Can I put a finish time????

We are getting married in sept and i'm trying to organise invites etc...

We have booked the venue for 5 hours (including the 30min cermony) as it is a ****tail wedding for only about 40people at a hotel - cermemony, photos and reception all in the one spot.

We get charged if our guests are still occupying the area after 9.30pm.
Can I put on the invite something along the lines of... "
"cermeony 3pm followed by a ****tails on the terrance until 9.30pm" (I haven't owrked out all the wording yet....)

I'll get the DJ to pack up at 9pm so it starts to wind things down.
Alternatively... should i word up the wedding party to make sure all the guests have left the area by 9.30pm (they are welcome to go to another bar in the hotel where we aren't charged for the extra time)

if you're going to word something to say an end time (which IMO is perfectly fine) - i'd put it earlier - so say that you have the area til 9pm only - gives you half an hour to shuffle the stragglers out

you don't really want to say "right, it's 9.25 - EVERYBODY OUT!!"

i think its fine to have an end time.. if it were me, id prefer to know that i have to leave.. rather than an unexpected 'everyone out' type thing.

people cant just assume they can stay all night, if you've booked it till a certain time, then thats that! let people know they can go to a different bar within the hotel though.

You could always say...

Reception from 5 - 9 pm, followed by drinks in the bar from 9 until late

or something similar, so they realise there is a time limit on the reception venue. Obviously you don't want to have to pay for all the drinks in the bar either, so you will have to reword that a bit...

Hope you enjoy the day!

I like oscars idea. Most people start leaving once the band/dj wraps up anyway. But if you have your mum, or mil in charge of directing people into the bar afterwards, that should be perfectly fine!

maybe

reception 5-9pm on the terrace. then join us as we kick on and celebrate in the bar

i think thats perfect BG!

BG that's perfect, especially if the band packs up around 9.