Early AM Weddings - What To Do?!?!

I am wondering who has had an 11am wedding - mainly at ROR?

I'm assuming you did pics after the ceremony but what did you do to kill some time until dinner? I'm not sure what to do! I don't want to have lunch instead of a dinner. I was thinking about after the ceremony have champagne and cutting the cake and then pics but I don't know if that's a good idea either.

Suggestions would be great & input from those who had an 11am wedding would be great!!

Hi...I am getting married at the RIU OCHO RIOS on January 22, 2009 @ 11:00 AM and am having the same problem you are. I have no idea what to have guests do between the ceremony and dinner. I am assuming the ceremony will be over between 11:30 AM -11:45 AM. Any ideas how long after champagne and pictures will take? I can't imagine it taking any longer than an hour. I plan on having guests come for dinner at around 4:30 PM and eating at around 5:00 PM. I wonder if there will be any kind of entertainment/show available to occupy guests until this time? If you get any ideas please let me know too!!

I know some other ROR brides have had the same problem... check out this thread http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t8501

This is what I'd do

11am- wedding

11:30- cake & a toast

12 group pictures

Then let your guests go off to lunch or whatever they feel like doing while you go take your pictures. You can be completely relaxed & take your time because no one is waiting on you. Everyone can do their own thing until you meet up for dinner again that night.

I'd just let my hair get messed up & change into a casual white dress for dinner. I'd probably put on a white swimsuit & head out to the beach during the break. it might work out really nicely. Most couples don't get a time out to just take it all in. Maybe the two of you can go for a romantic boat ride. I wouldn't worry about leaving the guests to do whatever they want. As a guest in an AI I'd enjoy having the time free to play. Maybe you can make a reservation so all the guests can have lunch together while you take pictures.

Good plan morgan, I'm getting married at 1 and my prob is what to do before it cause i'll just want to get it over with lol i reckon by 6 it will be all over and people can do what they want rather than waste a full day with us

11- ceremony

11:30-12:30 pics

12:30-1:30 lunch (not your reception though)

1:30-3:30- You can rent the Disco for 2 hours if you want to dance, toss bouquet and garter, and all that kind of stuff.

3:30-5:30 relax, freshen up- believe me you will need to freshen up!

6:00- dinner

Our wedding was at 11:00. We did pictures and had champagne right after that right there on the beach. We then went to our room to change and relaxed on the beach the rest of the day. It was so nice because I could just relax and not worry about anything!! I got my hair done on the resort and it stayed all day. We did sit in the shade and drank our cocktails!! We then went to change back into our wedding attire and went to dinner at about 6. We only had one other couple with us so it was not like we had to entertain anyone else. Then that night we watched the entertainment they had. It was a day I will never forget!!

Thank you all for the ideas! I have yet to check out the tread you posted Becky..but I will when I get home - I'm at work and I might get in touch

For those of you who have done the ceremony at 11:00 and then had a coctail hour or appetizers, did you wait until after this to get pictures done? If so, does that mean the photographer was not present at the ceremony or during coctail hour? or do you get photos done during all of this?