Why midnight is the best time to finish your wedding reception.
Why midnight is the best time to finish your wedding reception.
We are frequently asked to perform at wedding receptions until 1.00 am. Quite often this is a last minute change of plans, suggested by function co-ordinators at your final meeting, as the original booking was until midnight.
Having been in the wedding industry for 42 years in our opinion it is not a good idea to extend your finishing times after all your invites have been sent out. In fact we try to encourage our clients not to have a 1.00 am finish from the outset.
Why finish at midnight??
Firstly many of your guests including yourselves and the bridal party will have been up since early morning getting ready for the big day. Many of your guests will have travelled quite a long distance either by driving themselves or by arriving by coaches laid on by the bride and groom. Depending upon where your guests are coming from and where the pick up points are for the coaches some of your guests could have been on the coaches for several hours.
Guests of a certain generation may find it difficult to envisage staying on until the early hours of the following day and will tend to leave around 10.30 to ensure that they get home safely. Other guests may have young children with them who will start to tire or have babysitters at home which means that they will dwindle away as well in order to let the babysitter home for a reasonable hour.
Depending upon your location it may be quite difficult for guests to get taxis home after midnight, not forgetting the extra costs involved when booking taxis after midnight.
If you are having your wedding ceremony, your wedding meal and your evening reception all in the same venue, this can become slightly claustrophobic for many people as they will have been there for anything up to 12 - 13 hours. Alternatively if you are getting married elsewhere such as a church or a registry office this will mean adding in extra travel for you and your guests.
Bare in mind also that if you are providing coaches for your guests and you finish at 1.00 am the last person may not get off that coach for another couple of hours depending upon how far the coaches have to travel.
It is better to finish your night on a "high" with as many of your guests as possible still with you than to add on an extra hour and watch your numbers drop, sometimes into single figures.
From the point of view of the couple's future memories, this is of paramount importance.
Some venues will try to encourage a late finish in an attempt to try to sell more alcohol, but the wise venues realise that this doesn't actually happen as most people who attend receptions/functions will only have a certain amount of money with them and when it runs out, it runs out, so guests will sit with one drink for the last hour.
From an entertainers point of view, we could charge extra for that extra hour and in fact many bands will charge double their hourly rate per member of the band which can add quite a substantial amount to your bill. However we would rather finish with as many people as possible and give you an ending to your night to remember.
Doubtlessly, it will have been the best day of your life. Allow us to help ensure that the best memories last longest.
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