May 13, 2018
How much time should I plan for my wedding reception?
Nadin Dunnigan is a successful wedding photographer in Scotland and is keen to provide information to brides and grooms which helps them plan their wedding day.
The wedding reception is the time between the end of the ceremony and the call for dinner.
Many couples plan their wedding day and look at the schedule that is provided by their venue. Most venues have a great understanding about wedding day planning, but you should also take into consideration the length of your ceremony and when it is likely to end.
Civil ceremonies can be as short as 7 minutes. The longest ceremony Nadin has photographed was a humanist ceremony which took over 70 minutes. This included ring warming, two readings, a personal piece of music, the Celtic hand-fasting and the quaich.
Ask your celebrant how long the ceremony is likely to take so you can plan for your reception. Weddings with lots of time for chat and catching up with friends and family had a reception time of at least two hours. With a two-hour reception, you - the couple - will have the chance to actually speak to your guests too. The two things to ask your venue:
The call for dinner is the time the staff will ask your guests to make their way to the room where dinner will be served. This might be 4 PM. Dinner is likely to be served around 5 PM - after everyone is seated, orders have been taken, drinks have been poured and the speeches are completed.
Let your photographer know the time for call for dinner, so they know the plan for the day. When people are being called for dinner, the photographer still has 15 minutes for the romantic photographs - until everyone is seated.
Speak to your photographer beforehand how much time they require for both family groups and romantic photographs.
Nadin spends no more than 25 mins with the couple away from the reception for romantic photographs. She spend no longer than fifteen minutes on group photography.
Why does it matter to have a longer reception time?
Many couples worry that their guests are getting bored while you have your photos taken. You might even consider having some sort of wedding entertainment, such as a magician, or a caricaturist. Whilst these things are fun, the last thing you should worry about is your guests being bored. They will have travelled to the venue, then they sat down during the ceremony, and now they can actually look and see who is at the wedding and start having a chat with people. Just allow your guests to have a drink, to enjoy the canapés, and have a chat without being ushered from one corner of the venue to the next within 30 minutes of leaving the ceremony.
Have plenty of drinks available for your guests and canapés and everyone will be happy and you can enjoy speaking to your guests too.