Recipe for wedding boredom or could be chilled fun?

[Loudandclear]

Looking to book a very chill wedding next summer with about 80 guests.
Ceremony would be 12 noon in town hall then a ten minute walk to a bar with outdoor garden - buffet style/maybe pizza something like that, no table plans, no formal photos or long speeches.
Would put out some garden games, one or two bands.
The outdoor area is nice, not massive but enough room for everyone outside if the weather is nice. Inside would maybe feel a bit small perhaps for all guests to be seated inside for the entire thing.
But between 1ish at the reception and midnight do we risk it being very boring? We are kind of relying on groups of our friends just having a good old catch up as in reality each group of friends only meet perhaps once a year and we could sit at a pub for hours catching up when that happens!
Just really not fancying anything super formal, and the only other ceremonies are much later and we have young kids to think of and don't want it to be dark before we know it!

If you’re worried about cost op and open to a different time of year, i had my wedding in November and it meant i got the venue and the photographer at a bit of a discounted ‘off peak’ rate.

I once went to a wedding like this and was bored witless after a couple of hours. Ran out of chat with people I didn’t know well, no idea what was happening/if anything was happening next. We just sat and sat and sat for hours on end.

How much would it be to lay on a couple of coaches to take everyone to a different venue? Do a return coach at the end of the night to take everyone back to the town centre. Some people would still be happy to drive themselves/get a taxi

Remember this is mumsnet where u do get an awful lot of people who are pretty introvert! I include myself in that. What do your friends think if you ask them to be honest?
rethink speeches maybe, I like having a second natural break to all the chat and a bit of entertainment!
and keep flinging food at people.

Actually looking back on your plan it sounds lovely. It’s got to work for you and the kids! Realistically will u be leaving at 10ish or will someone be taking the kids home and u staying on?
think 1.30pm buffet, drinks
530 more food (can everyone sit to eat?)

I would do 4pm and then be at venue for 5pm - you certainly don’t need 10 hours at the venue. I don’t have experience of lunch time weddings, most weddings I’ve been to are ceremony 4-5 pm, reception 5-6 dinner and dancing together until about 11 with no separate evening guests

We had very similar for our wedding and in all honesty, I wish we had gone down the traditional route! Early afternoon became quite flat and people started to drift off around 5ish. We did hire outdoor games for the children which was a huge hit and I highly recommend - we had a bouncy castle, ball pit, large connect 4 etc.. they would have been so bored otherwise.
I would choose the 4 o’clock ceremony if I was you, it’s a very long day otherwise and the mingling soon loses its novelty after a while. More structure is definitely best!

Could you have a back up marquee plan for if the weather is obviously going to be shit? Or get one erected anyway in the space - even in the south it can get pretty cold in the evenings once the sun sets. We are in the North West and went to a wedding in June (on a really nice day) that had the reception in a barn with no heating. A proper barn not a 'wedding barn' - and once the sun had set everyone started making moves to go home as it was proper cold quite quickly.

I think you need to either go afternoon wedding and make sure your kids are super rested before hand or have somewhere quite to quick and then the evening do.

Or early wedding and expect most people to leave about 6. Maybe a core group will stay.

As a person who hates mingling and small talk this would be idea of a nightmare - far too long and vague.
Can you make the ceremony later and maybe have the reception in a pub that's comfortable for everyone indoors in case it rains.
I could probably do this until about 4pm, but 11/midnight - no way especially if there's no more food.

My friend group would be fine, but we all love a sesh! It really depends on your guests.