More and more couples are saying “I do” to a daytime wedding reception, rather than having one later in the day. A daytime wedding reception is a true reflection of a couple’s untraditional style, and can also be very beneficial for the budget! Daytime weddings typically are less expensive than a nighttime ceremony and reception.

So how do you plan a dreamy daytime wedding reception? We’ve got 6 tips to make the planning process a breeze and your special day one to truly remember!

You May Also Like…

How to Plan a Rustic Wedding on a Budget
How to Plan a Home Wedding
Creating a Wedding Day Schedule & Timeline

6 Tips for Planning a Daytime Wedding Reception

1. Leave Plenty of Time to Get Ready
2. Be Mindful of Temperature
3. Consider Skipping the Dance Party
4. Make Sure There Is Plenty Of Food
5. Consider Set-Up Logistics
6. Keep Guests in the Loop

1. Leave Plenty of Time to Get Ready

When you’re planning your ceremony time during the day, you’ll want to make sure you still have plenty of time to get ready. If you’re wanting to do a 1 PM ceremony, you’ll want to think about what time you need to wake up to accomplish any wedding morning tasks and have all the time you need to get ready with your bridesmaids.

If you need to help set up for the ceremony or reception, you’ll also want to factor in any set up time. This also goes for any staff or family members that are helping set up – make sure they have plenty of time!

2. Be Mindful of Temperature

Depending on the month and location, a 1 PM wedding may be very, very hot with intense sunshine. Make sure to take into account the temperature and average weather that time of year at your venue when you’re planning ceremony and reception times. However, if you’re indoors, you don’t need to worry about temperature!

If you’re dreaming of an outdoor ceremony or reception, it’s going to be imperative that you aren’t making your guests sweat through a 90 degree wedding. Especially for older guests or guests that consume too much alcohol, this temperature and sun exposure can be dangerous.

Keep guests comfortable and plan a daytime wedding indoors or during a cooler month! If you’re dead-set on having a daytime outdoor wedding during hotter months, consider having the wedding earlier or later in the day or under shade.

3. Consider Skipping the Dance Party

Unless you have a big group of family and friends that love a good dance party and don’t care the time, place, or ambience, a daytime dance party may be less enticing for guests than one covered by night. With daytime weddings, it’s common for guests to not feel like busting out a move in the broad daylight, when they’d usually feel more comfortable at a night time reception to do so.

A great alternative (or addition) would be to have games available and easily accessible during your reception. This gives guests something to do when mingling and small talk gets old. We love corn hole, croquet, bocce ball, or ring toss for outdoor weddings, and you can’t go wrong with jumbo Jenga or blackjack tables.

4. Make Sure There Is Plenty of Food

This tip seems like a given, but you would be surprised how food goes overlooked when it comes to planning a daytime wedding! Many couples are unsure of what they should be serving: brunch, lunch, appetizers and finger foods, or dinner.

The good news is that with an untraditional daytime wedding, you really get to do whatever you feel like you and your guests will enjoy! That being said, make sure there is plenty of food and plenty of options. If your wedding is after lunch but way before dinner and you’re wanting to only serve appetizers and finger foods, you’ll want an abundance so that guests aren’t starving.

If your wedding is more than 3 hours total, you’ll likely want to go with a large brunch, lunch or dinner spread. Weddings make people hungry and you don’t want a bunch of hungry, cranky guests!

5. Consider Set-Up Logistics

This tips goes back to tip #1: Leave Plenty of Time to Get Ready. If your wedding is during peak wedding season, your chosen venue will likely have a wedding the night before or after yours, depending on the day of the week. When you’re planning your ceremony and reception, make sure you’re confirming set up and tear down times with the venue coordinator.

Don’t underestimate this step, even smaller weddings can take a large amount of time to set up all of those decorations, chairs, tables, arches, centerpieces, name cards, linens, etc. and then tear them down later on. If there isn’t staff at the venue that’s going to help you, and you don’t have a wedding planner and their team to do set up/tear down, make sure you’re allotting enough time before and after the wedding to accomplish all of that work. You don’t want the wedding to be delayed, and you certainly don’t want to delay someone else’s after yours – not cool!

If you do have a staff helping you or a wedding planning team, you’ll still want to double-check that they’ll have enough time to get it all taken care of. While it may seem silly to ask when you have others “handling it,” it’s better to iron out the details ahead of time than be stressed on the day-of because they didn’t budget time accordingly.

6. Keep Guests in the Loop

It may seem obvious that guests read the invitation and keep track of the ceremony time, but this is a detail that can easily slip their mind, especially when making travel plans. You will have guests that will remember the date and forget to write down the time and assume it is later in the day like most weddings. This may affect which flights they select, hotel bookings, or drive time.

Keep everyone on time with a reminder email, text, message, or card a couple of months before the wedding to make sure everyone remembers that it’s an earlier wedding! It’s better that they adjust their plans sooner than later.