Wedding Reception Timeline In 9 Easy Steps

Congratulations on your wedding! Now it is time to plan. Planning the wedding ceremony and reception could be a little confusing. But no worries, we are here to make it as easy as possible for you.

The wedding ceremony has so many components, it is hard to keep up. By the time you get to planning you wedding reception you are probably exhausted. So that is why we’ve made a wedding reception timeline for you.

In this blog post we will provide a classic wedding reception timeline. We will have the main things that need to be done during your wedding reception. We will also provide how much time should be given to each part.

Why Have a Wedding Reception Timeline?

The reason why you want have a ready reception timeline is because venues have a certain cut off times. Unless you have a backyard party, the venues has certain times when things stop.

For example, they have a time when alcohol needs to be cut off. They have a time where the music needs to be cut off etc.

Is sometimes they have a time with the catering companies and vendors need to leave the venue.

That is the first thing you need to consider when building your wedding reception timeline.

So you really need to determine how long you want your Dance party to be and from there you could determine the times for everything else.

How long is a Wedding Reception?

A wedding reception takes about 4-5 hours to get through. But You won’t notice because you will be so busy with the activities and jamming on the dance floor.

Wedding Reception Timeline in 9 Steps

Here is everything you will need for your wedding reception step by step. We will start with what happens right after the ceremony to when you exit to go on your honeymoon.

1. Cocktail Hour (30 mins – 1 hour)

Feeding people is the best thing you could do after the wedding ceremony. So you could use the cocktail hour for your guests to snack on a little something.

Especially if the wedding ceremony was longer than usual. The cocktail hour will definitely keep your guests energized for the rest of the reception.

You do not need to have alcoholic beverages for the cocktail hour. But the idea is a popular favorite. If you do not want alcohol, you could have some hors d’oeuvres, tea and coffee etc.

Use the cocktail hour as your buffer time. It is Flexible time to use as you would like.You could cut it short or extended a little longer.

This is also the time where you can check with your caterer to see if dinner is ready. Once dinner is ready, you could move on to the grand entrance.

2. Grand Entrance (5 mins)

This is the part when you make your first entrance as a married couple.This is also chance introduce your wedding party. There’s usually upbeat music and the notion that the reception has officially started. This part doesn’t take very long and it leads right into the special dances.

3. Special Dances (10-25 mins)

Special dances come immediately after the grand entrance. It keeps the party flowing and make sure these special moment take place in the very beginning of the wedding reception.

This is important if your photographer has a timeline they have to commit to. Then you will have these pictures taken of the special dances.

First Dance

Get the first dance done right after your grand entrance. You don’t have to wait. Let this be the first moment of the reception. It could be as long as you like.

But if you are nit much of a dancer, this part does not have to take a long time. You could dance for a few moments (60 seconds) then have the song fade out. Then moved to the next dance out.

Mother Son Dance

The same goes for the mother son dance. They could dance for as long as they like, as long as they are on the dance floor long enough to get pictures. See some awesome mother and son dance songs HERE.

Father Daughter Dance

The father of the bride also pays for the wedding (in tradition). Make sure the song and dance is special for your old man.

4. Dinner (45 mins to and 1.5 Hours)

The time limit for the dinner depends on the number of guests.Determine if you want to do buffet style or Private dinner.

Sit Down Dinner

It will take sometimeIf you decide private dinnerBecauseThere are several courses of the meal that has to come out. A sit down dinner may take close to an hour to hour and a half.

Buffet Style Dinner

For a buffet style dinner you just get everybody together and they get in line. Then once every one has moved to the buffet line. They are often called up by table. This should take about 45 minutes.

And once everybody has eaten or is almost finished, then you can get into speeches.

5. Toast and Speeches (45 mins)

The toast takes place during dinner. The best man usually makes the toast. Raise your glass and celebrate. Cheers!

Think about how many people you want to speak and determine if there should be a time. For example, if the father of the bride wants to speak and it takes about 30 minutes (it’s his time to shine), make sure that the following or previous speeches are short and sweet.

A way you could get an idea of how long people want to speak for is by asking at the wedding rehearsal. At the wedding rehearsal Ask people if they want to speak at your wedding and for Approximately how long.

6. Dance party (2- 2.5 Hours)

Let get moving. Time to dance and enjoy all of the festivities of the wedding. During this time there may be several things going on. We will go through all of the parts that may be included in the dance party section of the wedding reception.

Bouquet Toss

AHHH! we love this part. This is when the bride does a tosses her bouquet in a crowd of enthusiastic single ladies. There is a myth that the women that catches the bouquet will get married in the near future.

Garter Toss

This is the grooms version of the bouquet toss. The groom often does an sensual dance to get the garter off of the bride and then throws it on to an enthusiastic group of men waiting to find the one.

Activities

There are a number of activities taking place during the dance party. Please make sure that your guests know what is going on so that they could take part and not miss anything.

Photo Booth

This a very useful activity and something you could totally DIY. It is worry free because people could have their pictures emailed, printed or pasted right to their social media.

Most of the time the photo booth in tucked away in the back corner so you want to make sure that your guest know that it is there so that they could use it.

Games

This is a great time to play some funny games like the Newlywed Game. Or you could the infamous Wedding Reception Shoe Game. This part is totally optional of course and depends on the amount of time you are working with.

7. Cake Cutting (45 mins)

The bride and the groom cut the cake and share their first cake together. Then the cake is served to the guests.

8. Send Off

This is also optional. But if you are planning an exit, you would want to hire your photographer for the entire wedding. You would what photos of this incredible moment because it looks beautiful.

The exit is typically when the guests line up in two line forming an aisle. They’re of the holding sparklers and they watch the bride and the groom drive off into the night in their wedded bliss.

9. The thing that keeps your Wedding Reception Timeline flowing is…

The MC. We love MCs because they make things so easy. And they make the wedding reception is so much better.

They create the flow of your reception. And when you are on a tight timeline. They will be the one to get people on stage, off the stage, to dinner, help with directions, Inform people of the activities etc.

Sometimes the DJ offers MC services you may want to ask. And you want to give them a visible timeline of whenYou want things to happen.

Conclusion

We hope this ultimate wedding reception timeline help youGather your thoughts and ideas for your wedding reception.

What you include in your wedding reception timeline clearly depends on the amount of time you have to work with.

So take that as the bottom line and pick things that would make your heart sing and be filled with joy.

Once again, congratulations on your wedding. Happy Planning!

This article was all about creating a wedding reception timeline.