Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

ddms7870 Posted: Jan 21, 2011 08:22 PM

Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

For our Saturday wedding, our church is at 2 and our reception was set to start at 7. After some 'concerns' about that, we ended up (thankfully) being able to change our cocktail hour to begin at 6 instead.

My question to you ladies...if we had NOT able to change to 6pm, how big of a deal would that have really been timewise? I'm just kind of surprised about how some people have reacted to our 'huge' time gap.

When you think about the church ending around 3 and FH and I not arriving at our RH until around 4, I didn't think it was that outragous.

Am I wrong???

FutureMrsCat050412 Posted: Jan 21, 2011 10:11 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Our church is 4:00 and CH is 7:00

FMIL was very concerned with the gap! Mainly bc most of our family lives in Suffolk & our wedding is in Nassau.

I've heard from MANY people not to worry & that everyone will find somewhere to go in between. Whether it be a bar, a store, a friend or familys house. I'm trying not to think about it anymore

I have heard of RHs allowing people to show up before the cocktail hour. It has a name but I cant think of what it is....

S00n2beWifey Posted: Jan 21, 2011 10:15 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

i dont think its that big of a time gap...it allows for travel time and stuff.. also it would be great to maybe stop at a second location and take some more pics! ... our wedding starts at like 630 and goes till 7 but it is at our RH ..

EmilyandPeter Posted: Jan 21, 2011 10:21 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

I have a big gap of time. Church at 2 CH at 7. Honestly, Someone will host something knowing my family for everyone to get together.

ddms7870 Posted: Jan 21, 2011 10:43 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Posted by FutureMrsCat050412

Our church is 4:00 and CH is 7:00

FMIL was very concerned with the gap! Mainly bc most of our family lives in Suffolk & our wedding is in Nassau.

I've heard from MANY people not to worry & that everyone will find somewhere to go in between. Whether it be a bar, a store, a friend or familys house. I'm trying not to think about it anymore

I have heard of RHs allowing people to show up before the cocktail hour. It has a name but I cant think of what it is....

I have the same issue...most won't want to go home during the gap but there is always something to do. I can't get too wrapped up in trying to make everyone happy so i'm going to try not to think about it anymore either! :) Our RH actually will let guests arrive around 5:15 so that's about as good as I can do.

KristynLeigh Posted: Jan 21, 2011 11:29 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Posted by FutureMrsCat050412

Our church is 4:00 and CH is 7:00

FMIL was very concerned with the gap! Mainly bc most of our family lives in Suffolk & our wedding is in Nassau.

I've heard from MANY people not to worry & that everyone will find somewhere to go in between. Whether it be a bar, a store, a friend or familys house. I'm trying not to think about it anymore

I have heard of RHs allowing people to show up before the cocktail hour. It has a name but I cant think of what it is....

I think it's called hospitality, well at least that's what the Sand Castle calls it.

courtneydemarco12 Posted: Jan 22, 2011 01:06 AM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

having a big gap should not matter it is whatever you want and it give you more time for pictures and what not.

gmo4462 Posted: Jan 27, 2011 12:38 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Hey! We are trying figure out our hall and church situation. The hall only has a 6 start time and our church only has a 1:00. So we would have a full mass (getting done by 2) then how long would you say it would take to greet everyone, walk outside then go back in for pics? Was thinking of finding a park or something after for pics (I want the foliage) because Jericho Terrace does not have that. Our church would be in Seaford then hall is Mineola. Does anyone know if Jericho Terrace would have a room set up if we were done with pictures by like 5:15-5:30?

ewecki825 Posted: Jan 27, 2011 01:13 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Our ceremony is at 4:30 and our cocktail hour starts at 7:00. We didn't want there to be too much time between the ceremony and the cocktail hour because we didn't want people to have to wait around. Also, our ceremony and reception are in the same town so we didn't want people to have to drive there and home and then back. However,I think that when there is more time in between it gives you more time for pictures. Hopefully we will be able to get all of our pictures done in that amount of time. I think that you should do whatever you want because it is your day.

SeptemberBride2012 Posted: Jan 27, 2011 01:23 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Yeah, I think it is called the 'Hospitality Hour.'

Our church is 3:30 and cocktail hour is at 7 - the church and country club are no more than 10 minutes away from each other so even though we are having a full mass with a receiving line - figuring we'll be done about 4:30-4:45 we are going to try and see if they can set up the HH at about 5 if some guests do decide to get there early. I have been to so many weddings where people just go to a local bar or restaurant and just have a small bite to eat and drink and then go to the party so if they wont do it for us our guests will just have to find something to do ha ha

Bride in 2012 Posted: Jan 27, 2011 01:26 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Our ceremony will probably start at 2 and our cocktail hour starts at 7. I'm really not worried about the gap because we're getting married on a Friday night and it will allow us to have plenty of time to take pictures and OOT guests to get settled in and relax at the hotel. Our church is in Westchester and our reception is in New Jersey (only 35mins apart) but to account for traffic too.

Watermelon5 Posted: Jan 27, 2011 06:36 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

I was concerned about the gap, as well. Obvi it is our big day and we want pics but I also don't want my guests wandering aimlessly and to be honest I have attended weddings where there was a huge gap so I skipped the church to avoid it! We had our CH bumped up an hour and now we will only have about 2 hours in between which I think is fine. 5 seems a tad long, IMO, maybe you can provide a list of suggestions for ppl to go who aren't from the area? I noticed you are getting married in the winter so people may be less likely to want to go around and look for something fun to do (maybe direct them to a local espresso bar or something)! Either way, the people who want to be there will suck it up so I wouldn't worry for that!

ddms7870 Posted: Jan 27, 2011 08:16 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

I ended up talking to my RH and they moved the CH up by an hour so i'm happy with that. FH and I talked about heading to a 2nd location for pics before we head there and we'll need the time anyway. Like you said, they can suck it up

DGPS Posted: Jan 29, 2011 12:44 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Our church is 2:30 and our cocktail Hour is 7:30. We are taking pictures in between and it gives the out of town guests time to check into the hotel and get settled.

chliekm Posted: Jan 29, 2011 04:37 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

Don't worry!! Everyone will find somewhere to go.. this is normal for weddings in the NY area!!

Our church is at 3 right now and CH is at 6:30... I'm worried we won't have enough time for pics and to get to the RH an hour before to relax and take more pics before we start greeting people. I may try to move my wedding to 2:30 if the Church will let us just to make sure we aren't rushing around in between.

deeda1129 Posted: Jan 29, 2011 09:49 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

My ceremony is at 2 in Selden and reception is at 630 in Woodbury. My parents are inviting people back to their house in between. It is what it is. People should be understanding. I'm not going to stress about it :)

SUbride10_08_11 Posted: Jan 29, 2011 10:15 PM

Re: Time Gap between church and cocktail hour/recpetion

We have a 2:30 mass, and cocktail hour starts at 6:30. I'm hoping it is the right amount of time for everyone. So if our mass ends at 3:30, we take pix at the church in Hauppague, pix at my house on the way to RH (if there is time), pix at the beach by RH, and then RH. It will work for us hopefully.

For guests, it allows them time to leave the church, check in at the hotel, freshen up and then get on the shuttles to the RH at around 6ish.

Plus it is Columbus Day Weekend and our guests will be heading east with the rest of the world, so I think it will make for a less stressful day for everyone having some time. I actually know alot of my friends like having time to change and freshen up before the RH- they wear one outfit to the church, and then put on their formal dress for the reception. (One of my friends always brings 3-4 dress options to choose from in case someone else has the same dress on at the church lol)