Help with casual wedding schedule

[Loudandclear]

Can I get some help as to how to structure our wedding day? Timings, ideas etc

We're getting married next summer. The ceremony will be in a woodland with a field just beneath it for the after do in a marquee/teepee type of thing.

Approx 90-100 guests of which 10-20 will babies or children.

We have booked the ceremony for 2:30 so I'm guessing that will be finished and us down in the field by 3:15.

Live music needs to stop at 11pm

We need to hire a bar trailer and food trucks. No formal sit down three course meal. We're thinking maybe having two food sittings. One afternoon, then something like a fancy Dutch chip van later into the night. We were thinking of a pizza van in the afternoon but I'm worried it doesn't have variety for those who don't like pizza, so what do you think would be a good good choice, and what timings for this.

Thinking of paying for first round of drinks as in welcome drinks and then again maybe we cover the cost of drinks when we are doing food. The rest will be for people to buy at the bar.

We'll have some speeches but not hugely long. Groom, best man, father of bride.

We'll get at least one live band in to do a couple of sets. Could have another or maybe just a singer earlier maybe when the ceremony is finished for first drinks?

Some people may be camping on site as that's an option, others a 5 minute walk away to a hotel or a 5-10 minute drive for others.

Lots of people from uni groups etc that don't meet regularly so I imagine will enjoy a catch up chatting etc.

What are your thoughts. I don't want people bored, or hungry, or wanting to leave early. Equally don't have 30k to throw at a fancy wedding and wedding planner.

Thanks in advance for helping!

You’ll need more than one food truck at a time for that amount of people otherwise it’ll take hours for everyone to eat (source- I just got married with food trucks)

How about a kebab van instead of pizza? We have a Greek guy in our area that does weddings - they could then offer a variety of chicken, lamb, veggie

The above poster makes a good point…how about two food vans (I went to a wedding with a pizza oven last week and tbh they cook very quickly so it wasn’t taking long to get them out)

Ah okay didn't think about time food takes.
So maybe if I get two types of food van. Do you then ask guess in advance what they are going to want? I would be worried about loads going to one van and the other hardly any but then we pay the cost of it?
What time would you think for food? As it's not in a conventional wedding venue I can't see us being able to do canapes so I don't want everyone starving waiting until 6.... But then earlier seems like an early time for adults to eat

What about this as a vague structure. Although I don't know what to do between 6-8

2:30-3 Ceremony

3-4 Welcome drinks and perhaps singer, garden games out on the grass

4-5 Food vans

5-5:30 cake/dessert

5:30-6 Speeches

6-8 ?? Just chatting/mingling?

8-845 music first set

845-915 chips

915-10 music second set

10-11 Spotify playlist of good music?

11-12 people finishing up, maybe low key music can carry on in background, chatting or heading back to hotels etc

How are people going to eat? Older guests/less mobile guests may prefer tables and chairs. It's also not easy to pick up slices of pizza etc off a plate if you have a glass in your hand and nowhere to put it down.

The food also seems carb heavy.

There will be picnic benches and tables to seat 80-100 so no one should need to eat off their laps! It will just be quite casual, no seating plan.
I agree it sounds too carb heavy - any suggestions of something that could work better or alongside?

Even two vans at a set time, gives you 50 people in each queue.

Maybe have the vans serving all afternoon and evening so staggering the demand and solving the set meal time concern.

What happens if it rains?

Well the marquee bit, the stage for the band and dancefloor will be under cover so noone will be forced to be outside in the rain. It would be far from ideal to be throwing it down all day, but there would be under cover space for everyone, it just would probably be easier for kids to start to go a bit mad and maybe just not such a nice atmosphere. I will need to cross all my fingers for dry, albeit not baking hot days next July.

Definitely think carefully about the food because even at 2 minutes a pizza it will take an age (most only cook 2-3 at a time) Self catering (aka co-opting others) to put out crisps, nuts, olives, etc would help but I’d consider a second truck with a different food plus think about dealing with allergies. Again chips fine but cooking chips for 90 in a small van takes a long time, I’d be opting for food on trays as well - one of those cheese stacks from Waitrose to order perhaps as well. 2 hours is too long to mingle, bring the music forward and other timings, longer Spotify at end but leaves people to leave earlier which with so many kids will help

If you can provide your own drinks for the first part it will be cheaper than money behind the bar eg I bought 12 bottles Lidl Prosecco for the toast plus cloudy lemonade for non drinkers/ kids at £5 a bottle last year, I’d then tell people it’s byo cheaper for everyone

Could you stick a tray of sandwiches and maybe a bowl of grapes on each table - sandwiches are £20 for 30 quarters from Sainsburys, on their own tray, so £2/head for adults, whilst they are queuing for pizzas? You'd just need to borrow 10 cool bags/ice blocks to keep them till 6ish
. .

If you have 100 guests I would cater for 80 per van- people won't naturally split in half between the two vans, and some people will go to both. I think a lot of peopel think food trucks are easier/cheaper but that was not my experience!

We had a pizza truck in the evening which was quick as they just kept putting out pizzas and people would take a few slices- but if you were serving it as the main meal and wanted people to have a pizza each this would obviously take longer. Most other types of vans take between 3-5 mins to serve each person, so multiply that by the amount of guests you have.

Alternative would be a hog roast or something like a paella van, and that cooks up something large that people then take a small amount of.

It’s a long day, and very long if it rains. But equally good be glorious with the right weather and guests who are up for it. I’d add more food and more entertainment. A comedian, a magician or similar at 6pm or so to break that time up could work well.

I’d say that’s a long day. Is there any option to start later? Have a four o’clock ceremony? Also think about organising some games in the field.

Definitely tell ppl they can BYOB and save them bar costs, so they too reap the benefits of the causal set up. Maybe just run the bar in the parallel though so ppl have options- will that charge you a minimum spend?

Food needs much more thought and attention. The vast majority of wedding guests just want to be fed, well and on time. They don’t care about your casual logistics or budget. Guests are up early and often travel for weddings, many eat light beforehand because they will be indulging later. If you don’t feed them well and fairly quickly people get grumpy and bored and will not be having a good time.

Work out how many food vans you need to feed that many people in a really timely manner.

No matter the ‘vibe’ of the wedding, I’d stop thinking of it as ‘casual’. There are no casual logistics when it comes to hosting an event of 100 people. It needs to be formal and very well organised, with someone keeping an eye on logistics all day.

Games are a great idea, hiring or buying some croquet sets, footballs etc will work well. My cousin had a field wedding and hired table football which was very popular

What about toilets / baby changing?
High chairs?
What surface will people dance on?
Lighting? To get to loo, food, and back to rhe exit/cars?

Completely agree with PP who said people dont eat a big lunch before a 2pm wedding.

Also wondered about BYOB - could you get caterers and ask them to run the bar so people have cups and ice/lemon/mixers provided and somewhere to chill beers? I went to a wedding in someone's field where a welcome drink and wine during dinner/fizz for toasts was provided but everyone was asked to bring their own for afterwards.

I think it depends on age profile of guests and how many will be trying to run around after young children

Also noticed you only have men giving speeches?

I'd probably speak to the food van people before nailing down your timetable - they'll be able to advise how long they'll take to get through 100. I would imagine that 3-5 with the food available immediately after the wedding might be good?