Wedding Reception Timeline Tips!

Your Hero For Hire’s Wedding Reception Timeline Tips!

The majority of my wedding reception meetings that I have with my clients end up in conversations about their wedding reception timeline. The wedding ceremony timeline is pretty straightforward and traditional. So that’s an easy one to figure out. But when it comes to the 4-6 hour formal reception. Well let’s face it, everyone here is usually a first timer, usually. Time and time again people are trying to appease the venue, wedding planner, cake vendor, Mother of the Bride, and more with time placement arrangements.

Couples always want to pick my brain and see what I have to say as the date quickly approaches. Sometimes I’ve seen full arguments in front of me, a week before the wedding!

“Do we come right in to our first dance while everyone is looking at us?”

“Should we cut the cake first?”

“Do we open with a speech?”

“How long should cocktail hour be?” ( Yes that’s a real question!)

Well the answer is, YES!

Yes, do whatever you feel is best for you! But some wedding reception timeline, but keep the flow of the evening in mind at all times.

For example, some cake vendors like to cut the cake early, to make sure it’s ready for serving right after dinner. But this is a non factor if you have cup cakes! Some planners want to get all the first dances out of the way because the father of the bride can’t be on his feet for to long!

I like the idea of focusing on the couple after the introductions for just the Bride & Groom dance. Then moving the other dances later after dinner. Then if there are enough married couples, we open the dance floor with the anniversary dance, then open dancing!

It all depends on the arrangements of your vendors, bridal party, and your choice for YOUR evening. All that being said, I’ll give you an example of my “dream timeline”. From a wedding DJ’s perspective, to get you straight into party time!

5:00 PM	Reception Starts
5:05 PM	Cocktail Hour
6:00 PM	Bridal Party Introductions
6:10 PM	First Dances	Bride Groom First Dance
6:15 PM	Blessing/Prayer	(or Combine Welcome Speech)
6:30 PM	Dinner Served
7:00 PM	Best Man Toast	After everyone is served dinner
7:15 PM	Cake Cutting
7:25 PM	Bouquet/Garter
7:35 PM	First Dances	Bride & Father/Groom & Mother
7:50 PM	Anniversary Dance
8:00 PM	Dancing Begins
9:50 PM	Last Dance
10:00 PM	Reception Ends

I wish you the best of luck with your planning. I hope these wedding reception timeline tips do the trick in motivating you to customize your reception to be the best ever!

– DJ One TyMe