Your Wedding Reception Timeline

Your wedding reception timeline needs to be well thought out, simply because after a few drinks everyone will start to relax and time will run away! And you certainly don't want to be cutting the cake at midnight!

Below is an outline of my timeline which you can use as a guide. But first, some tips and advice for your wedding planning.

It's important to plan the wedding reception timeline well and make sure the wedding party are clear what their roles are, where they need to be when and what they need to do. Print it out and give it to all the members of the wedding party.

As bride and groom, it's your job to relax and enjoy the day; while your ushers and bridesmaids make sure your timelines are adhered to. You'll also need to let your suppliers know the timeline, so they too know where to be when.

The timeline very much depends on when you have your ceremony, mainly because everything flows on after this. The most important thing being the food, this is simply because food needs to be served hot if cooked and cold if a buffet – so the caterers will need to know when this should be served.

You should also consider the number of guests you have. More guests mean the process will be slower as you'll need to get them from one place to another. For example, getting the guests seated for the meal or in the right place for the cutting of the cake.

An invaluable resource is to have a toastmaster to direct people. For my wedding reception, my brother did the honours and he was brilliant, slick and smooth (in a good way!). My photographer commented on how easy it was to do her job as he was calling people at the right time. I suppose that's what happens when you spend your life shouting at people all day (he's an officer in the army).

Don't forget that people don't mind standing around chatting for a little while, but we all like to sit down after about 30 minutes standing. This is especially true for Great Aunt Maud, who is a little wobbly on her legs. So make sure you always have a seated area.

If there's going to be a long wait between arriving at the venue and dinner, then some nibbles will help guests' hunger and also their tipsiness. Some canapés will be welcomed while waiting for the bride and groom to arrive.

My Wedding Reception Timeline

2.30pm – Ceremony at the church.

3.15pm – Ceremony ends, photos at the church.

3.45pm – Ushers guide guests to the house for the reception. Bride and Groom go for photos alone (close to church).

4.00pm – Guests arrive at house and are served champagne or soft drinks.

4.15pm – Bride and Groom arrive at house for photos with family and guests.

4.45pm – Bride and Groom mill around with guests (rather than a formal receiving line).

5.45pm – Sit down for dinner. Once everyone is seated, Father of the Bride welcomes everyone.

6.00pm – Dinner is served. The wedding table are served or serve themselves, followed by the rest of the tables.

6.45pm – Main course dishes are cleared away. The desserts and cheese board are laid out. Wedding table are served or serve themselves. The rest of the tables follow.

7.15pm – All unwanted dishes and cutlery are cleared away.

7.30pm – All glasses are filled for the toast.

7.45pm - The wedding speeches start. Father of the Bride starts, then the Groom to thank everyone, then the Best Man.

8.30pm – Cutting of the cake. The bottom layer served as nibbles throughout the night.

9.00pm – First dance.

9.15pm – Party begins.

You can also choose to serve more food later in the evening, a cheese board, cold buffet, burgers or kebabs (you name it)!

We stayed until the end of our party, but some newly wedded couples choose to head off into the moonlight earlier, usually to catch their honeymoon flights!

Don't forget you may want to make time to throw your bouquet. This can be done when you leave or earlier in the day if you wish. Just fit it into the wedding reception timeline as you wish.

The final thought. These days, the wedding reception timeline can be fairly flexible to cater to different styles of wedding. Don't feel you have to follow a formal route, if it's not your style.

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