our wedding was at 4:00 & dinner was at 6:30. We had a champagne toast after the wedding (it was included in the package) and then took a group picture. after that everyone went off on their own & we took pictures. it was nice to have so much time to take pictures & not have to worry about keeping our guests waiting. From what i heard, everyone enjoyed the down time. I know a group went & had ice cream. other's went to the bar. Almost everyone went to their room to change or freshen up. it was hot during the ceremony.
Then we all met up for dinner in one of the restaurants at 6:30. it was semi-private. really, it was just like having 3 tables in the middle of the restaurant. it wasn't private enough for toasts or anything like that. I asked them just to serve the cake, but they brought it out for us to cut. i didn't want to cut the cake & do all that, but since they brought it out we did. it was fine & wasn't awkward doing this in the restaurant.
i enjoyed having it this way. I didn't want to have a full blown private reception. not only because it wasn't in our budget, but I didn't want that long of an event. by the end of the day we were really exausted & wanted to be alone. our guests were fine without us. several had a blast at the hotel disco. many of our crew went to bed early. everyone had been out all day in the sun.