Ceremony Time on Invites?

Do you put the actual time of your ceremony on the invitation, or an earlier time so that people won't be late? If you put an earlier time, how much earlier? 15 minutes?

We are having to order our invitations really early, so all of a sudden we have to make a bunch of decision much more quickly than we expected...

Thanks!

Re: Timing of Ceremony?

We put the real time.

Re: Timing of Ceremony?

Our invite will call for 7:30 ... the ceremony will start at 8:00.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

My ceremony starts at 11:30am we put 11:15am on the invititations

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

mine starts at 6 we put down 5:30. I didn't want people walking in once it starts. Just my perfernce though...

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

We put 15 minutes earlier. We don't have much time between the ceremony and cocktail hour for pictures, so we are starting right on time and I don't want lots of stragglers coming in during the mass.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

We put the actual time. We did not want to inconveniece the guests that would arrive early or on time by making them wait an extra 15 mintues (or more) to accomodate people that are late.

I couldn't tell you if anyone arrived late, and I am sure there were, but they went unnoticed as they discreetly approached the ceremomy site.

As a guest, I plan to arrive at the ceremony location at least 10-15 minutes early (we leave time for traffic & missed turns if it's in an unfamiliar area). So I admit I would be a bit annoyed and restless if I got there and find out that the ceremony is not starting for another 15-30 minutes after the invite time since now my wait time could be 25-45 minutes.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

I put fifteen minutes then the actual start time.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

We put 1/2 hour before the actual ceremony time. I suggest that you put 15 minutes before. I had guests there for over an hour waiting!

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

We put the actual time...to my knowledge, everyone was on time.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

I put 5:30, ceremony will begin at 6:15. I did this for 2 reasons. Most are coming from Brooklyn to LI on a Friday right after labor day and since we are getting married on site, it gives them the opportunity to snoop around the grounds.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

I plan on putting an earlier time but havent decided on 15 or 30 minutes earlier yet. I too have to rush from ceremony to photo place in order to be able to take pics and I dont want to be late for that!

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

I want my ceremony time to be 5:45 pm on the inviations. i know that typically everything is spelled out on the invites. Would that be written as'quarter to six'? Thanks. my cerremony will not start until 6:00pm.

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

We are doing a cruise wedding. Our invites are going to say, Boarding begins at 11:30 am for departure at 12:00 pm (But we are actually not depart until after the ceremony).

This way if anyone is late they should still make it prior to departure, cause once the boat leaves it's gone.....

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

We're getting married at our reception hall. The coordinator suggested we word the invites to ask taht guests arrive at 7, ceremony at 7:30.

If I was getting married at a church or somewhere else, I would put the time of the actual ceremony - not earlier.

(We're having 3 pieces from our band play for the ceremony so they'll be there for the pre-ceremony 'events' as well and the guests will be served champagne & strawberries.)

Re: Ceremony Time on Invites?

we put 30 mins before...since we got married at the hall and they served champagne, sparkling water and fresh fruit kabobs before....so we wanted the guests to mingle and enjoy the hospitality half hour...

since everyone was there...we started 10 mins early...and got a longer cocktail hour...