How long is it between your ceremony and reception? Is 3 hrs too much. My mom thinks so. She wants to know what people would do with that much time in between.
BRod-Cheng
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
I have been to plenty of weddings where I had a gap of 3 hours (or more) - the time will go by quickly - usually people linger at the church anyway.
EJSD2006
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
i have an hour and half ONLY because my mom was complaining about 'what is everyone going to do in between!?!?!?!?!'. i was originally going to do a 4pm ceremony ending at 5pm with an 8:30pm reception. but i moved it back to a 6pm ceremony ending at 7pm and my guests can go straight to JT and hang out in the lobby until the CH starts.
but if you plan on taking pics then don't worry about the guests. they'll find something to do.
xcalystax
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
My ceremony at my church starts at 2 and the reception starts at 7 so they have about 4 hours inbetween (I am gonna go take pics).
andreamedic
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
I have a long time between both. Ceremony at the church is at 1 pm and the CH starts at 6pm... the photographers love it, its great especially in the nicer weather for pics. Guests have a while to wait, but you can ask at the RH for a hospitality hour.
Mel329
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
My ceremony starts at 3 and cocktail hour starts at 7. It will take about 40 -50 minutes to get to my reception hall. I am going to stop and take pictures somewhere before getting to my reception hall and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a second of my cocktail hour. People will find something to do. I know that most of my guests will be checking inot the hotel in the meantime and they can always go to the bar in the hotel.
nicolehojo
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
my ceremony is at 1 30 and my coctail starts at 6. I figure by the time its over, and everyone congratulates you... then you have Plenty of time for pictures... i wanted to make sure i got alot of pictures...because truly they are one of the most important things to me
JennyAl
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
my ceremony is at 3:30 then my reception is 6:30...i figure it'll end around 4....take pics till 5 then head straight to LI....should be just enough time, if not a lil extra
angel77
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
Mine will be about 2 and a half hours but I want a lot of pictures and I want to enjoy my CH. A lot of people are from out of town so they are probably staying overnight in the hotel so I am thinking that they will just go there in between.
concon361
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
I was just going to post about this! I have a lot of OT guests also that can check in to the hotel, but wht about the ones that aren't staying? Are you going to include soemthing for them to do? I am having the reception in a hotel that has a bar, so I tink that I may ask them to maybe do drink specials..my cermony will end at 4pm and my cocktail hour starts at 7pm, I just don't want my guests standing around not knowing what to do...I guess if they are that concerned they probably won't come to the church...any suggestions about what to do for/with them?
scorps1027
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
i have an hour and a half too. my church and reception hall are very close to each other so travel time and lingering in the church does not kill much time. as a guest, i've been annoyed when there'ss uch a long gap in between.
ShortBride
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
Posted by concon361
I was just going to post about this! I have a lot of OT guests also that can check in to the hotel, but wht about the ones that aren't staying? Are you going to include soemthing for them to do? I am having the reception in a hotel that has a bar, so I tink that I may ask them to maybe do drink specials..my cermony will end at 4pm and my cocktail hour starts at 7pm, I just don't want my guests standing around not knowing what to do...I guess if they are that concerned they probably won't come to the church...any suggestions about what to do for/with them?
Honestly, please don't flame me for this, its just my opinion...
For the non-out-of-town guests, if you don't provide something, they may not go to the ceremony b/c its hard to get dressed up, then sit around for 2-3 hours... If you didn't mind people not going to the chuch, that would be different. Again, JMO in my experiences as a guest...
werock0709
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
My ceremony is at 2:30, which will probably end at 3, maybe a little after, and my CH starts at 6:30. After the church we are taking pictures there, and then heading to the beach. By the time we're done, it will be around 5ish, then we're heading to the hall to take pictures there as well. In between our guests are coming back to our house for little snacks to hold them over till our CH and reception. We're not worried at all.
jeanla4c
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
I think it's fine. We had 3 1/2 hours and it FLEW for us, guests went and relaxed and/or changed, if out of town hung out watchin gtbaseball at the hotel bar or used the pool, etc. I didn't want the gap at first but it gave us time to take pics and relax a bit---my mom was RIGHT about the gap despite my anxiety over it.
dreamworld06
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
My guests have 4 1/2 hours in between because we're going to take pictures in between.
Mayflower
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
my guests will have 4 hours in-between. i'm not worried about that being too large a gap, they can walk around the area (the church is in nyc) or take their time driving to the reception hall (about 30 minutes away).
i've been to weddings before with huge gaps, and we always found a way to keep ourselves occupied before the CH.
sarahradio5
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
My ceremony is at 1 at St. Edward's. I'm banking on the fact that The Crescent HAS a restaurant/bar where the guests can hang out (and pay for their own drinks) until the cocktail hour starts at 4:30. (a lot of people just find a bar in the area to go in between anyway). And, even before the cocktail hour, the Crescent has a 'lounge' area with champagne being passed around. The lounge looks like a living room, and they'll even set up picture frames of the bride and groom around the 'living room' for guests to look at before they go into the cocktail hour. Plus, with a gap like that, a lot of guests usually go back to the hotel to change or get freshened up. In fact, if I have a shuttle bus for them, I'm making the shuttle leave from the hotel at about 3:30 for the reception... they can take their own car to the church and then go back to the Marriott. A think a 3-4 hour gap is perfectly normal... and it gives YOU more time for pictures!
Bridex100
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
I think it should be right after another.
I've heard guests are very inconvenienced, esp out of town guests because they don't have anything to do.
MattandTricia07
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
Posted by jeanla4c
I think it's fine. We had 3 1/2 hours and it FLEW for us, guests went and relaxed and/or changed, if out of town hung out watchin gtbaseball at the hotel bar or used the pool, etc. I didn't want the gap at first but it gave us time to take pics and relax a bit---my mom was RIGHT about the gap despite my anxiety over it.
yes Mom was right about that and Jean also made a good point to me...start my church at 2:30 instead of 3 so I can have more pictures in the church (we wont have much daylight in December) and we will still have plenty of time to take pictures elsewhere and at the church. And the time in between can be nice for guests who dont want to dress for the ceremony- they can go back and change and relax before the partying, or start partying early
dianadrw
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Re: Between ceremony and reception
Our ceremony starts at 3:30pm and our CH starts at 7. We figure the time will go by quickly, especially since we'll be taking pictures. As far as our guests, they will find something to do. I have been to PLENTY of weddings where I had to linger for a few hours. We either went to a Starbuck's or the mall or something. They'll be ok.
