Get the Party Started Right.

The Q:  Hi, I've just devoured your lovely blog and I still need to ask a question. I'm getting married during winter next year. We are wanting to have a totally rockin fifties dance party reception. We've worked out that we probably need to have the ceremony around 3pm so we still have light. I'm assuming that will take an hour - hour & a half. We don't want to have a big gap between the two things. I don't think guests will wanna rock before 7, what should we do with them in between? It'll all happen about an hour out of town too, so they can't just go home. Argh please help!

The A: Thanks so much for the LOVE!  Your instincts are right, gaps are best avoided.  I'm not totally clear on whether your ceremony and reception are in the same place, or very close to one another, but I'm going to assume that they are.

To be honest, rather than drag it out and start the reception very late, I would consider a couple of things.  First, you could extend your cocktail hour, but second you could consider serving your meal straight through and THEN starting dancing.  BUT, be careful, because alcohol and long periods of sitting can sometimes result in sleepiness.  Depending on the kind of ceremony, you might even be able to start at 3:30.
So, here is my thought on your schedule.

Long Cocktail Hour would look like this:
3:00PM-4:30PM Ceremony
4:30PM-6:00PM Cocktails
6:00PM-6:30PM First Dance, Small Dance Set, have guests sit.
6:30PM-7:30PM Dinner Service/ Open Buffet and make toasts.
7:30PM Any formal dances with parents, etc/ Start the REAL dance party!
9:00PM Cake Cutting and service
10PM party ends. 

Dinner First would look like this:
3:00-4:30 Ceremony
4:30-5:30 Cocktail hour
5:30-6:00  First Dance, Parent Dances, Small Dance Set
6:00-7:00 Dinner Service/ Buffet Opens
7:00 Open your dance floor.
8:30 Cut Cake
9:30 Party Ends

I hope that suggestions help a bit!