ROR reception question?

I booked my ceremony for 2pm not realizing that I could not have dinner until 6:30pm. This really makes me mad b/c I booked as soon as the 2009 dates opened and if I would have known this I would have picked a later time. I picked a package that included a dinner so I feel I should have been told this and given the option to book a later time before someone else did. Well nothing I can do about that now. I have 70+ guests coming to the wedding, it seems the ceremony is going to have to be at 2pm. Even if I have an extended cocktail hour it would have to be 3 hours to reach dinner time. What am I supposed to do during those 3 hours? I figured there would be the hors d'veours and I would do the cake cutting and special dances there. I would also have a steel drum band play. But what should I do for the rest of the time? I was also thinking about forgetting about the dinner reception and having the extended cocktail, but won't the guests be starving by the end of that and want to eat dinner? Any suggestions.

 

 

Note to those considering ROR book the 4pm ceremony if you want a reception.

Well, there are lots of ROR past brides who had early ceremonies & still had their reception at 6:30. Check out the Jamaica ROR wedding reviews & you may find what they did.
You can still do the cake cutting & dances as you suggested, as well as the cocktail hour. Also keep in mind that if you're having a photographer, that process could take up to an hour.
So lets look at your potential time line:
Ceremony- 2pm to 3pm
Cocktail hour & pics- 3pm to 4:00, or 4:30
That leaves 2 hours. You could slip the cake cutting & dances here. That could shave off another hour. So that leaves you at 5:30. You could always stay on the beach & have the steel band entertain you for that last hour!

If you don't want to have the steel band that long, once all of the cake cutting & dancing is done, you could always suggest that guests change their clothes, into something more relaxing, or, you could always just hang out at the bar, which is right next to the disco.
There were lots of brides who did this, the week that I was there. They had early ceremonies, and then I'd see them & their guests, lounging around the bar area as well as the lobby area, until it was time for their 6:30 reception.

Oh, there's always St.Ann's! I think Courtney, aka Agape Gems, went to St.Ann's in btwn her ceremony & reception. Check out her review for specifics.

You also suggested skipping the reception altogether. That's always an option, but don't do it out of frustration & regret it later. But, if skipping it is what you want to do, you can always take your guests off site & have some fun. You can arrange a trip to Margaritaville, or you could arrange a dinner cruise, you can arrange an excursion to Dunn's River! There are many choices!

I am new to this website. How do I see the reviews?

At the top of the site, click on the "Search" key. A drop down box will come up. There just type in ROR wedding reviews.
Or, at the top where it says Best Destination Wedding Forum, click on that. It will take you to the home page. Scroll down to Jamaica & then you can search for wedding reviews there.
You can also click on "Wedding Reviews" from the home page as well.

In the meantime, I'll see if I can find some reviews for you & I'll post them here.

Here's the thread which explains how to search:
http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t13834
http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t14777

Here's the link to the Wedding Reviews section of the forum. Some titles may be ROR wedding review, Riu Ocho Rios Wedding review, etc.

2pm is the perfect time slot! You get a bit of a sleep in, time to eat and to get ready. We had our ceremony at 2 and it worked out perfectly! after the ceremony, we took some group pictures on the beach, some pictures of just the 2 of us, then met up with the majority of our guests by the pool bar. It was a free way to hang out and visit, totally casually. They play music at the pool bar too. Honestly, I felt like 6:30 came too quickly as we weren't able to take all of the pictures we wanted. Don't worry, things will work out great! With 70 people, you're bound to have some people who will need to take a mid-day break, have a snack, etc, I wouldn't try to overschedule.

Ive got the 400pm slot at Tropical Bay in April '09. Im considering changing it if possible... not enough time between the ceremony and the reception for pics, drinks.. etc. We'll see though...

 

Plus, every other wedding I've been to there was a huge gap between the ceremony and the reception. I always managed to keep myself entertained (drinking). Go with the flow, your guests might like the delay - they can drink, relax, have a nap, get refreshed... Remember everything is on island time anyway, mon.

When we booked our date 11 months in advance, the only times that were available were Tuesday at 11am or 12 noon. I wasn't angry about this, maybe a little disappointed, but oh well, what else can I do.

 

There was no way I was missing the reception (like you are thinking of doing) and I did some reading of reviews and other threads about what past brides who had early weddings did and I came to terms with it pretty early on in the planning process. My thinking is that there will be less time that day to stress abou the day and more time that we get to spend together as husband and wife! I'm actually looking forward to the early time now (except the 12 noon sun!)

 

So I have the 12 noon ceremony. So from 12-1: wedding and steel drum band for mingling for an hour, with the rum punch etc. From 1-2:00, pictures with the gang

Then after that we'll do our pictures and probably take a rest.

6:30 will come pretty quickly. I think the guests will enjoy going to a wedding and then going to the beach right after - you can totally play that up. AND if all your guests are coming to your wedding and going to be there the whole week what's one day where things might be spread out?

 

If you are still concerned about the early time, maybe instead of having the 6:30 dinner at ROR, you can go offsite on a catamaran for the afternoon until the dinner recpetion or just have the whole reception offsite altogether!

My wedding was at noon, so I did everything totally different that most of the brides. We had the ceremony, took pics, then had a lunch reception at Mammee Bay, cut cake and had toasts, then rented the disco from 2-4 and danced the afternoon away. When we were done at 4 we went back to the beach and had our TTD session.

 

If I had it to do again the only thing I wished I had know was that the food at Mammee Bay is different at lunch time than at dinner. So instead of a great steak dinner I had a hamburger. I should have had lunch at Mammee Bay but still requested to have my formal dinner reception there too. But instead, we changed after the TTD and met our peeps at St. Anns to eat and hang out and then we all went to the beach party.

 

And really, none of it matters now cuz we are married and enjoying life and I can laugh at the fact that I had a hamburger at my wedding!

That may be an interesting option, having a lunch then a more traditional formal dinner