To have a 4pm wedding?

[B2B25]

So looking to get married in October this year (quite short notice I know) our venue is available on the date we want but they only have 12pm or 4pm, WIBU to opt for the 4pm?

I'm thinking if we do 4pm we can then feed people at a typical tea time? It won't be a fancy wedding breakfast or anything like that, think hog roast/buffet.

Does this sound OK or will people be annoyed at having to wait around all day!?

Child friendly as there's far too many in our family

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 😂

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

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

Depends on:

• budget: 12 requires two sets of feeding, 4pm just one (plus cuts out Friday accommodation for those who must travel)
• stamina: 12 is a long day if includes an evening dancing etc. I got married at 11am and we finished at 1am and for me it didn't feel long enough!!

As a guest 4 pm sounds much better than 12.00.
Most weddings are far too long and if it isn't local an early start is a pain .
I would think that the only drawbacks for a ride would be prolonging the nerves and not having extra guests in the evening ( if you wanted such a thing).

We got married at 4pm and I've been to a couple of friends' weddings at 4pm or 5pm too. It worked well as people were travelling and could book into the hotel and get changed etc. It's also long enough after lunchtime that people have actually eaten lunch!

Ah, but if you don't (want to) have an evening do then it's great.
Guests can travel in the morning, do the wedding, leave at 6 and be home. No accommodation costs, no overnight childcare needed etc etc.

We got married at 4pm in November, we had photos beforehand.

It was only a short register office ceremony and then went on to a nearby boutique hotel.

We had canapés and then an informal hot buffet later on. We didn't have a huge guest list so it meant we could invite everyone to all.

People said how lovely it was, we really didn't want a formal sit down meal and a long day for people!