Wedding reception
order of events.
The timeline planners actually run: formal moments early while everyone is seated, dancing late, and the cake cut before the grandparents want to leave. Times below assume a 4:30 ceremony and a 10:30 venue end; slide the whole thing to match yours.
- 5:30
Cocktail hour
Guests arrive from the ceremony while the couple and wedding party finish portraits. Sixty minutes is the standard; ninety if the portraits are far from the venue.
Put the QR code on the bar and the cocktail tables. The first uploads are the arrivals, the drinks and the people meeting for the first time.
- 6:30
Guests seated, grand entrance
The DJ or band asks everyone to find their seats, then announces the wedding party and finally the couple. Five to ten minutes.
- 6:40
First dance
Straight off the entrance while every guest is already standing and facing the floor. Two to three minutes. Some couples move this to after dinner to open the dance floor; either works.
Every phone in the room is up for this one. It is the moment the gallery fills fastest.
- 6:45
Welcome toast and blessing
A parent or the couple welcomes the room, and grace is said if the family keeps that tradition. Keep it to two minutes so dinner service starts on time.
- 6:50
Dinner service
Plated service takes about an hour for 120 guests; a buffet takes longer than people expect because tables are called one at a time. This is the quiet stretch of the night.
Run the slideshow on the venue screen during dinner. Guests see their own cocktail-hour photos come up while they eat, and they upload more because of it.
- 7:30
Toasts
Best man and maid or matron of honour during the main course, while everyone is seated and quiet. Two speakers, three to five minutes each. Longer toasts belong at the rehearsal dinner.
Ask the DJ to mention the code once here. A voice note from a guest who did not get a toast slot is the guestbook entry couples replay most.
- 7:50
Parent dances
The father-daughter and mother-son dances, or whichever pairs fit your family. Back to back, a shortened song each, before dessert lands.
- 8:00
Cake cutting
Cutting the cake early signals to older guests that it is acceptable to leave after it, and it gives the caterer time to plate dessert. Five minutes.
- 8:05
Open dancing
The DJ opens the floor. This block is about two hours, and it is where the rest of the night's photos come from.
This is where the live broadcast earns its place: a grandparent at home sees the dance floor, with sound, on one private link.
- 9:00
Bouquet and garter, or skip them
Optional, and more couples skip them every year. If you keep one, do it mid-dancing as a five-minute break rather than at the end when the floor is full.
- 10:15
Last dance
A private last dance with only the couple on the floor, or a group last song with everyone. Announce it so guests get their coats ready.
- 10:30
Send-off
Sparklers, bubbles or just the exit. Ten minutes, and the venue's end time is usually hard, so build the timeline back from it.
The send-off is the photo the professional photographer is best placed for. The gallery gets it from thirty angles anyway.
Shorter night, longer night
The order does not change. What changes is how much of each block you keep.
Four hours
- Cocktail hour to forty-five minutes.
- Two toasts, three minutes each, during the main course.
- First dance and parent dances back to back after the entrance.
- Skip the bouquet and garter.
Six hours
- Ninety-minute cocktail hour with a second bar.
- Late-night food at 10:00; guests stay for it.
- A band set and a DJ set, with the cake between them.
- An after-party the venue does not need to host: the same QR code keeps collecting wherever people end up.
What the guests' phones add to each block
The professional photographer is one person with one angle. The room has a hundred and twenty more. One QR code on the tables gives you theirs too, with no app and no account for anyone.
Cocktail hour
The photographer is off doing portraits. The gallery is the only record of the first hour.
Dinner
The slideshow on the venue screen shows cocktail-hour photos while people eat, which is what gets the second wave of uploads.
Toasts
Guests who did not get a slot leave a voice note from the same code. Couples replay these more than the speeches.
Open dancing
A private live broadcast with sound for the people who could not travel, on one link, included with the pass.
Questions couples ask about the order
- What is the standard order of events at a wedding reception?
- Cocktail hour, grand entrance, first dance, welcome toast, dinner, toasts during the main course, parent dances, cake cutting, open dancing, an optional bouquet or garter toss, last dance and send-off. That order keeps the formal moments early, while every guest is seated and attentive, and leaves the second half of the night for dancing.
- How long should a wedding reception be?
- Five hours is the American norm and what most venues sell. Four hours works if you drop cocktail hour to forty-five minutes and cut toasts to two speakers. Six hours only makes sense with a band and a late-night food service, because guests drift out after the cake regardless of the end time.
- When should we cut the cake?
- Right after the parent dances and before open dancing, about two and a half hours in. It lets the caterer plate dessert while the floor opens and gives older guests a natural point to leave. Cutting it at the end, when the floor is busy, means half the room misses it.
- Should the first dance be right after the entrance or after dinner?
- After the entrance is the safer choice: every guest is standing, facing the floor and sober. After dinner opens the dance floor with the couple already on it, which some DJs prefer for energy. If you go with after dinner, put the parent dances there too so the three happen in one block.
- Where do guest photos fit into the reception timeline?
- Put the QR code out from cocktail hour, not from dinner. The first hour is when people are most willing to try something new on their phone, and it is the hour the professional photographer is away doing portraits. Run the slideshow on the venue screen from dinner onwards and the uploads keep coming all night. One Event Pass, $29 once, covers the gallery, the slideshow, the guestbook and the private broadcast for the whole reception.
Put one code on the tables and keep the whole night
Gallery, slideshow, guestbook and private broadcast for one reception, $29 once. Try it on Free Preview with your own phone first.