and the reception needs to follow immediately. The reception will end a few hours earlier than the latest time you have the venue.

View Quoted Comment Sorry but 30 minutes is not enough time. I've been married twice now and both times the photographer needs about 2 hours to get all the shots. Make a list of all your "must have" pics and if you're like most couples you'll see this is a long list. There are the detail shots, getting ready shots with just you, then your bridal party, groom and groomsmen, details at the venue both for ceremony and reception. The portraits you're referring to are the standard family photos taken after the ceremony. As noted mine took about 45 minutes so yeah 30 minutes just for these photos is reasonable but NOT for all your photos. This also depends on how big your respective families are, how big your wedding party is and how many guests you are having. I didn't have any of my family there, so it was just DH's parents, brother and daughter. I had 3 BMs, 3 flower girls and a ring bearer. We had 40 guests.

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Thanks for this advice! I recently went to a wedding where there wasn't enough time for dancing and we were all a little disappointed. As I mentioned before, everything is in the same location, so guests will immediately leave the ceremony and enter the reception venue for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We technically have to be "out" by 11:30, and guests will need to be "out" by 10. Maybe I'll draft a "schedule" of sorts for everything and see how much time we need.

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Like I said, my photographers are documentary photographers, so they are constantly taking photos of all kinds throughout the entire day to actually capture the moment as it's really happening. "Getting ready" photos will be photos of us actually getting ready, not posed photos or anything like that. Portrait shots with family and wedding party will be the only posed photos. Hopefully that makes sense!

Thanks for your advice!

View Quoted Comment You're welcome! I agree with the advice starting at the end of the reception and working out the timeline in reverse. This helps too. Best wishes on your wedding!