Stupid questions about timing/overlap with two venues
Hi! Midwest couple here, working on finalizing things for a wedding at the end of next summer.
We have our venues picked out for our ceremony and reception. Wedding will be on a Saturday. The venues are literally across the street from each other in a downtown area (maybe a 5 minute walk because traffic crossings?) so travel time isn’t really an issue.
Venue 1 for the Ceremony we will have access to from 9am-5pm for one flat fee.
Venue 2 for the Reception we have booked hourly from 4pm-12am.
We’re balling on a budget here so I’m not counting on having a day of coordinator or anything of that nature to help get things set up in the reception venue prior to people trickling on over there. Originally our thought was to have the ceremony at 4:00pm, and then people would scoot on over to venue 2 for cocktail hour and mingling before everything else, so I added a bit of a buffer in case we can call in a little favor from someone or work in a DOC to do some things while we’re out. Buuuuuuut.
Am I missing something?? This seems so overly complicated for no reason and I’m getting overwhelmed lol. I’ve only been to a couple weddings myself so I don’t really have a frame of reference.
FWIW I don’t plan on using having a ton of crazy decorations; venue 2 will take care of all of the table/chairs setup, but as far as putting out guest book, cheesecloth, blossom vase centerpieces, arch (???), etc. as well as DJ vendor setup time I’m not sure how to make this all work.
Thank you :)
Posted Aug 3, 2026, 2:06 PM UTC