Wedding Information Con't.

What is the "Afternoon-Lull" issue?

Note, this section has been written by a former professional photographer, and is based upon his many observations of how people "react and behave" during the different parts of a wedding day.

Firstly, the Afternoon-Lull issue specifically relates to the period that starts shortly after the wedding breakfast, and only ends when the evening party 'FULLY' gets going. Depending on exact timings of these two parameters, an Afternoon-Lull will usually last somewhere between three to six hours. Generally, this is the only part a wedding day where there is very little going on, and this period of inactivity can lead your guests becoming very tired and lethargic.

Note: The bride, groom (and a few other key people), will probably be extremely busy all day, so they will rarely have to endure many hours of inactivity and in fact, may not notice that there is an issue at all. That said, anybody who has been a guest at a few weddings, will know exactly what I am now writing about... "I have just given this specific issue a label"!

So, the true benefit of afternoon/early entertainment, is that it will provide a place of "fun and sparkle" for your guests to gather around during the afternoon and early evening, and this will prevent a lengthy Afternoon-Lull. However, there are some other benefits too e.g. it will help to prevent the fragmentation of guests (e.g. people who wander off and/or, who form small cliques); it will help to reduce excessive drinking; and if you have children at your wedding, they will be less likely to misbehave. Realistically, it is still very likely that people will move around from time to time (either for a bit of exercise or to socialise), but after a while most guests will normally be drawn back to the entertainment, as it will become a focal point.

Note: The Afternoon/early evening entertainment has a different purpose than the evening DJ or Band i.e. the former needs to gently enhance and/or, maintain the enthusiasm and energy of your guests, ensuring that our guest are fit and ready to party later on. Whereas the latter will want to generate a much higher level of enthusiasm and energy to get people up and dancing.

How exactly does this Afternoon-Lull issue undermine the evening party, and by how much?

Firstly, we will examine what you really need for a good evening party: -

a) It is essential that your daytime guests are all still happy and content; that they are still being social and interacting with others; that they are still full of "positive energy"; and that they are all looking forward to the evening party. Realistically, some people are never going to be 'party animals,' but you still want these less active guests to be chatty, smiling, and adding their own type of "positive energy".

b) When your evening guests arrive, that they enter into an environment that is already full of "positive energy".

c) That whatever you have planned for the early part of the evening (often snacks and non-alcoholic drinks), that this helps to maintain your guests "positive energy" whilst they wait for the party to commence.

Note: Generally, adults do not want to party/dance before 21:00hrs in the evening (possibly even later if it's a beautiful summer evening), so if you are planning for your party to kick-off before this time e.g. 19:30, you may struggle. The solution that I found to this, is to have the evening snacks/drinks at around 20:30hrs, and only after this do you get your DJ or Band to initiate the party (a first dance is a great party starter, as this will draw in all of your guests to watch).

So, now the ideal situation has been fully identified, we can now identify what will be the likely outcome if your wedding day plans include a lengthy "Afternoon-Lull" e.g. from 16:00hrs to 22:00hrs... six hours!

Firstly, if by the early evening your daytime guests have already become very tired and lethargic, then their enthusiasm and "positive energy" is likely to have either significantly declined, or have already been totally lost. Understandably, these guests will already be working out an exit strategy e.g. a plausible excuse to leave your wedding at the earliest possible opportunity.

Secondly, it is important that when your evening guests start to arrive (bringing their fresh enthusiasm and "positive energy"), that they do not enter an environment full of sour faced and clock watching guests, who obviously want to leave.

Thirdly, once all of your guests are present, don't then subject them to a further lengthy lull in activity.

Conclusion: The energy state of your guests is a key factor if you want a great wedding experience, and anything other than "positive energy" is very likely to become problematic. In fact, maintaining a reasonable level of "positive energy" will not only remedy an Afternoon-Lull, it will also overcome many other issues that you may encounter on your wedding day e.g. inclement weather conditions, planning glitches, *guests tripping over and breaking their ankles (*I've seen this happen a couple of times), etc, etc, etc.

As for how much evening parties are effected, I would suggest that about 35% are not affected at all (however, many of these weddings had afternoon and/or early evening entertainment). About 55% were underwhelming and fell short of expectations. And, the other 10% ranged from just being very disappointing, to being a complete disaster i.e. they failed to start at all - "think tumbleweed on the dance floor, and that most guests had given up hope and left by ten-thirty"!

Summary: Whilst I will openly concede that the above outcomes may appear a bit melodramatic, the reaity is almost every all-day-wedding will suffer from the Afternoon-Lull issue... "the only variable is by how much"!

Truthfully, most wedding guests can easily withstand around one hour of inactivity (they may even appreciate a break from the formalities), but a more lengthy period can be incredibly tiresome and if lethargy sets in, this can have a very significant negative impact on the evening party. Simply put... 'lethargy' and 'partying' are NOT good bedfellows!

Reality Check: -

If a bride and groom are "really lucky", the arrival of a fresh batch of evening guests and/or, the onset of the evening party, may re-ignite the positive energy and enthusiasm of your lethargic guests (especially if you have engaged a really good DJ or Band). In such cases all will be well... "happy days"!

However, I have witnessed far too many evening parties that have failed to meet expectations, and this was almost always due to the Afternoon-Lull issue. So, I would suggest that if you don't want to rely solely on luck, just ensure that limit the Afternoon-Lull to no longer than sixty minutes!

Lastly, I know that the above may appear like I'm a "gloom & doom merchant," and that organising your wedding may now appear to be even more of a logistical and financial burden. However with regard to the logistics, most weddings are just a predictable sequence of specific parts, and almost all of these parts will have professionals involved who should be able to help you with the planning and timings e.g. Hairdressers, Make-up Artists, Photographers, Chauffeurs, Clergy or Registrars, Caterers, Venue Managers, Entertainers, DJ's, etc. Once you have a plan and the timings for the day, all you have to do for is look for any long gaps and in most circumstances, the only long gap will be the "Afternoon-Lull". With regard to the finances, in the grand scheme of things an afternoon/early evening entertainer should not add that much to your overall wedding budget.

Top Tip: If you have a tight budget, sacrifice things that are not going to really add much value to your own, or your guests, wedding day experience e.g. fancy invites, extravagant table or room decorations, overly expensive wines or Champagne, fancy food/snacks, etc. Generally, guests won't give a damn, or remember, any of these things, but they definitely will remember sitting around for hours getting tired and lethargic!

I will end with this... in my opinion, "a good wedding is one where those people who really wanted to attend, those who were duty bound to attend, and those who were coerced into attending, all come away having had an enjoyable experience".

For those of you that have read this section, I do hope that it will help you to have the wedding of your dreams.

PS: Zara aka "Chasing Leaves," would be a very good choice for your afternoon/early evening entertainment"!