Timing Question

[tinkspark]

I am curious how did all of you pick the time of your ceremony?

We initially picked the noon slot to hopefully avoid any possible rain since we are getting married outdoors.

However, I didn't take into consideration that the noon light is the harshest for photos and on top of that I might have to go offsite to get my hair and makeup done. We are considering pushing the ceremony pack to 2:30. Any suggestions? How did you decide?

 

[Butler_chic07]

We are planning on a 5:00 p.m. ceremony.

There are a few reasons.
1) I have always wanted an evening wedding. I like sunsets and the way Disney is lit up at night. I also really like fireworks.
2) We are getting married in June and we thought it would be extremely hot around noon or 2:30 and maybe by 5:00 it will not be quite as hot.
3) We didn't want to have to rush on our wedding day. We wanted to be able to take our time and get ready. I would not find getting up at 2:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. to get ready relaxing. It would stress me out a little bit.

It is all completely up to your preference, but if you do have to go offsite for makeup & hair you don't want to feel rushed... It is all about what makes sense to you and makes you feel better. Good luck!

 

[puente0629]

We chose a 10:00am ceremony followed my a 4hr reception...to be totally honest the main reason we chose that time slot was because of the price. Our other reasons are because it's much cooler for pictures, people won't have to go to bed so late and we can do our Magic Kingdom day with the whole family the next morning. i would definitely do what feels right to you and your groom, if you feel rushed having a Noon wedding then push it forward but i do agree that Noon is a harsh time to be outside (this is coming from a born and raised South Florida girl).

 

[decdisneybride2011]

Unfortunately anytime in Florida is a hot time. We aren't getting married until next December and we are hoping for the 5pm time. Usually around 3 o'clock it rains during the summer months here. It just depends on how you feel about the time. The last thing you want to do is be rushed on your wedding day. Hope this helps!

 

[tinkspark]

We are planning on a 5:00 p.m. ceremony.

There are a few reasons.
1) I have always wanted an evening wedding. I like sunsets and the way Disney is lit up at night. I also really like fireworks.
2) We are getting married in June and we thought it would be extremely hot around noon or 2:30 and maybe by 5:00 it will not be quite as hot.
3) We didn't want to have to rush on our wedding day. We wanted to be able to take our time and get ready. I would not find getting up at 2:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. to get ready relaxing. It would stress me out a little bit.

It is all completely up to your preference, but if you do have to go offsite for makeup & hair you don't want to feel rushed... It is all about what makes sense to you and makes you feel better. Good luck!

Thanks that helps! I know we don't want to do a 5:00 o'clock ceremony because we are worried that we won't have enough light for outdoor photos after the cake cutting ceremony. But you are right I don't want to feel rushed!

We chose a 10:00am ceremony followed my a 4hr reception...to be totally honest the main reason we chose that time slot was because of the price. Our other reasons are because it's much cooler for pictures, people won't have to go to bed so late and we can do our Magic Kingdom day with the whole family the next morning. i would definitely do what feels right to you and your groom, if you feel rushed at for Noon wedding then push it back but i do agree that Noon is a harsh time to be outside.

Are you doing a wishes wedding? Does the time affect the price for wishes? We are doing an escape so I believe its the same price no matter what time we do it.

Unfortunately anytime in Florida is a hot time. We aren't getting married until next December and we are hoping for the 5pm time. Usually around 3 o'clock it rains during the summer months here. It just depends on how you feel about the time. The last thing you want to do is be rushed on your wedding day. Hope this helps!

Yeah the rain at 3 is what I was worried about if we do a 2:30 ceremony. I lived there for three years and I can't remember, at the very end of september does it still rain everyday at 3?

 

[weedee]

We choose the 2:30 pm slot because we didn't want a super early wedding. I woke up at 6:00 am the morning of my wedding...I can't imagine how early I'd have to be up for the 10:00 am wedding! And the 2:30 pm slot gave our guests time to grab breakfast with me and lunch with my DH. It did rain almost precisely at 3 pm though...but we were in the WP so it didn't matter much to us. I think the later in the afternoon the greater the chance of rain...but imagine the sunset pictures you can get! I would say either 2:30 pm or 5:00 pm are ideal, IMO.

 

[tinkspark]

We choose the 2:30 pm slot because we didn't want a super early wedding. I woke up at 6:00 am the morning of my wedding...I can't imagine how early I'd have to be up for the 10:00 am wedding! And the 2:30 pm slot gave our guests time to grab breakfast with me and lunch with my DH. It did rain almost precisely at 3 pm though...but we were in the WP so it didn't matter much to us. I think the later in the afternoon the greater the chance of rain...but imagine the sunset pictures you can get! I would say either 2:30 pm or 5:00 pm are ideal, IMO.

Thanks Wendy! That's another thing I was worried about... I don't want any crabby guests because they are starving and didn't get to eat lunch because our ceremony is at noon.

The wedding pavilion is our backup location, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it rained. But my heart is set on having it outside.

 

[puente0629]

I'm a wishes brides so the time does affect our price...morning wedding minimums are $10K...Escape brides do not need to meet a minimum unless they are having a weekend wedding.

 

[Brit_Jude]

An in park wedding would have been nice but I also chose 2.30 pm for our August wedding for the same reason as a lot of others I did not want to have to get up really early to get ready, nor did I want to do that to my guests. In park weddings have to be before the parks open. I also did not want too late of a finish as we have a couple of children in the wedding party so 2.30pm. Due to the heat/rain in afternoons in August our wedding will be at the Pavilion.

Having said that and after reading through the PJ & TR's on here an early wedding with brunch afterwards (who doesn't like brunch), taking a break in the afternoon and then all meeting back up for a dessert party in the evening does sound nice.

You don't say where or what time of year you are planning for your wedding, I recomend you make that a consideration in the time of day that you choose.

Edit - oops now I see that it is the beach at the end of September.

 

[obrien.meredith]

We are planning on a 5:00 p.m. ceremony.

There are a few reasons.
1) I have always wanted an evening wedding. I like sunsets and the way Disney is lit up at night. I also really like fireworks.
2) We are getting married in June and we thought it would be extremely hot around noon or 2:30 and maybe by 5:00 it will not be quite as hot.
3) We didn't want to have to rush on our wedding day. We wanted to be able to take our time and get ready. I would not find getting up at 2:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. to get ready relaxing. It would stress me out a little bit.

It is all completely up to your preference, but if you do have to go offsite for makeup & hair you don't want to feel rushed... It is all about what makes sense to you and makes you feel better. Good luck!

This is kind of off topic, but this post got me thinking. I'm having a wedding inside Epcot at 9am next June. Does that mean I'm going to have to go offsite to get my hair done since it will be early in the morning? I haven't gotten that far in my plans so I haven't even explored what I'm going to do with my hair.

 

[tinkspark]

This is kind of off topic, but this post got me thinking. I'm having a wedding inside Epcot at 9am next June. Does that mean I'm going to have to go offsite to get my hair done since it will be early in the morning? I haven't gotten that far in my plans so I haven't even explored what I'm going to do with my hair.

You shouldn't have to. A lot of vendors will come to you for an extra charge. It just depends on availability and how much you are willing to pay.

 

[puente0629]

This is kind of off topic, but this post got me thinking. I'm having a wedding inside Epcot at 9am next June. Does that mean I'm going to have to go offsite to get my hair done since it will be early in the morning? I haven't gotten that far in my plans so I haven't even explored what I'm going to do with my hair.

Nope...I'm having a 10am ceremony and I have Beaute Speciale coming to my hotel room for no extra charge to do my and my bridesmaids hair and make-up.

 

[obrien.meredith]

Awesome...I've seen a lot of posts about Beaute Speciale and they're all good. I'll definitely be looking into them. How far in advance did you have to book them?

 

[ckpoodge]

Your timing will also depend on if you are having a dessert party, and if you want to give your guests a break between the festivities. When we met with our wedding consultant, we were given the option of a 10:00, 12:00, 2:30, 5:00 or 7:00 ceremony times. We knew we wanted to have a dessert party, so the 7:00 ceremony was out, since we wanted a full reception. The 5:00 ceremony was also nixed because we would have to cut the reception short. The 2:30 ceremony time flowed so nicely: 2:30 - 3:00 ceremony, 3:30 - 4:00 cocktails, 4:00 - 8:00 reception, and the buses would take us directly to the dessert party starting at 8:00. We didn't want a noon ceremony because we would have to extend our reception by 2 hours. If we did not extend the reception, we would have our guests milling about for 2 hours, and that would not have been enough time to get them back to their resorts and back on the bus in time for the dessert party. A 10:00 ceremony would have allowed our guests to have a break between the reception and dessert party, but we wanted to make sure ALL our guests were accounted for, since we were paying for everyone to attend. Also, that meant we would have to get up REALLY early to prep for the wedding.

I know this is a long explanation, but this was the most detailed description I was able to give, and the only one that was as detailed to answer your question.

 

[kmaclou]

We wanted at 10 am ceremony because 1) I wanted a brunch reception - breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and 2) we wanted our guests to be able to go join us in the parks for the rest of the day.

So we had a 10 am ceremony at the WP with an 11 am pre-reception and noon reception at the Whitehall room and patio.

 

[puente0629]

Awesome...I've seen a lot of posts about Beaute Speciale and they're all good. I'll definitely be looking into them. How far in advance did you have to book them?

I booked her 10months out and I'm actually having my trial run on July 1st when we are in Disney for our planning session.

 

[Janell]

We had a 10:00am ceremony with a 12:00-4:00pm reception. Why we choose these times, was one cost, a lunch reception is cheaper then a dinner reception. We liked the idea of an early ceremony, because we were excited and I can't imagine sitting around all day waiting to go to our wedding. lol Have our wedding end at 4:00pm ment if our guest wanted to fly home that night, they still had time too. Everyone at our wedding traveled, no one lived close. One thing I loved and didn't know till the time I would like so much was. After the wedding we took photos at Boardwalk for about 2 hours. It was a ton of fun. It was nice that it was just us two after a fun day. The photos came out great. We got married in May so there was plenty of light. We were done with the day by 6:30ish. That nice we ate at our hotel. It was really really nice.