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Small wedding (15) layout of the day & entertainment

snoopy29

Hi,

I've posted a few times about our struggles with getting a venue but I think we've finally found somewhere. Issue now is how the day itself will run and entertainment for a party of 15. I should say the civil ceremony is in the hotel, along with the dinner.

The main issues are:

wedding is in December so gets dark early
neither families are massive drinkers
what type of entertainment??
what to do with "hanging around" in between times

Option 1:
Photos at around 1-3pm, ceremony at 4pm, tea/scones and processo and sausage rolls around 5pm, dinner at 7pm.

Option 2:
Ceremony at 1pm, photos between 1-3pm while everyone else has lunch, big gap in the middle I don't know what to do about and then dinner at 7pm.

Option 2 means we won't see each other before the ceremony which we would like but then leaves a lot of down time in the middle of the day.

Anyone any thoughts??

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Typer Monkey

You could have the ceremony at 4 and just not do the two hours of photos beforehand? Then you wouldn't have guests hanging around and you wouldn't see each other beforehand. Two hours of photos of just the two of you is a bit excessive I think. Plus you'll want photos with family members I assume which would mean even more photos after the ceremony too?

Our ceremony is at half 3. We're going to take photos afterwards but don't intend heading off by ourselves for hours leaving our guests. We want to enjoy some time with them before dinner. Could you consider that?

snoopy29

The only reason I'd allowed two hours for photos is because my brother is doing the photos and he's not a professional photographer, he's done a few courses that's all, and he is new to the whole thing so sometimes can take a while to get shots set up.

I was thinking of photos early in the day because it is on 29th December so will be dark early. The wedding is in Dingle so had hoped if it wasn't a miserable day to go to a few scenic locations and get some outdoors shots.

sweetie

My brother in law had a low-key wedding recently with similar numbers. The hotel provided a one man band, a guy with a keyboard who was very good and got us up dancing for a while. I can probably get his details if you want (Dublin/Kildare based)

snoopy29

Thanks sweetie but the wedding is in Dingle, doubt he'd travel that far? The plan had been to have some sort of entertainment for 1-2hrs after dinner and then all get a taxi into Dingle and go to one of the pubs with some live music.

Typer Monkey

I think you should rethink the photos tbh. It'll be very cold on 29th December and wedding dresses are flimsy by their nature! I can't imagine standing around outside for long in the freezing cold with goosebumps and a big red nose no matter how beautiful the location. Your wife to be will need to redo makeup and fix her hair probably after standing around outside for so long in the cold/wind (especially if it's before the ceremony). I don't know, it just wouldn't float my boat but if you've discussed it with her and she's on board then it's all good.

snoopy29

I am the wife to be!
I don't mind the cold really if it was a clear day and I had allowed an hour to fix hair/make up etc. before the ceremony. But perhaps it might be better to have the ceremony earlier.

Just don't know what to do with people in the afternoon though!

Typer Monkey

Oops sorry, I don't know why I assumed you were male!:D

I still think you're letting the photos dictate the running of your whole day and it seems to be stressing you out. If photography is super important to you then I suppose it'd be worth revolving your whole day around it. As long as I have a few nice pics I'll be happy. I wouldn't inconvenience myself or my guests or stress myself out to facilitate the photos tbh

biddywiddy

We're gathering our families together for photos at 2 ish in the hotel grounds (or inside if the weather is terrible) and then we'll walk across to the church for the ceremony at 3. We'll probably spend a few minutes getting shots of the two of us post-ceremony and then join everyone in the hotel.

We're getting married NYE, so we decided earlier is better for photos (enough light outside) and also gives us more time to spend with our guests post-ceremony.

snoopy29

how many people at your wedding? I understand why your doing that with the photos. It doesn't bother you that you'll see each other beforehand?

biddywiddy

Nope! I'm looking forward to it! Plus, the thought of a dramatic entrance into the church is not appealing to me! We'll have seen some of the guests beforehand the night before and around the hotel as we're getting ready, we'll have seen our families, so I think the whole day should be fairly relaxed.

We're having about 50.

Neyite

I would work with the early darkness rather than try to factor in daylight to be honest. I know of a lovely wedding in a little castle that had the civil ceremony at 4pm and it had low lighting -white fairy lights and candlelight. It looked stunning for photos too - especially with all the holly and christmas decorations the venue already had up. The guests went into the bar for an hour or so, while the room was set up for dinner, then back in for the meal and dancing then.

I know of a church wedding over Christmas where the photographer took the group shot in the church as it was -10 outside. Then the family portraits were taken in the hotel beside a lovely fireplace and Christmas tree.

NewCorkLad

OP why not have the ceremony at 3. Send your guests to Dick Mac's and head off for an hour of outside photos. Meet guests in Dick Mac's after, take group photos there while everyone enjoys a pint or 2 of the black stuff, this should easily carry you through to 6:30.

Mrs OBumble

OP, your guests are adults? At least most of them? If they cannot entertain themselves over coffee somewhere for a couple of hours ... then ... umm ... you need to find some new friends! Just because they're not big drinkers doesn't mean they cannot mingle, surely.

Set up the day to suit yourselves, make provision for them to be somewhere the seats, toilets and minor refreshments, and they'll be fine.