To have a 4pm wedding?

I got married at 6pm, so definitely think 4pm is good.

weddings don’t need to last hours and hours and hours to the point everyone is exhausted.

It also gives you time to do some of the photos before the ceremony.

I got married at 4, it was great and relaxed (and cheaper than paying for 2 lots of food!) Only negative was not getting many outdoor pictures and feeling a little rushed to mingle with your day guests as your night guests start arriving!
Been to a few 12.00 weddings its feels a very long and tiring day. Hard for childcare/ per care aswell for a full day (night before and after as well) there's always a 2 hour lull in the middle where nobody knows what to do, so you just drink and then everyone's too tired or too drunk to enjoy the rest of the day evening!
Just my opinion. Do what suits you, it'll be perfect no matter what the time!

Perfect time. People can easily have lunch beforehand, and the wedding breakfast is at a sensible evening meal time. No hanging about!

I'd always go 4pm, as a guest I hate early ceremonies, it's incredibly boring waiting around all afternoon.

We had ours at 3pm (latest the venue offered) and it was a good time, everyone was local anyway so could eat before they came and then we had tea at a normal time.

I had a hog roast too by the way and it went down a storm (with veggie and vegan option too) - honestly Autumn weddings are the best - also you get the lovely low golden sunshine.

That would be perfect, people can actually have a day and get ready and go. Weddings that start at 11 am often? End up quite boring towards the end, everyone is just a bit drunk or tired.

Our wedding was at 4pm, and we had a champagne afternoon tea afterwards (sandwiches, savouries, scones and cake) so a fairly substantial spread. It meant people had the morning to do their own thing, me too, and it worked very well.

Those 11am - noon weddings are too long a day!

But I'd advise against disposable cameras as you'll get almost nothing decent (lots of sideways and floor and ceiling shots) but just incur processing expense. I didn't have a professional photographer and just asked people to use their mobile phones and whatsapp me the results. We ended up with really fabulous photos and video clips!

I went to one of those. It turned out the happy couple went off to consummate the marriage while we were all killing time.

One of my DC had a 4pm wedding and it was great.

By the time the service was over, people had faffed around, chatted and caught up with others, taken a few formal pictures and then made their way to the reception venue it was just the right time for a drink and the odd canape leading into the wedding breakfast.

Like you they didn't want the "big album" photographer, just a few formals and then they set up a shared drive for guests to share informals if they wished.

I had a 4pm wedding in October and it was lovely. All day to get ready and an evening of food and drinks with friends

Yes I've heard horror stories from weddings like these. One where b&g vanished for about 3 hours to get some photos at a famous place, and left everyone with no food and unlimited alcohol. It descended into utter chaos and someone lost a small body part in an accident!!!!

I completely agree with the above. As a guest there can be so much hanging around and dead time, it's really tiring. At a recent wedding a lot of the bridal party who were staying at the venue disappeared for a couple of hours before the evening do leaving everyone else (mostly staying elsewhere and with taxis booked for later) in the bar.

I don't go to weddings like these any more. It began to feel abusive. One time there were only enough seats in the bar and lounge for about half the guests to sit down. We seemed to be expected to stand for three hours. Loads of people went home at that point and B+G were very put out.

Sounds great plus if people need to travel they may be able to get away with just one nights accommodation.

Sounds lovely op! The only potential issue is as it gets later the kids will get a little over tired and cranky but quite frankly that's not your problem 😂

Do it OP!

We got married at 5pm at the beginning of October and it was perfect!
Thankfully it was a lovely mild, sunny day. We left the church and went to our venue. People stood outside chatting and drinking, then we had the hog roast and straight in to the evening do - live band/disco.

It worked brilliantly and so many people said they preferred it to the ‘whole day’ event where there’s lots of awkward hanging around.

Perfect time IMO. Have the ceremony and any do afterwards can carry on until evening. Weddings are an awfully long day and having an earlier ceremony involves a lot of hanging about.

Yes it would cut costs and have benefits like others have said. Maybe look up when golden hour will be to see if you can still get some photos during that time.

I got married at 4pm in August and it worked really well for me, depends if you want photos outside or not as gets dark earlier. But all my guests were happy with this as I invited all the same people to the wedding and the sit down meal so no separate buffet later and the money I saved on that meant I could invite a few more people. Not as tiring for the elderly on kids and those with young kids can get back home in reasonable time.

Whatever you decide, I hope your day is as wonderful as mine.

We did a 4pm wedding. Had scones and drinks served after the wedding then a buffet for the reception. Was a significant saving not having the sit down wedding breakfast!

Do it! I would absolutely love to attend a 4pm wedding. So much less waiting around, time to have lunch beforehand, dinner not at a weird mid-afternoon time. What's not to love?

Sounds like heaven for a guest. It cuts out all the waiting around.

Sounds perfect to me. Loads of time to travel, get ready, have a decent lunch, ceremony at 4pm, reception with drinks/ snacks and then dinner at 7-ish. Far, far better than those all-day weddings, when you have to travel the night before and be present at the church or venue from 10.30 or so, then all afternoon hanging around making chitchat before the big evening do. Go for it, OP.

I am amazed at all of these reasonable responses! Not a singer bridezilla as yet popped up to tell us we should all be grateful to be graced with a 14 - 16 hour day most of which would be stood watching various poses and photos and starving half to death.

4pm sounds amazing! As pp have said no getting up at the crack of dawn and then it's nice food straight after the ceremony instead of everyone standing around getting hammered!
October weather can be hit and miss ive been to one where it was roasting but yes it will be dark earlier.
Is it child free or child friendly?