When should our wedding ceremony start? Tips for a well-paced wedding day from an experienced wedding officiant | Photo by photo-nic.co.uk nic
There is a lot that goes into answering the question, “When should our wedding ceremony start?” For starters you should hire a wedding planner or wedding coordinator who will help you decide when your wedding day timeline. I’m going to recommend you start at 3:30 p.m., but read on to see all that goes into making the decision.
Work Backwards from Wedding Venue Curfew
If you’re not using a wedding planner, then you sort of need to work backwards to figure out what time you should schedule your wedding ceremony. By that I mean, does your wedding venue have a curfew? If so, you’ll want to decide from that point backwards. So, for example, how many hours of reception you want? Will you have a cocktail hour? Will you do formal photos after the ceremony? Does your photographer also want to do couples photos after the ceremony? Or will you do a first look?
The reason all these things matter is because they all take time (and probably more time than you think).
Latest Ceremony Start Time
Let’s say, you’ll be doing a first look and will have a one-hour cocktail hour and four hours of reception. That means, the latest your ceremony can start is 4 p.m. It would look like this:
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4:00-4:30 p.m. Ceremony
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4:45-5:45 p.m. Cocktail Hour
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6:00-10:00 p.m. Reception
Things to Think About before Scheduling the Ceremony
My advice for determining the start time of your wedding ceremony is to think about the following:
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How elaborate is your hair and makeup and how long will it take? Do you have attendants and will they also be getting hair and makeup done? [Talk to your hair stylist and makeup artist for this info]
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How relaxed do you want your wedding day morning to be? (The earlier the ceremony, the faster you’ll have to get ready)
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Do you want a longer cocktail hour so you and your sweetie can have a few moments of down time right after the ceremony?
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When does the sunset on your wedding day?
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Do you want natural light during your reception or are you ok if it’s already dark and your photographer has to use their flash?
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If there isn’t a curfew at your venue, how long do you want to dance the night away?
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How many “activities” do you have planned during the reception? The more things you plan, the longer it will take
My Advice
I strongly advice erring on the side of having your ceremony earlier rather than later. I say this for a few reasons.
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You’ll quickly run out of daylight if you start too late.
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Your reception flies by in the blink of an eye, so don’t make it too short.
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You want to have a well-paced wedding ceremony and don’t want it to feel rushed.
A good start time is 3:30 p.m. Schedule about 30 minutes for a nicely paced wedding ceremony, that’s the ideal ceremony length. This gives you plenty of room in your schedule for a bit of quiet time alone after the ceremony, an abundance of light for your couple’s photos, a relaxed cocktail hour, and plenty of time to celebrate with all your guests and dance the night away!
Oh, it’s going to be such a happy day, I almost can’t wait!
