Ceremony to Reception GAP

I'm been told that is rude for me to have a 2:00pm wedding ceremony (only 30 minutes) and my reception at 7pm. That people are not going to show up to the ceremony.

Please help!! I was set on the time because I wanted to take pictures and not be rushed. The next available will be to set up church at 4pm start ceremony at 5 or 5:15pm

my mother was a little upset about our 2:30 wedding and 6:30 CH but she wanted me to get married in a church and that is the time available for a saturday wedding in a catholic church.....

anyway we did a hospitality suite in the hotel attached to the RH for anyone who needed a place to go, she had a meat platter, rolls, some breads and cookies, beer, soda water and from what i heard everyone had fun til 6:30

if thats the time available you will make it work and it will be fine in the end

Its fine and its the norm. Most weddings ive gone to its the way its been. For example at catholic churches on a saturday, you HAVE to have it around that time bc at 5pm they have mass. So we had no choice but to do it at 2:30pm, bc by a certain time you need to be out so they can clean up and prepare for 5pm mass, plus confession that starts right before mass. So if people would've told me to change it, not like i could've. Not only that but remember you NEED the time after ceremony to take pics. We took pics for over 2 hours and then had to drive to reception so also will depend how far away each thing is. Ceremony to reception and if you take pics elsewhere then also pic location. Ceremony was at 2:30pm, then after receiving line and pics outside of church, got to pic location about 3:30 or a lil after and then took pics until 6pm and got to Rh about 6:45-7pm so only 30 mins before CH.

People who go to weddings frequently are used to it and know how it is. Many will know that the latest you can have ceremony at a catholic church on a saturday for example is about 3pm, some churches will do 3:30 the latest. Many people go to the ceremony dressed regularly and then go home and get ready and go to RH.

They're adults and can figure it out on their own. Theres been plenty of weddings ive had to do this for. Even when DH was in a bridal party and i was alone during the big gap bc he had to go take pics. I managed and it was fine. I wouldn't expect a bride and groom to cut down on their picture time or not get married at a church or something just for me lol. People will deal, dont worry about it. If they complain then its selfish

our RH had a lounge for guests who arrived early with some food and drinks.

ETA: those real close to you that you want at the ceremony will make it, so those most important to you will be there and in the end thats what matters

My church is at 3 pm and the cocktail hour starts at 7. The church is about 30 - 45 minutes from the RH.

We have blocked rooms at a hotel so people can go back and relax if they're from out of town.

We needed the time in order to take pictures (I don't want to miss my cocktail hour). Also, the latest the church will do a wedding on a Saturday is at 3:30 so there is enough time before the 5 pm mass. We wanted the ceremony a little bit earlier to take pictures since it's November and it gets dark early.

I had a 3 hour gap between ceremony and cocktail hour. We needed that time to change (both DH and I had to change completely since it was an indian wedding and he wanted to wear a tux for the reception and indian clothes for ceremony). We also wanted pictures of us in our reception clothes so there was nothing we could do about the gap.

Most people only came to the reception as expected. Both our ceremony and reception were in the same hotel so it wasn't a big deal for out of towners since they stayed at the hotel. For those who didn't stay at the hotel but came to the ceremony, we had hospitality suites set up with drinks and a TV for the three hour gap. Guests amused themselves.

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Posted by Espo22

Its fine and its the norm. Most weddings ive gone to its the way its been. For example at catholic churches on a saturday, you HAVE to have it around that time bc at 5pm they have mass. So we had no choice but to do it at 2:30pm, bc by a certain time you need to be out so they can clean up and prepare for 5pm mass, plus confession that starts right before mass. So if people would've told me to change it, not like i could've. Not only that but remember you NEED the time after ceremony to take pics. We took pics for over 2 hours and then had to drive to reception so also will depend how far away each thing is. Ceremony to reception and if you take pics elsewhere then also pic location. Ceremony was at 2:30pm, then after receiving line and pics outside of church, got to pic location about 3:30 or a lil after and then took pics until 6pm and got to Rh about 6:45-7pm so only 30 mins before CH.

People who go to weddings frequently are used to it and know how it is. Many will know that the latest you can have ceremony at a catholic church on a saturday for example is about 3pm, some churches will do 3:30 the latest. Many people go to the ceremony dressed regularly and then go home and get ready and go to RH.

They're adults and can figure it out on their own. Theres been plenty of weddings ive had to do this for. Even when DH was in a bridal party and i was alone during the big gap bc he had to go take pics. I managed and it was fine. I wouldn't expect a bride and groom to cut down on their picture time or not get married at a church or something just for me lol. People will deal, dont worry about it. If they complain then its selfish

our RH had a lounge for guests who arrived early with some food and drinks.

ETA: those real close to you that you want at the ceremony will make it, so those most important to you will be there and in the end thats what matters

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Thank you once again, and again, and again

Thank you ladies. I've only been to one wedding my entire life, so I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

That is quite a gap. I would be irritated becuase now I'm all dressed up and probably too far away to go home and now I have a 4 hour wait until the next event.

I would say go with the 4 or 5pm church. Then you'll have a whole 1-2 hours to do your photos (plus CH) and everyone can go get a drink somewhere and then go to the hall. Make sure you provide a list of local places and suggestions.

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Posted by abrennan01

That is quite a gap. I would be irritated becuase now I'm all dressed up and probably too far away to go home and now I have a 4 hour wait until the next event.

I would say go with the 4 or 5pm church. Then you'll have a whole 1-2 hours to do your photos (plus CH) and everyone can go get a drink somewhere and then go to the hall. Make sure you provide a list of local places and suggestions.

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but catholic churches you cant do 4 or 5pm ceremony bc they have mass and they need you out of there before so they can clean up after your wedding and start mass by 5pm.

Also if ch is at lets say 6:30 then when would they have time for pics if they do 5pm. THey would have less than an hour for pics. So i think its more important for the bride and groom to get some pics. For some it can be close, if they live in the same town as the church then its close for them to go home and you can go dressed regularly to the ceremony. Most guests just deal, i would NEVER expect a bride to cut down on her picture time or not do her wedding at a church on the day that she wants just bc i might get annoyed, its about them not me.

My ceremony begins at 4:15, probably to end at 5:30 after a few pics outside the church.

We will host a hospitality hour at a restaurant down the block with Sangria and light appetizers until 6:45. We anticipate rush hour traffic on a Friday will require our guests to leave an hour to travel from Astoria to Woodbury.

CH begins at 8pm.

I think it's totally fine. I'm having my church ceremony at 2:30 and my reception doesn't start until 7:30.

It's absolutely FINE to have a gap in between! Definitely don't compromise with your pictures. For me, it's VERY important for me & FH not to see each other before the ceremony, so I also have a gap. The Wedding begins at 2:00 and the Cocktail Hour begins at 6:00.I had to do this because our pictures will be taken AT the reception hall, so I want to have time alone there before the guests begin showing up. Plus it's important for us all to be apart of the CH.

I, personally, like it when there's a gap at weddings i attend. This means that i don't have to dress up for the church part. Just a regular nice outfit and then i have time to go back home and get REALLY dolled up for the night

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Posted by coldasice217

I think that's fine. I'm having a 3:00 ceremony and 7:30 CH start, but we might move the ceremony to 2:30 for the same reason. Are you planning on blocking rooms for guests at a nearby hotel? If you are and that hotel has a bar, they can always fill the downtime there. That's what I think I'm going to do, and see if I can arrange transportation to the RH.

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lol were having the same time for ceremony/mass and ch on the same day! lol