Order Of Events

The Ceremony

Firstly, we will begin with the wedding ceremony at either the church or another location. The "short" ceremony lasts anything from 10-25 minutes depending on your situation and the "long"ceremony is the full mass, which is between 45 minutes and 1 hour.

After you are married, regardless of your location, people gather around you to congratulate you and some also remain for photos afterwards. The time guests stay after the ceremony can be between 15-30 minutes, then they leave to go to the reception while you and the Bridal party leave to have your photos. By following these guidelines, you will have a better idea of the timing for when guests should be expected at the reception venue.

The reception - arrival of guests

Once guests arrive, pre-dinner drinks are served and most commonly lasts 1 hour. This allows you time to comfortably have your photo shoot without rushing.  Generally you arrive at the reception venue some 10-15 minutes prior to the seating of the guests. In this time you are usually allocated a private room for the bridal party where you can freshen up and relax a while and have a few drinks prior to the formal entrance.

An alternative method is that due to circumstances, you have arrived not long after the guests and in this case, you may want to casually mingle with the guests until it is time to be formally announced into the reception.

Introduction of the bridal party

This is it! ,  you are now going to be announced into the reception as man and wife!

Of course you would have selected some appropriate music for your entrance. The M.C. or the D.J. formally announce the bridal party into the reception room then entrée is normally served straight away unless you are in a restaurant and are ordering from an alternate menu (i.e. selection of one of the two entrées, main course and desserts available) and your order has to be personally taken by the waiters.

The reception

To ensure a smooth flowing function, dancing should not commence until the entrée, main course and desserts are consumed. In between courses everybody usually moves around catching up with family and friends. The bride and groom also does this and casual table shots are usually done by the photographer or by the guests themselves.

Speeches

As already mentioned, speeches are normally done after the 3 main courses are consumed, but sometimes people like to split their speeches up so they are not a long and tedious event. Sometimes half the speeches are done after entrée and the remaining half are done after dessert.

Refer to our "lets make a speech" page for helpful hints and guidelines on speeches. Once the last of the speeches is complete, then it is time for the main bridal dance.

Dancing

Your dancing prowess is now going to be on display. You may wish to have the whole of the first song together or otherwise you would have the M.C. or D.J. announce the bridal party onto the floor after approximately 30-60 seconds. The parents follow, then everybody is welcome to join in.

We usually recommend 3-5 songs for the bridal dances as this gives you the opportunity to dance with the members of your bridal party and parents as well as other guests.It also builds the foundation for the D.J. to begin with a full dance floor and begin to gauge the night from thereon.

Now is the time to let yourself go and have a good time either dancing or socialising.

 End of the function formalities

Prior to leaving, you may wish to have the throwing of the bouquet and garter, and also a farewell circle or arch to say thanks and farewell to your guests. The D.J. is always in a better position to do this and is easier to be announced.

For an average 80 people you would allow generally 20-25 minutes to do the bouquet, garter and farewell circle. You must be aware that in this example,that your formalities begin 20 minutes prior to your allotted finish time.

The function ends when the bride and groom leave and don’t forget to have your transport arranged.