Our Proven Timeline for a Flawless Quinceañera Reception
Is your quinceañera date coming up but you still haven’t solidified the reception timeline? Maybe you have a few things figured out like the time for dinner or even what time your vendors are scheduled to arrive but you’re still not sure how everything’s supposed to work out that night.
Well, you’re in luck! In this post, I’ve put together an example itinerary to help you have a better understanding of what happens at a quinceañera reception. This itinerary is for a 6-hour party but even if you’re planning for your daughter’s quince to be shorter or longer this post will still be very helpful.
The itinerary example will give you ideas of things you can do in your party and the best time to get them done. Some details will seem essential to the party for you while others may not resonate as much. There are no rules to what you should or shouldn’t do at your daughter’s quinceañera reception so feel free to include or exclude what you want and make this unique to her.
5:00p - Guests Begin Arriving
Greet Guests
The beginning of the reception is the best time to greet your guests. As scary as it may seem for some girls, having the quinceañera standing by the entrance welcoming her friends and family shows her maturity and her appreciation for them coming to her party. Also as the night progresses it might be more difficult to get this done with everything else that will be going on.
Pro Tip: Something really great to do while you’re greeting the guests is to let them know what you want them to do while they’re at the party. Guests need a lot of direction, like, a lot of direction. So let them know the things you’d like them to do while at the event.
You can tell them to:
Sign Your Guest Book if they haven’t yet
Come take a photo with the quince when they're done eating dinner
Take a photo in your photo booth (if you plan on having one)
Stick around for a surprise performance right after dinner, (this is to help prevent people from leaving the party directly after dinner so they can stay long enough to see the presentation and dance.)
Having the directions come from the quinceañera herself can make a huge difference in what guests do during your party. I mean think about it, maybe the guest was never planning to go to the photo booth or was feeling shy about getting up during dinner to take a photo with the quince. But because the instructions came straight from the quinceanera herself, the guests will see that these requests are really important to her and are more likely to participate in the things you want them to.
Mocktail/ Cocktail Hour
Once the guests arrive and greet the quinceñera, there won’t be much to do while they wait for dinner to start. Setting up fun mocktails for the younger crowd or cocktails for the adults will give your guests time to mingle and stay occupied while waiting for dinner.
Blessing or Religious Ceremony
When I was a teenager the blessing or religious ceremony was always held at the church. Usually, in the morning/ early afternoon between 11a-3p and then we’d have hours of dead time waiting for the reception to start.
Today’s quinces are a little different. A lot of families are choosing to have their blessing or religious ceremony at their venues instead of the church. I personally think it’s great! It simplifies your day by keeping everything in one building and it allows you to schedule the blessing at the beginning of your reception so friends and family are more likely to be in attendance.
Appetizers
Having some lite bites for guests to munch on before dinner is never a bad idea. Just like you probably appreciate the chips and salsa before your meal at a Mexican restaurant, guests will appreciate some type of appetizer before dinner starts. And your appetizer can literally be CHIPS and SALSA! Having anything at all that your guests can snack on while waiting for dinner is a solid plan.
6p - Dinner
Most dinners last about 2 hours but this will depend a lot on the caterers you choose. In any event, make sure you’re clear about how long they plan to serve food at the event. 2 hours is plenty of time for guests to eat. It’s long enough for everyone that shows up a little late to still have time to grab a plate… and there will be late guests!
If you’re planning for your dinner time to be shorter be sure to let your guests know in advance so they can arrive on time to eat.
The quince should always be served first, I mean it is her party right!? But seriously, you want her to start eating first so she can begin taking family photos as soon as she’s done.
Which we’ll get to in the next section but this step will make a huge difference for the rest of the party. The sooner the pictures can get started, the better!
7p - Pictures / Cake Cutting
Pictures
Taking pictures at your event can take a long time! We want EVERYONE in attendance to take a picture with the quinceañera. So starting pictures as early as possible will help keep the rest of the night on schedule!
I placed pictures in the middle of dinner because if your dinner is scheduled for 2 hours, from 6p-8p for example, about an hour in, the majority of your guests including the quinceañera will be done eating and just waiting for the next thing to start.
So instead of wasting time and waiting until dinner is officially over, your quinceañera can get started taking photos with family and friends. Remember at the beginning when I mentioned guests need a lot of instructions? Well asking them to take a photo with the quinceañera is one of those instructions that needs to be repeated over and over again.
So have your dj make several announcements for friends and family to come up for pictures!
Your guests will slowly start making their way over to the quince for pictures as they finish their dinner.
Cake Cutting Photos
Plan for your cake-cutting photos during this hour as well. After dinner will be the presentation which then leads directly into the dance floor opening up, so there really isn’t any time to get the cake-cutting photos after that! And I hate seeing quinceañeras get dragged off the dance floor from their friends to go take cake-cutting photos that didn’t happen earlier in the reception. Most parents I talk to want their daughter to dance all night long. Well doing your cake cutting photos during dinner will allow that to happen.
8p - Quinceañera Presentation
I won’t really go in-depth on this post about all the presentation details, you can read that blog here. But I will say your presentation from start to finish should not take more than an hour. Keeping a good flow in your presentation is key! The best way to do this is to make sure you have everything prepared and in place before it begins.
You don’t want to find yourself running off the dance floor in the middle of the presentation to a back room where the last doll is still wrapped up in plastic because it wasn’t set up ahead of time. These types of delays can cause the presentation to drag and your guests to get restless.
Pro Tip: Make sure everything you need for your presentation is set up beforehand. This will make the difference between having a smooth flow and everything looking crazy and disorganized.
While the presentation of the quinceañera is in my opinion one of the most important parts of the entire reception you don’t want it to take so long that guests lose attention or get bored. We have to keep in mind, this is a Party!
9p - Dessert Table Opens/ Dance Floor Opens/ Photo Booth Opens
Once the presentation has ended, this is the perfect time to open up the dance floor, the dessert table, and the photo booth. Have your DJ make announcements for these things so your guests know what to do.
Remember, guests need instructions! Most parties will keep the dessert table closed until after dinner so all the yummy stuff doesn’t get devoured before people have finished their dinner.
And keeping the photo booth closed will keep your guests from trying to take photos while you’re in the middle of your presentation.
Pro Tip: Place a “Closed” sign on your dessert table to prevent guests from attacking the sweets before dinner.
Kicking the night off with your favorite line dances is the best way to get your guests to the dance floor! Don’t be afraid to get out there and enjoy yourself! At this point, you’ve earned it!
11p - Party Ends
At this point, the party is winding down and this magical night is coming to an end. If you have small gifts for your guests be sure they’re in a place where they can grab one before they head out.
Some venues will take care of the entire clean-up process for you and some expect you to leave it the way it was found. Either way, before the date of the event, make sure you are clear about the policies your venue has in place for clean-up. That way you don’t get charged extra for something you could have prevented.
Conclusion
I hope this post has helped you have a better understanding of what a quinceañera reception timeline can look like. And also a clearer vision of your own daughter’s quinceanera reception timeline! I want you to be in the best position to get as many memories from that night as possible because these memories will be what your family will have to look back on, 10 to 20 years down the road.
You don’t want to receive your photos back from the photographer and realize the quince didn’t take as many pictures with friends and family as you would have liked. Or regret investing in the photo booth because no one really used it because no one announced that it was even there. Follow this example itinerary and I know you’ll create the best experience for your daughter that she will never forget! Good Luck with everything!
