Determining the Ideal Timing for Your Wedding Day
The start time for your wedding ceremony may well be set in stone by your church. If they only do ceremonies on 1pm on Saturdays, then a 1pm ceremony it is. Knowing that, you will have to find a reception venue that can host your reception at a reasonably close time to the end of the ceremony. A typical marriage ceremony at a church runs for about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, there will usually be a receiving line outside and people may hang around and chat outside the church for a few minutes. The newlyweds and bridal party will also have pictures done at this point.
Long gaps between the ceremony and reception are often caused by extended photo sessions. A good way to prevent that issue is by doing a lot of the wedding pictures before the start of the ceremony. Some couples like to do a “first look”, where the bride and groom can get together to take some photographs before their ceremony. If you do not want your groom to see you before the ceremony, you can still do all of the formal pictures with your bridesmaids and immediate family to get those out of the way. That will limit the time you need to do pictures following the ceremony so you can keep the day moving forward on schedule. Besides, it is nice to get some pictures when you have just gotten into your bridal gown and elegant wedding jewelry while your hair and makeup are freshly done.
Cocktail hours typically last for 45 minutes to an hour. Anything less than that feels rushed, but if it runs too much longer, people drink too much. After about an hour, people are definitely ready to move on to the main part of the reception. Everyone moves into the dining room, and the bride and groom make their grand entrance. A lot of newlyweds will do their first dance immediately upon entering the room and being announced, while others will wait until after dinner to do the spotlight dances. You will need to decide if you will open the floor up to general dancing if you do your first dance in the beginning of the reception or move from there directly to the meal. People do not like to be kept waiting too long for dinner, so limit how long those pre-meal dances last.
The total length of your reception will be anywhere from three to six hours, depending on whether you serve a full meal or not, if there is dancing, and if you have a late night snack or Viennese hour. When you schedule your day well, your wedding will flow seamlessly from one part to the next, and everyone will have a fantastic time!
Filed under Wedding Jewelry, Wedding Planning | Tags: Wedding Day, Wedding Jewelry, Wedding Planning, wedding timeline | Comment (0)Charitable Weddings
I recently watched a new show called “Wedding Day” that had an interesting new premise. A team of talented wedding planners get together to throw an amazing dream wedding for a deserving couple who could not otherwise have one. This got me to thinking, it doesn’t require the magic of television to make someone’s dream come true. The friends and family of a worthy couple could get together and throw their own charitable wedding as a surprise gift to their loved ones.
First of all, everyone on the wedding planning team would pitch in their services. If the groom’s mom is a fantastic cook, maybe she could handle the catering, with some extra help from a few sets of willing hands. Maybe the bride’s aunt is a talented baker. Great! She can contribute the wedding cake. Almost anyone who is handy with a computer can design and print lovely low cost wedding invitations to spread the good news.
Of course, not everything can be handmade by a family member. For the items that will need to be purchased, one idea could be to gift it to the bride or groom in lieu of a wedding or shower present. For instance, the maid of honor could take the bride shopping to look at sets of bridal jewelry. When the pieces are made from gems like freshwater pearls or Swarovski crystals, the bridal jewelry sets can be found for no more than the cost of any other wedding gift, and jewelry makes a wonderful keepsake for the bride even after the wedding. Perhaps the bride’s parents or grandmother might decide to gift her a bridal gown, if there is not a talented seamstress available in the family.
As you are planning a charitable wedding, you are likely to find that most people who work in the wedding industry are romantics at heart. If you share the special story of the bride and groom who you have decided to help, you just might find that some vendors can be a little more flexible on their rates or might throw in some extras for no additional cost. Promising them a big thanks in the wedding programs might be a good incentive; every company loves good publicity. And surely there could be no more heartfelt wedding than one that has been lovingly assembled by the bride and groom’s dearest friends and family.
Filed under Bridal Jewelry, Uncategorized, Wedding Planning | Tags: bridal jewelry sets, television, Wedding Day, wedding gift, Wedding Planning | Comment (0)
