Reception length?

[Erika Limpin]

Hi everyone! I need your opinions please http://www.bridalguide.com/CFForum/images/smile.gif

The banquet hall that we're having our reception at is free for four hours with our food purchase. If we want to have the banquet hall for longer than that time, it costs $700 per hour.

The ceremony time is automatically slotted for 6-10 PM on a Saturday night. Do you think that's a long enough time to get through all of the traditional stuff and still have ample time to dance and party? I feel like that's ending the party a little early for a Saturday night... but on the other hand, we have a lot of older guests and relatives who I doubt will stay all the way to the bitter end.

Do you think it's worth the money to buy an extra hour to dance, drink, and party with however many of our friends that will stay? Thanks so much!

[NOTKT]

I think that 4 hours is a good traditional time for a reception. And like you said most people will be leaving around that time anyway. What you CAN do if you want is find a place for everyone to hang out after the formal reception. Is there a restaurant at the hotel everyone is staying at? Or a friend's house?

I really don't think $700 is worth it though, that's so much money an hour!

[WebLady]

Yeah I think 4 hours is plenty for a reception :)

[Erika Limpin]

Thanks so much! That's what I was thinking... we could take the limo back to our hotel with our friends. There's a club there too if people want to continue drinking and dancing :)

Yeesh, I thought so too about the $700... that's over $10 a minute!

[sandy03]

I agree, I think four hours is plenty of time. If you really think everyone will want to keep partying, maybe there is a bar or restaurant nearby the reception site that would be convenient for those that want to stay out a little later.

[MrsDM]

Our reception lasted from 6pm-midnight. That included serving of dinner, cake, toasts, dancing. We also had a cocktail hour before but we found that most people were starting to leave by 10:30/11pm and only the real party go-ers stayed until midnight. I was worried too about time, but it actually was perfect, IMO.

[gwenshack]

We had a cocktail hour from 6-7 and the reception from 7-10, which was totally fine. Would I have wanted another hour? Maybe, but I feel we got in everything that we wanted to. :)

[Brian's Bride]

Our reception was also 6-midnight. As with Jeanne, people left at 10:30 or 11, with only the partiers staying til midnight. I thought it was a good length of time, too.

[melissa1031]

I think 4 hours is plenty of time to get through all the traditional things that your doing.Plus the dancing and mingling that you and your guest will do.$700 dollars is way too much money for just an hour.

I've weddings where the bridal party and some guest's have gone out after the reception to continue the celebration.That could be an option for you.

[Adriana]

I agree that 4 hours seems like plenty of time, and that $700 is a bit much for 1 more hour. Maybe see if there are any fun places near by where people can go after if they still want to keep it going.

[Bridetobe10025]

Are you having a sit down dinner or a buffet? Sitdown usually takes about 2 hours so that definitely cuts into the fun and dancing time. I went to a friends wedding a couple of months back and because of how long the dinner was there was only about 45 minutes of post eating dancing (and by the everyone was so tipsy from sitting down for so long)

I would say add the extra hour if you are doing sitdown. Is that extra hour just for the space or does it include the bar?