To have a 4pm wedding?

4pm sounds perfect, most weddings are too long, enjoy the day

I had a 4pm wedding and it was perfect. I didn’t piss about with daft photos so after 20 mins of pics we arrived a bit after the guests who all had drinks, quick set of speeches and dinner was served by 5.45.

No one was stupidly drunk or tired from an early start and it was lovely and lively. I would love a 4pm wedding as a guest too.

We got married at 3.30pm, it was brilliant and made for quite a relaxed event.
ceremony, then we had drinks in the bar area along with speeches. 6pm we had the food (hot buffet) then the band/disco.

I got married at noon. All fine and dusted by 6pm so everyone could get home without accommodation costs.

Ps October is 10 months, not short notice at all!

Sounds great! I’m still recovering from my cousin’s wedding last year that was at 2pm. We were all there from 1pm for mingling/drinks/canapes. By 10pm when the dancing was only just starting in earnest, I was dead on my feet and practically in tears wanting to go home.

In the US this would be a standard time or even later. Typically weddings are late afternoon evening; you get married have a cocktail hour then food and disco. There isn’t two meals like most UK weddings.

Only down side is if you are invited to the wedding it’s the whole thing, there isn’t normally a split guest list due to this.

I like both types of weddings, the more US style tend to be faster paced and can feel classier due to the cocktail hour (people tend to wear more black tie outfits). But the UK earlier time tends to feel more family oriented.

Just tends what vibe of a wedding you are after OP

I'd love all weddings to be 4pm, then I don't have to spend the entire day small talking with people I don't like while I'm starving hungry.

I'd love it. Much better than earlier.

I agree with others. I’d love a 4pm wedding. In my 30s when I was going to weddings almost every weekend, it was always quite a pain getting up early, getting ready, maybe travelling long distance etc to be at a church for 11am. Everyone started drinking after the ceremony, hours of hanging around and more drinking, by the time the evening disco started I would often sneak away because I was worn out! A 4pm wedding would be perfect - lazy morning, pleasant afternoon, and still awake enough to enjoy the evening.

Only reason not to would be photos - but work with a photographer who does lovely indoor shots, or come up with a solution e.g. 'first look' photos with your groom and the family before the ceremony so you get those essential shots in daylight.

Go for 4 but see if you can get photos done beforehand. Went to a wedding where they did this and it worked so well - all at one venue, we all relaxed with drinks and the photographer called different groups outside for photos. Then we could all relax afterwards.
It's a much better time for anyone travelling too.

We are getting married at 4pm In June. I'm walking to the church (10 minutes) so once we have finished photos with guests they can walk back to ours for canopies and drinks. Then evening hog roast/buffet at 6. No speeches apart from thanks for coming type. Then 7.30 onwards so low music and socialising. My MIL is a professional baker so will have her famous cakes around 7.30.

We are only having 30 people mind.

Hoping everyone decides to leave by 10 😂😂😂

Waiting around?
There's no waiting around. It'll just be a late afternoon event. It's not like they have to be at the venue at 8am regardless

Sounds great to me

I think that sounds lovely!

Your guests will be delighted. No hanging about unfed for half the day, it sounds blissful.

We did in November. It was lovely coming out in the dark.

We got married at 4pm in December. Our photographer came with loads of lights to do outdoor photos and they were brilliant. (We had a full moon which also helped!). I love our outdoor photos in the dark, with just us lit!
We didn't have a formal sit down meal, we just had canapes straight after the ceremony, and then did speeches and cut the cake and then moved straight to the evening do where we had a hog roast.

Your wedding sounds wonderful @Wildwalksinjanuary .

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.

For the bride and groom and for close family members I understand the desire to make the day as long as possible but if you're a guest and you're on your third hour of listening to an account of Uncle Bertie's hip operation and why Cousin Sandra refuses to shop at Asda it's a bit exhausting.

I would much prefer a 4pm start as a guest. more time to get ready before, especially for guests needing to travel, they may not need to stay over the night before. I dislike weddings with a 12pm start because I know it's going to be a long day with loads of hanging around.

I do find the extended photography time just awful as a guest. Some bridal couples take hours, and the guests are just stood around drinking tepid Pimm’s and it’s such a low point of the day that sometimes doesn’t recover. The dinner and speeches go on for hours and you can see the energy visibly draining from the guests!! They should not be an endurance but often that is the lasting impression!

4pm sounds fine to me as long as the wedding’s in late spring/summer. It could be rather cold and dark otherwise.

Going against the grain here but I got married in November at 2pm and wished I'd had the ceremony earlier. I'd do the 12 if I were you - although that is dependent on whether people have a long way to travel/will be staying the night before.

Our photographer was so manic about the light fading that we had to have loads of intense photos straight after the ceremony, and we also got caught in the rain which ruined my hair 🙈- a hazard of an autumn wedding! We missed all of the drinks and canapees.

By the time you factor in the usual lateness of everything...the ceremony likely being a bit late, the food taking a while to come out....I feel like I missed most of the day tbh. Didn't feel like I was free to actually speak properly to any guests until about 8.30pm and then the wedding finished a couple of hours later.

I think at 4.00, you'd be looking at food at 6.30ish earliest which will then eat into your evening quite a bit as you wouldn't be finished the meal and speeches etc until probably 8?

Every wedding is different of course but if I'd had mine at 4pm we wouldn't have been back in for the evening until about 9pm 😳And that was just with lateness of the ceremony and slow food service.

But you got married after the clocks had gone back - it makes a massive difference in October if you get married before the end of the month. I got married in the first week of October at 4pm and it was lovely golden sunshine until about 7pm.

I got married at 4pm in October (married the wrong man but that's a different story!) and it was brilliant. No one had to get up early, people had time to travel - there was no 'dead' time - we got married, had a 15-minute champagne reception (and photo time) then straight to the wedding breakfast. If I were to do it all over again (with a different man!) I would get married at 4pm again.

As a guest, definitely 4pm. Do your couple photos at 3pm, maybe, so you get better light, and don't disappear off after the ceremony for an hour.