For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Ericia Posted: May 12, 2004 10:35 AM

For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

if you are getting married in a church, how soon after the ceremony will your cocktail hour commense?

My ceremony starts at 3:00, and there is a good chance that it will end at 3:45. I was thinking of having the cocktail hour start at 7:00. Is that unreasonable for the guests?

diamondgrlie Posted: May 12, 2004 10:38 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My ceremony is from 3-3:30pm and the CH starts at 6pm. That time frame works for me. Yours sounds fine too, the guests will find things to do I'm sure.

lorsin Posted: May 12, 2004 10:42 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

We're having a 3:30 ceremony. The cocktail hour doesn't start until 6:30. I'm figuring with the reception line after, etc. that gives them 2 hours between.

We've opened up my FILs' house to out of town guests in between if they prefer not to go back to the hotels. Our church and reception hall are within 10 minutes of each other.

We've told people they can come casual to the church and get changed in between, they don't seem to mind.

I was stressed at first that this was too much time, but it seems to be pretty normal.

steph4777 Posted: May 12, 2004 10:43 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My ceremony starts at 5pm will end between 5:30 and 5:45pm. The cocktail hour starts at 7pm. It takes about 30 min to get to the reception hall from the church.

If you don't have any OOT I guess it's fine. JMO but I would be annoyed if there was a 3 hour time difference between end of ceremony and cocktail hour.

Is it possible for a family member to host coffee hour so people can kill time?

nylisa Posted: May 12, 2004 10:43 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My mass starts at 2 p.m. I figure by the time it needs, we have a receiving line and take pictures and leave it shoulf be about 3:30 - 3:45. My precocktail hour starts at 5:30 with cocktail hour starting at 6 p.m.

kissy27 Posted: May 12, 2004 10:49 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Church ceremony is 4-4:30 & CH starts at 8pm!

Lorena Posted: May 12, 2004 10:50 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My Mass is at 2 and the cocktail hour is at 6:30. My mom keeps bugging me that they are too far apart but I don't care! We want to take as many of our pictures as possible before the cocktail hour. Plus we probably won't leave the church till 3:30 and the reception hall is a half hour away (without traffic, otherwise could be an hour+). I personally feel that if people don't want to kill time in between the church and the hall then they can skip the church altogether! If they want to be there it won't be a big deal to them. That's my opinion. So I say do what's best for you so that you are not stressed on that day.

Stacey04 Posted: May 12, 2004 10:51 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My Ceremony is at 2 and CH starts at 6:30.

Someone in my family may host coffee, but that hasn't been decided yet.

We had to do the ceremony early b/c we want to take pics outside and it starts to get dark early at the end of Nov.

lianemarie Posted: May 12, 2004 10:51 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Mass is at 5, CTH is at 8
We wanted enough time in between for pictures.

BCTM33 Posted: May 12, 2004 10:52 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My ceremony starts at 5:00 and will be 50 minutes long. My cocktail hour will start at 8:00. It takes about 50 minutes to get to my hall.

MrHostility Posted: May 12, 2004 11:06 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Our ceremony is at 2:30, cocktail hour is 6. I figure we get out of the church by 3:30. The drive is 45-50 minutes to Villa. So thats 4:30ish. An hour for pictures for us, 5:30. So we slide right in perfect.

FW says it's too much time, and we need to move the ceremony to 3. I might agree too.

Ericia Posted: May 12, 2004 11:07 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Thanks guys. I was stressing because I didn't want to be inconsiderate, but at the same time, I don't want to feel rushed nor do I want to miss the entire cocktail hour.

Many people have told me that having a gap in between the ceremony and the CH is normal, and is to be expected. I, however, didn't want to be inconsiderate of my guests.

I don't live in LI, so I wouldn't be able to have a family memeber host coffee before the CH. I am wondering if we could have Fox Hollow Inn, have coffee for guests until the CH starts. If it's going to costs us too much, then as everyone said, the people will just have to find something to do to kill time.

THanks again.

TwoBugs Posted: May 12, 2004 11:13 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

I stressed out this too, and I only have an hour between the ceremony and cocktail hour! In the end, I realized that I can't remember the last wedding I went to where there wasn't a gap in between, and I always managed to find something to do to kill time.
If the times work for you, don't worry about it. Your guests will be fine!

Ericia Posted: May 12, 2004 11:16 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Thanks Twobugs.

FLaCaTaCa Posted: May 12, 2004 11:22 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Ceremony is at 4pm. Cocktail Hr beings at 7pm

Ang&Rich Posted: May 12, 2004 11:29 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

We are having our ceremony in Queens at 3 and the cocktail hour starts at 7. We're also having our reception at the Fox Hollow! I believe they are able to accomodate early guests - just not sure how early. You should definitely speak to someone about the bar in the restaurant upstairs - if your guests can hang out up there then that might be a solution for you.

IMO - Don't stress it. I've been to plenty of weddings with long gaps in between and never once did I get annoyed...these people are friends or family! Plus - people have the choice to skip the ceremony if the gap would be too much for them. They can always go home if they want in between or they can find something to do - they have plenty of advance notice that there is a gap. Don't stress!!!

tourist Posted: May 12, 2004 11:36 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

MY ceremony is at 4, and should end about 4 4:45. Oour reception is only 2 miles away, but the coctail hour doesn't start till 7.
The church is in Hicksville, so my Mom said not to worry, people can go to the Broadway Mall!

So, If any of you happen ot be in Ikea on October 9th & see dressed up people walking around--those are my guests!

molly25 Posted: May 12, 2004 04:16 PM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

My ceremony is at 3pm and the coctkai hour starts at 6:30pm.

BriBri529 Posted: May 12, 2004 07:03 PM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Our Ceremony starts at 3 and will go to 3:30-3:45. Our CH starts at 6:00. I kind of thought my time difference was a stretch, but it also depends on how far away your reception hall is from your church.

mrsmeri1104 Posted: May 13, 2004 08:13 AM

Re: For those of you who are getting married in a chuch

Our ceremony starts at 5:30 should be over by 6-6:15 our reception is about 15 minutes away from church and CH starts at 7:30 we are doing all our pictures before the ceremonyso we don't miss a minute of our reception!!!!!!!!