10.30pm too early for a wedding reception to finish?

[mumzy]

Hi guys,

We are planning a wedding for a Sunday but where we want it we have to vacate by 11pm so that means a 10.30pm finish time.

Is that too early?

Many of our guest will have kids and I am not sure if the following day is a public holiday or not yet.

We could start early I guess, so still the same amount of time eating, drinking and dancing.

What do you guys think? How can I make this into a poll?

[feeb]

Ours finished at 1030pm and was not an issue at all, a few actually commented that it was good as they could get home to baby sitters or just home at reasonable time.

Our wedding was a long way from our house so also from many of our guests so some were staying in hotels and they also said it was good.

[Laranna]

We were supposed to be finished by 11:30, but some guests with young children started to leave about 10:30 and that started the ball rolling for others to leave so we wound it up just before 11 otherwise DH & I would have been the last ones standing (I always thought you weren't supposed to leave before the bride and groom!). Our reception started at 5:30 with the pre-dinner drinks and dinner was over by 8:30ish so there was still plenty of time left for dancing etc.

[mumzy]

WOW I am surprised with the positive responses

I was really worried it would be an issue.

Once you have kids 10pm is late anyway
So 10.30pm might be perfect as a finish time especially for those with babysitters....didn't think of that.

[Trillian]

We went to a wedding years ago that started at 7 and finished at 11 and they were literally taking drinks out of your hands to get you out of there and turning the lights up etc. It was quite rude the way it was done so that kinda turned us off and we don't have great memories of that wedding because of it kwim? BUT I think if you made it clear that there will be a finishing time your guests will know what to expect and also those that want to party on can make their own arrangements etc because at the time we had no idea what was going on and it felt odd.

[visitor1]

Ours finished at 1030....but DH and i left at 10

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

I don't really know what time ours finished - we were outta there by 9:30!

[mumzy]

Yeah I would definitly let everyone know on the invites of the end time for other arrangments, like babysitters or transport to another place.


I plan to do the bride and groom go early too, so I guess that would be about 10pm

[NaeNae]

Mine also finished at 10.30 and was a Sunday wedding.

Our guests appreciated the fact that it was early so they didn't feel bad about leaving early as even for those that had to travel they were still home at a decent hour.

FWIW - you don't need to specify an end time on the invites the way the evening pans out things just happen to end. We did our "leaving thing" at 10.20pm but the cab was late so we sat and hid in a special room all our guests were gone by 10.50 and the venue was fine with that.

Nae x

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I had a Saturday wedding and I left at 10-30-11ish on mine. People partied on until the small hours.

A friend of mine put a finishing time on her invites. We left her wedding before 11pm anyway due to babysitters. But she finished hers earlier at 11.30 because it was winding down anyway by then.

[BrightSparkles]

Ours is a friday wedding and out reception is finishing at 9pm so people can o or head to the other bar if they want to keep drink...but we'll be outta there

[*Ali*]

We also had a sunday wedding and it finished up at 10:30, all of our guests that wanted to party on headed to a bar at the hotel we were staying at. We went down for few drinks, but I was pretty exhausted by then so we didnt hang around.
We did start our pre- dinner drinks at 5:30, so really by 10:30 it had been a pretty long day.

[mumzy]

THANKS EVERYONE

For all your input

If having a 10.30pm finish how would the rest of the days timing be?
Ceremony and reception probably will be in same place.

1pm Ceremony
2pm approx finish
2.30-4pm photos with canapes for quest while gone
4.30pm Reception start
10.30pm finish

Does that sound normal?

What would be the 4.30 to 10.30pm reception schedule of speeches, food, cake etc

[feeb]

Ours was: (all same place)

1530 ceremony on invites (I arrived 1600 as always planned)

1630 ceremony complete

1645 start of photos (photos all in grounds of venue, DH and I did go for short horse and carriage ride together also)

1715 start of canapes and drinks

1800 photos finished

1815 guests seated

1830 bridal party seated

1840 entree served

1920 mains served

2000 speeches (my dad, FIL, DH and I, best man, matron of honour)

2030 first dance and cutting of cake

music and dancing till 2130

2130 desert

2140 music and dancing

2215 good byes

these are approxamite times that we had. The function co ordinator and venue were very good and running to schedule we had meeting with her a week before to discuss what would happen where and when)

[danniellabella]

We left ours at about 9pm because we were tired and had an early flight the next day. Also, our wedding was on a Wednesday (Australia Day) and everyone had to go to work the next day. I think most people had left by 9:30-10:00pm

[DoubleK]

the last wedding i went to started at 12 and we were gone by 5pm

a friends wedding was at 4pm (well, 4.30, but on invitation was 4 so no one was late!) and i think we left around 10pm.

i dont think it matters what time it finishes, as long as guests have warning, rather than 'this is the last song' then they flick the lights on kinda thing!

[mumzy]

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE.

That really helped

[Liz]

Yeah, we were outta there by about 9/9.30 I think. And the MC gave us a grand exit which kinda wrapped up the night, if that makes sense. Well, I shouldn't say a grand exit, everyone was asked to make a tunnel? (you know.. standing across from each other holding hands up together) and we walked through saying goodbye to everyone. But it did kind of conclude the night (or so I would assume.. we weren't there to know how it really ended LOL).