For the Bride & Groom
Essential tips to planning the perfect wedding

Wedding Day Schedule

Planning ahead and having a schedule for your wedding day will ensure that nothing is left to chance.  There are many aspects to consider and we have prepared this guide to help you plan your perfect day.

 

The Wedding Day can be divided into a number of segments:

(a)  Set-Up by the Suppliers

(b)  The Ceremony

(c) The Welcome Drinks

(d)  The Photographs

(e)  The Wedding Breakfast

(f)  Evening Entertainment

(g) Evening Buffet

(h) Coaches to collect non-residents

   

 

(a)  Set-Up by the Suppliers

You need to know when the wedding venue opens and is able to receive your wedding suppliers.  At Craig Y Nos (for Friday weddings) the tables are normally set up the day before, which means you may have time the day or evening before your wedding to set up your table decorations, venue decorations, flowers and favours.

However on Saturdays, there are 'back-to-back' weddings, with a wedding on the day before yours, the table won't be finally set up until 09.30 hrs on the morning of your wedding.  This will affect your schedule for table decoration, venue decoration, floral displays, favours etc.  So check with the venue's 'Wedding Planner' when you and your suppliers will have access to the venue for your preparations.

Overnight guests may start arriving ahead of the wedding, wishing to book into their rooms early in order to get changed ready for the ceremony.  Advise the venue how many guests will want to book in early, in some cases your guests may have to use a separate changing room, given it is unlikely the previous night's guests will have booked out in time for these early arrivals.

Your photographer will need to arrive in time to take some photos as your guests arrive prior to the ceremony.

The florist will need to know when they can have access to the theatre to decorate the ceremony site and the reception venue.

Have regard to the sequence of events and the role each supplier plays as some things have to come before others.  For example the table decorations and place settings cannot be put in position until the venue has laid the tables and table linen.  The cake cannot be set up on cake stand before the cake table is prepared. The wine should not be put on the tables too soon ahead of the guests entering the Function room for the Wedding Breakfast, nor should the guests be invited onto the room ahead of the wine being put out.

 

You will need someone on hand to oversee your suppliers setting up on the morning of your wedding day and to help you and your suppliers all keep to your pre-planned schedule during the day.

Familiarise yourself with the sequence of events so you understand how everything is designed to unfold in a set order.  Even the best of them get it wrong; we've had a Toastmaster usher guests into the Dining area before the food is ready.  Conversely we've had Photographers hold up the party outside, taking photographs, delaying the Wedding Breakfast by as much as an hour and spoiling the food.

Once you get behind schedule - and this happens - you may need to consider adjusting the later parts of the day.  For example, the Wedding Breakfast typically over-runs, as this meal is a relaxed and chatty affair with speeches, toasts and everyone is having a good time.

If the Breakfast over-runs, this means your original schedule time for the evening buffet to go out comes too soon after the main meal.  If  the buffet is required too early, it may sit on the buffet table untouched.  Kindly note that egg and mayonnaise and cream products have to be removed for Health & Safety reasons after 45 minutes.

You do not want the caterers to remove part of the buffet at the time your guests start to feel peckish.  This can cause disappointment and so we do recommend some flexibility here.  Be prepared to ask the kitchens to delay the buffet; the staff won't mind.

With outside caterers you will lose this option but provided the castle staff are handing your catering there should never be and extra charge even if it means the staff hanging on a little later for you.

 

(b)  The Ceremony

After your suppliers have set up, you will have your wedding ceremony.  This breaks down into the prelude, the seating of the mothers, the processional, the ceremony itself , and the recessional.

 

(i)   Prelude:  This is 30 minutes of music playing for the entertainment of your guests as they arrive and take their seats in the Theatre.  Within the 30 minutes prelude you may decide what you want played.  If so, take into account the timing of each piece of music.  Consider making up a CD with the music you want.

(ii)   Seating of Mothers:  The mothers of the bride and groom are always seated last, after the rest of the guests are seated.  First to enter is the mother of the groom, escorted by a favoured relative, her husband following behind.  Next, the bride's mother, similarly escorted.  Decide the time of this, which should be 5 minutes before the 'processional'.  Write it all down in your schedule, including who is escorting the mothers.

(iii)   Processional; This often starts ten minutes or so late (as is the fashion) but should still have a set time.  You may want a particular piece of music played for the processional.  If you are on time, you may have organised a CD with all the pieces of music to be played in a set order and then you would commence the processional at the right moment - in theory.  Assuming, as is more likely, that you are not on time, you may need someone to operate the stereo to play the right piece as the processional commences.  If you are having a live orchestra, advise the conductor of the piece to play on commencement of the processional.  The processional ends with the entrance of the Bride and Bride's father.

(iv)   Ceremony; Decide the time this is to start.  Decide who is standing where.  Draw up the order and location of the Bride, Groom and their respective 'attendants'. A civil ceremony is quite short, and normally lasts around 20 minutes.
(v)   Recessional;  This is where the Bride and Groom leave the Theatre, walking back up the aisle to the double glass doors leading out into the courtyard.  Decide the title of the music you will be exiting to.  plan in advance the order in which the main wedding party is to leave, including the mother and father of the bride and the parents of the groom.  Decide if you want the photographer on hand to take photographs as you come out of the 'recessional', into the courtyard.  These post-recessional photographs should not take up too much time as your remaining guests will have to remain seated, waiting to leave the Theatre.  Once you have left, the remainder of the guests should be  signalled to exit the Theatre by the glass doors. (If the weather is inclement, you and your guests could remain under cover by exiting through the side entrance into the function room.  However this would mean the guests seeing the function room ahead of time and involve changing where you serve your welcome drinks).

(c)   The Welcome Drinks

These are normally served after the Ceremony, in the hall of the castle.  The bride, upon exiting the Theatre (recessional) and upon preliminary photographs being taken upon emerging into the courtyard, then crosses the courtyard and enters the castle by the front entrance.

Your guests then exit the theatre into the courtyard also and similarly re-enter the building through the main entrance, to be greeted by the waiting Bride and Groom for the Welcome Drinks.

This marks the start of your reception.

Out of sight and in the background, you need someone to quickly and discreetly move the flowers from the theatre to the main function room.  Using the same display in both the Ceremony venue and the Reception venue saves you money on the floral arrangements.  Delegate this is advance to one of your relatives or a member of the staff.

(d)   The Photographer

Before the Wedding Breakfast and after the welcome drinks, an amount of time may be devoted to the Photographer.  This is his time to organise your and your guests to best effect on the courtyard and gardens.  Photographers will often over-run, for they will want to get the best shots, so you need to be aware of the preferred start time for the Wedding Breakfast, which comes next.

 

e)   The Wedding Breakfast

This will include the Wedding Breakfast (the first meal of the day after you are married is known as the Wedding Breakfast).

Normally this is a sit-down three course meal in the late afternoon, around 3.00pm to 5.00pm.  It can however be a light buffet instead.

Consider who is to offer the Toasts? What is the approximate timing of the cake-cutting ceremony? The dinner should not be held to a rigid set of times but be aware of the order of events during the diner and your approximate times.

Allow about three hours for the 'Wedding Breakfast', from start to finish.  So if you start at 3.00pm , do not expect to finish until 6.00pm or even 7.00pm.

(f)  Evening Entertainment

Your guests upon completing the Wedding Breakfast, will be encouraged to drift into the bars, allowing the staff to clear the tables ready for your evening entertainment.  The DJ or band will be setting up at this time.

You will need to decide what time your evening entertainment is to commence.  It should begin around 8.00pm

(g)  Evening Buffet

This should be at least three to four hours after the finish of the Wedding Breakfast.  Sometimes we have found the Wedding Breakfast carries on longer than expected which means the Buffet follows on too closely.  This means guests are still full from the generous Wedding Breakfast.

Even with three hours gap between the two meals, this means starting the Buffet as late as 9.00pm if your Wedding Breakfast finished at 6.00pm.

This is less of a problem if you are having two sets of guests, with a fresh, larger and hungry group arriving the evening.

Your evening guests should be scheduled to arrive around 7.00 to 8.00pm. The Evening Buffett can then go out any time between 8.00pm to 9.30pm, depending when you finished your Wedding Breakfast.

(h)  Coaches

Coaches generally arrive to collect guests between 11.30 - 12.30.  Midnight is a good general time to organise your coaches.

Overnight guests will at this time be moved into the Patti Bar, permitting the staff to clear the function room ready for the following day's event/wedding.

£10.00 Bar Vouchers

The bar will close for non-residents at 11.00pm  but will remain open after this time for residents way into the early hours if required.

Craig Y Nos does not operate a Bar Tab system for residents at this time but residents are invited to purchase a £10.00 bar voucher ahead of closing time. Please refer to the terms on the Voucher before purchasing your voucher.