order of reception

Im having a hard time getting schedule down for the first dance, cake cutting, toast, bouquet and garter toss??? which comes first, or however.....I'mjust not wanting to have it so in line? how do you make it flow good??? hope this makes sense...lol 

Good question! I would like to know the answer to this too but I am not that far in the planning yet so I haven't worried about it yet but I'm gald somebody asked.

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-reception-planning/articles/a-traditional-wedding-reception-timeline.aspx?MsdVisit=1

Thanks Krosa, but I am trying to not go to the knot, because I was there before, and all the girls were rude to me, that was why I came to this site, to get help. I have looked at that before though, Need a little bit more info, or a bride to be's insight on how hers is going to be, or a already been brides was. Thank you though.

Yasmin, Believe me, before you know it, you will be at the last minute like I am, and need to know, I think Your DJ, if you have one, will be good help on this, but I dont go talk to him until 6 weeks before the wedding..ahh, I am ocd, and would like a bigger heads up then 6 weeks, on how the reception will go... but we will see... Maybe I can bite my toungue and wait. lol

I just did my timeline last week. You can take a look at mine just to get an idea...

6:00-6:30 - Ceremony

6:30-7:30 - Cocktail hour (bridal party is off taking photos)

7:30-7:45 - Guests allowed into ballroom to find seats

7:45-8:00 - Introductions of parents, bridal party, bride & groom grand entrance (we are also doing a mini movie between when the bridal party enters and we enter thats why we need 15 minutes - plus we have 9 BM's and 9 GM's)

8:00-8:05 - First Dance

8:05-8:15 - Cheers and Toasts

8:15-8:45 - Dinner

8:45-9:15 - Dancing (bride and groom go around and greet all guests)

9:15-9:30 - Father/Daughter Dance, Shavonne/Uncle Bobby Dance, Son/Mother dance

9:30-10:00 - Cake cutting, serving, and eating.

10:00-11:00  Dancing (greeting what other guests we didn't get to).

11:00 p.m. The bouquet toss, followed by the garter toss

11:10 p.m. The final dance set.

11:55 p.m. The last dance, followed by your grand exit

GRRRR. I just wrote everything down and it wouldn't post then my server went down and it didn't save. So annoying!!!

Here was ours:

5-530 ceremony

530-630 cocktail hour/photos

630 entrance

630-730 dinner and that lead into toasts. We ate first and then went around table to table to say hello and thank yous

730 cake cutting and that lead into dancing

730-830 opening dancing

830 bouquet, garter toss, shoe game

9-10 open dancing

We had to be done by 10, venue rules, so that schedule worked best for us. I wanted to do cake cutting after toasts and dinner so people were still a little interested and could eat dessert as they pleased then or later in the night.

i didnt do some of the traditional things, but here is what my schedule looked like

1. wedding party entrance

2.first dance

3. meal

4. greet the guests (we walked around to each table and talked to the guests.  we only had 50 people, so not that many tables.)

5. cut the cake

6. shoe game (while we are playing the shoe game the kitchen will be cutting the wedding cake)

7. eat cake

8. speach (no guest speaches or best man/ maid of honor speaches.  just speach about loved one who died before wedding.  also honor the couple that has been married the longest that is present and if there is a widow/widower that was married longer then recognize them.)

9.exit

Ours was a big different, because we had a short wedding but here is what we did:

5:30-board boat for ceremony + Reception

5:45-Ceremony

6:00-First Dance as the sun finished setting 

6:15-Dinner Served

6:45-Toasts: MOH, Best Man, FIL, DH & I

7:15-Cake Cutting

7:45-Bride and Groom Announced back on the top of the boat for dancing the night away

We danced until 9:30, with the father/daughter dance and mother/son thrown in.

9:45-Sparkler Exit

I have turned that task over to my wedding coordinator and when she comes up with it she will give it to me for final approval. We are not doing the garter or bouquet toss. I know not everyone has that option. I have given her an idea of how I wanted things to go. Looks like others have given you a good idea and you can just plug your things in and see how it looks. Our DJ will be a big help in this as well