Considering cutting my reception by 1 hr - Advice & feedback needed please

[mermaidbride1108]

Since we are expecting a small wedding now with at least 5 children, I started to consider cutting the reception by 1 hr. so Cocktails at 6pm, Reception from 7-10p

What do you think? I still want to do the First Dance, Father Dance, Mom Dance, Cake Cutting, & Bouquet toss.
Not sure about garter because it just seems weird with just family.

Will this be enough time or will we feel rushed?

It's going to be a long day for everyone, especially the me, bridesmaid, & the kids. They may just pass out and not last until 11p.

Plus, tank light shut off at 10p

What do you think?

Also, anyone cut their cocktail hr? I mean mostly everyone will be taking pics with us I'm thinking. Most Philly weddings have a HUGE break in between Ceremony & Cocktail like a couple hours sometimes.

Here's a timeline I'm thinking:

5pm-5:30pm Ceremony
5:30-6:30pm Pictures
6:30-7:00pm Traveling I'm thinking???
7:00-10p Reception

What do you guys think? I'm worried everyone will just be tired anyway and want to get early for the parks the next day. If more people decide to come, I'll keep Cocktail, but if it's just family & bridal party, should I still keep it?

 

[Mary626]

Does it cost a lot more to have the fourth hour? You might decide to reserve the room for 4 hours, but cut out the drinks and the videography/photography, to cut down costs. That way, you can stay if you want to but you can have all the "events" (dances, bouquet tosses, etc.) be finished by the third hour. This is pretty much what we did. We didn't feel rushed, but everyone left before the final fourth hour anyway. I was glad we didn't absolutely have to leave before the fourth hour, I think it would have felt too rushed - even though everyone left anyway, it was nice being able to take our time. HTH

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Good point about having the extra hour there so we don't feel rushed

 

[disneygal922]

I think you'll be fine if you end at 10. I agree, most people will be exhausted and want to get some sleep. Our reception is only going to be 3 hours with a 1 hour cocktail hour... so 4 hours total. I think it will be fine!
However, Mary has a good point, if it is not an extra charge maybe you can still have the room and end photography, videography, the bar, etc at 10 but still be able to hang out and do what you want until everyone is done! it's an option.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Videography - there is no time limit so no real money to save there.

I'm thinking cut the bar and not extend Randy's time to what I was thinking. I'm thinking extend to only 1 extra hr instead of two.

However, I might save on transportation cost since I'm having an in-park wedding. One less hr to pay for and I'm thinking our guests kinda can't dwindle out like that can at regular weddings so they would be forced to stay till 11pm anyway if we have it that late.

What do you think?

 

[lurkyloo]

I say cut it. Ours was only 3 hours, and it felt perfect. We did first dances, toasts, cake-cutting, etc. and still had plenty of time to eat and chat with everyone. I dunno about you, but I always spend the last 2 hours of wedding receptions wondering when they're gonna cut the cake anyway!

I would have cut the cocktail hour too if I'd thought of it - like your group, ours all stayed together for pix after the ceremony (and the groom and I had taken pix together before the ceremony), so we didn't need a cocktail hour the way you do if you have to entertain guests while just some of you take pictures.

 

[figmentfan814]

On the flip side of what Carrie mentioned, I wish we would have added the extra hour to our reception. We cut it down to 3 and I felt really rushed. Now this is for several reasons:
1. Kris and I didn't see each other before the ceremony, so we needed the time afterwards for pictures together.
2. Because of this we ended up doing pictures with our guests at our reception which is the number one reason I felt like we were rushed at the end.
3. If you're going to do shots with your guests or anything past the bride/groom, father, mother dances you might be a little rushed.

Also, they started running our bus about 30 minutes before the reception ended at LSS, so guests had the option to leave a little early if they wanted.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Vanessa - didn't know they started to run buses a half hour before, does that mean you waited until the buses came back? How did that work?

 

[figmentfan814]

We had two buses to accomodate our entire group, so they allowed one to leave earlier for people that had flights to catch, etc. So, if you need more than one bus or limo, etc. they let us adjust accordingly

 

[caryndisneydiva]

i cut mine and was very happy that i did so. i had a brunch reception and a 10:30am ceremony. i think after awhile people were wedding'd out and wanted to hit the parks.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

i cut mine and was very happy that i did so. i had a brunch reception and a 10:30am ceremony. i think after awhile people were wedding'd out and wanted to hit the parks.

Caryn, did your transportation work out that you & guests left when the reception was over?

Vanessa, thanks for explaining more! But we aren't having two buses for such a small group. One is enough. I'm thinking the one bus leaves at a set time when the reception is over right? So people will have to wait for the bus to leave to leave the reception, am I right?

 

[lurkyloo]

It may be different for in-park receptions, but at ours the bus left every hour, on the hour throughout the whole reception in case anyone needed to leave. Our pastor took advantage of this to catch his flight.

Also, cutting an hour off your reception may not change the cost of your bus, since there's a 5-hour minimum for charters. But I still think it's a good idea!

 

[PrettyPeony]

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[PrettyPeony]

It may be different for in-park receptions, but at ours the bus left every hour, on the hour throughout the whole reception in case anyone needed to leave. Our pastor took advantage of this to catch his flight.

Also, cutting an hour off your reception may not change the cost of your bus, since there's a 5-hour minimum for charters. But I still think it's a good idea!

You are right, LIKE ALWAYS ~ I am having my reception at LSS and while we are a big dancing crowd (so I will be using the whole 5 hours) I had to book transportation for a 5 hour block... regardless. This includes a bus that will come each hour to transport guests out of the park if they wish to leave early.

What would be the savings of cutting it short? Do you get an hourly credit from the room rental or anything like that? If you aren't saving much money I would leave it to 4 hours and then just cut it short if you feel people are leaving early... they don't need to know if the party was going to end at 10 or 11! Just a thought!

 

[figmentfan814]

Lurkyloo is right on with the bus minimum. We still had time left after our reception on the transportation and ended up taking our bridal party over to the GF for pictures on the beach

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Good points everyone! I'll plan to discuss it during my PS and let you know how it turns out.