We are so happy to continue our series in planning your ideal wedding day timeline here at your favourite Cornwall wedding venue, Tredudwell Manor. Today we’re talking about planning your evening reception timeline.
If you missed the other helpful planning tips in our series on how to plan your wedding day timeline, please do check out:
Planning your evening reception timeline
When you book your wedding with us
When you’re planning your wedding, we will provide you with a list of our recommended suppliers to help you make every part of your wedding day, including planning your evening reception timeline, absolutely perfect and stress-free!
During our planning meetings, we discuss all aspects of the evening reception to ensure that you are aware of all the details, including supplier delivery times, licensing rules, access to our venue and all other logistical matters. By law, we need to know all the names and contact details of your suppliers and their timings, but don’t worry, we will walk you through it all.
One month before your wedding
One month before your wedding, we’ll send you a link to complete our Wedding Day information form so that you can share all your wishes for your big day, including your evening reception plans including the timeline, your supplier names and details, arrival time and number of any additional evening guests, how you’d like us to set up the bar and any special requests including serving cocktails, whether it’s a cash bar or a free bar, and whether there’s a cap on the free bar budget.
The day before the wedding
The day before the wedding, we ask you to complete our Function Sheet so that we really nail all those details and share those with our wedding coordinator and team so everyone is on the same page. We will also remind you of our terms + conditions that you signed when booking your wedding with us, including licensing rules, damages liabilities, hazards to inform your guests and communication with your suppliers.
On the Day
What time of day should the evening reception be?
Your wedding evening reception usually starts around 7pm but this does depend on what time of day you get married, and what else you have planned for your wedding day. We are always on hand to help with any questions you may have for all aspects of your evening reception timeline. Throughout, we have planning meetings with you to chat through your timings and of course, we are always reachable via our email and WhatsApp chats!
Can we have live music at our evening reception?
You can choose to have live music with a band or DJ – anything is possible! We’ve hosted weddings with a soprano singer, a harpist, a saxophonist, a brass band, traditional Indian music, a ceilidh, a rock band, and several DJs.
Not a big party fan? We have a great set up if you just wish to be your own DJ where you can plug in your own phone(s) with JHAV Entertainment and then you don’t need to pay for a full DJ set.
How do we plan food for our Cornwall wedding evening reception?
If you’ve just had a big wedding breakfast at our Cornwall wedding venue, you probably don’t want to give people another whole meal but perhaps an evening buffet, or nibbles are a good idea. Many of our caterers offer the option of a grazing table or a melting cheese pot with freshly baked bread which is proving popular! Your caterer works with you to create exactly what you want. We are honoured to work with several incredible caterers and we will send you the list when you enquire.
How do we plan drinks for our evening reception?
Drinks can be served on the barn wedding venue terrace or lower lawns for the drinks reception, which usually lasts 90 minutes to two hours. The timing and length depend on your wedding breakfast plans. You can offer a variety of drinks, including bubbly, Pimms, sangria, beer, or cider. We share more about how to plan your wedding drinks for your entire wedding here.
We are delighted to offer an exclusive deal with no corkage fees for the following:
You can bring your own wine, Champagne and/or sparkling wine, we do not charge corkage fees during the wedding breakfast, reception drink and toast drink. This no corkage fee applies to the restricted quantity per person of;
- a glass during the reception drink
- half a bottle of wine
- a glass for the toast drink
Any additional drinks (beers, ciders etc) will need to be purchased from the bar. Furthermore, we do not allow any of your own drinks for the evening reception, any drinks you wish to offer to your guests must be paid by yourselves at the bar. After the wedding breakfast and toast, all drinks must be purchased from the bar.
We offer lots of cocktail options too, which can be created on a bespoke basis tailored to your guests such as a Old Fashioned, Mojito or Gin Bramble all for £10.95. If you’re offering a free bar to your guests, we can curate that too, to meet your budget.
Want to stay up late?
You should know that last orders at the bar is 11:30 pm, you can have live music until midnight. If you want to extend the late licence, then it’s £400 additional fee to extend the last orders to 12.30pm and music until 1am. Carriages should be at 1am. We kindly request the DJ or musicians to follow our requests if the music is considered too loud.
Time to go to bed
Don’t worry, during our planning meetings, we will share a taxi list and explain that these need to be booked in advance, this is rural Cornwall, after all!
Planning your evening reception timeline: are you having a first dance?
We will need to know if you’re having a first dance, what the song is, who’s playing it and what time of day/evening so we can organise the opening of the sliding wall and coordinate the music team to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Time to cut the cake
We will need to know whether you’re cutting the cake as part of the events, or whether you’d prefer the catering team to do this and distribute. Either way, both we and the caterers will need to know, and we will need to know which caterer is responsible.
Inviting extra guests
You’re allowed to invite up to 50 guests for the evening reception included in your price, or if you want to invite between 50 and 100 then it’s £350, £450 for over a hundred extra.
So there you have it, planning your evening reception timeline can be completely up to you, depending on your dreams, your wishes and what kind of celebration you want to have. It’s all possible here at Tredudwell.
If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. And of course if you are curious about having your wedding with us here at Tredudwell Manor, please check our latest Cornwall wedding venue availability here.
Love
Valerie & all at your favourite Cornwall wedding venue Tredudwell Manor x
This is part of a series sharing the complete wedding day timeline. You can read the rest of our series here.
- Planning the perfect wedding day morning timeline
- Planning your wedding ceremony options
- Planning your Wedding Afternoon timeline
- how to plan your wedding breakfast here
