Late afternoon wedding and evening party - rude?

[MarriedAtLastLight]

Wondering about having a late wedding ?4pm onwards then hiring a big hall for buffet and ceilidh into the evening.

We have a small child who would be fine with this but if most kids go to bed at 7pm is this just going to create annoyed parents?

For context there may be a few guests travelling a long way and would obviously invite their kids.

I was thinking start the evening party nice and early, lots of food and maybe some kids entertainment early on?

Check the rules, but we got married at 3 as that was the latest the registry office would do for us on a Sat.
But that was quite a few years ago, and things might well have changed. We had a mid PM wedding, drinks and canapés while the photos were going on. Wedding breakfast at a normal meal time, and no separate evening invite list - so everyone was invited to the whole thing.

Thanks! I’m just worried that if some people have travelled a long way for the wedding they would feel a bit short changed if they had to go put their kids to bed at 7pm. Although I suppose many weddings start at 2pm so only missing a couple of hours anyway.
Plan would be keep ceremony short too.

We got married at 3.30 and it flowed nicely.People are before they came and we fed them at dinner time

ate

I don't know many people who would go and put their kids to bed at 7pm at a wedding. don't worry OP its your wedding so do what you'd like

Sounds perfect
This is what I wanted as I didn’t want a sit down reception. My church would have done a 4pm ceremony and then we wanted a party afterwards. Unfortunately I listened tiny mil who insisted a sit down meal.
It’s my biggest regret. I was bored at my own wedding so god knows how the guests felt!

Entertainment for the kids is a good idea 👍🏻

I'd let my son stay up. Sounds great.

We had a late wedding, it was great. I didn't want it dragging on all day.

Sounds great. People can choose to bring their kids and keep them up or sort for them to have a sitter for the night, in which case, less 'awake time' for the sitter is a positive.

A later wedding time sounds great to me.

I think you should do it exactly as it suits you, OP, assuming you can have a ceremony in your venue at 4. I was at a lovely wedding years ago which consisted of a 3 pm ceremony and a champagne afternoon tea in the orangerie of a little hotel across the street from the church, and we were all done by about 6. (Whereupon we went on a midly tiddled hike with the bride and groom, and then had a late dinner, but that part is optional!)

I did exactly this. Married at 4pm. Evening buffet meal and celidah.

Nobody grumbled.

It gave people time to get there as some people had a few hours drive so they only needed to pay for one night accommodation. Kids were allowed all evening. They were sleeping in prams and corners all over the place.
Saved us money by only one meal as well.

My sister in law left my brothers wedding at 7pm to put her child to bed. We were glad to see her go She wasn't the bride btw.

Ok I feel that this is doable now!

I think it all sounds lovely and fait play to you for even worrying about other parents. I hope you have an amazing day.

We did 2pm wedding, afternoon cream tea in the village hall opposite, then a 6pm dinner & ceilidh. Only one set of guests left early-ish to get their kids to bed at their usual time. The rest kept theirs up late. It worked really well for us and our guests, some of whom had travelled across Europe to attend (and we were so grateful for them for doing that!).

Definitely no problem, you accept when taking kids to a wedding that they'll stay up late or you find childcare. I wanted a later wedding, DH likes a party though!

Go to bed at 7? lol

Any kids 4 and under will fall asleep if they are tired in their buggy or pram (or on a couple of chairs at the back) and all the kids 5 and up will be totally hyper and still be going for hours. We took our dc of about 6 to a wedding and she was still dancing when DH and I were tired and wanted to go home at about 10.30.

Sounds ideal.

Nothing worse than a very drawn out day with lots of waiting around.

I think a lot of parents would be glad to only have to cover childcare for afternoon/evening rather than all day so it may be more popular than you think.

Perfect set-up, avoids it being a long drawn out day for anyone - children or adults.

Most people would let their kids stay up I would have thought.

Lovely. We had a winter registry wedding at 3, back to venue for mulled wine and cake and sit down meal at 8. It worked well.

Sounds fine but why do so many people now have Ceilidhs? I can't bear them and I find about 50% of guests can't either. We went to a wedding recently and stood outside chatting with some friends while the shouting and unpleasant folk music happened waiting for the 'disco' to start.
It never did. Shit wedding.

Got married at 3.

Dinner at 6pm followed by Disco and a few nibbles around 10pm.

Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones at 5pm. If it’s good enough for The Queen…