How much of a time gap between your ceremony and the reception?

I am totally freaking out over this!

My church is at 1, and the reception hall wanted to start at 6pm, but we added an extra 30 min. to cockatil hour, so it's now at 5:30pm. I just think this is too much time in between. What are the guests going to do in between? It's not like it's spring or summer, it's going to be COLD outside, so they can't really stroll around in Port Jeff? Well, maybe they could? I don't know! AGGGGHHHH.

We are doing our pictures before the ceremony (because it is winter and there may be a daylight issue)...so I was thinking the reception should start more towards 5.

What are your times?

Hi Kathy -

My church is at 3:00 and the party starts at 7:00 so I have a ton of time also. Most of them will go back to their hotel rooms to finish getting ready - others may hit a local restuarant for a snack.

If you are that concerned maybe make the church a little later?

Don't try to please everyone b/c that won't happen LOL!!!! You do what you can and what you think is best and everything will be wonderful!!!!

I have 4 hours in between, however, I am getting married in Queens on a Friday night and my reception is in Suffolk county (Holbrook) so we wanted to make sure that we had enough time for Friday night LIE traffic and pictures.

My friend got married in Queens and had her reception in Nassau (Jericho Terrace) and she had 5 hours in between on a Saturday (much less traffic). It went pretty fast with all the pics. Some guests ended up going home to get dressed and then going out later on since the gap was large.

Whatever you choose will be fine. Keep in mind, your invitations go out around 6 weeks before your actual wedding so guests have ample time to decide what to do in between. Do what you think will be best for YOU since it's your day.

Thanks ladies...it's so true, sometime us brides totally forget that the day is about us (and FI of course )...and we just try to please everyone else!

Heck ya, I'm gonna do what I wanna do!

My church will only go as late as 2:30 pm for the ceremony. The reception is 4 miles away on the same road and we wanted it to start at 7:00.
It is too much time in between. The hotels are not close to the church or the reception so we were thinking of having people come to our house to hang out. Our guests are from all over but few live close enough to go home.
We are also thinking of having the ceremony at the reception venue now just to make it easier.
That's not ideal for everyone but since mine is interfaith - there is really no difference between having it at the church or the reception venue.
I aksed my mom what she does during those breaks and she said she goes to Home Depot. She said there's always a Home depot nearby.
I said, 'Even in your beaded gown and Daddy in his tux?' and she said absolutely!
They must look really strange. Who takes a trip to Home Depot in their tux?
I notice a lot of ceremonies being very empty these days. That would really upset me.
I think it's so rude to not go to the church.

2 hour gap.
Our ceremony starts at 2pm and should end by 3pm. We chose to start our reception at 5pm because we wanted to add an extra hour.

We figured the 2 hour time gap would be needed to get from Huntington (North Shore) to Oakdale (South Shore) and our guests can walk around Hunt. Village if they want to (assuming the weather cooperates.) We plan on taking photos during those 2 hours, so as not to miss our cocktail hour.