Timing between Ceremony and reception

Does anyone have a really tight schedule between your ceremony (church) and reception? How are you handling it? My church is 11 am and reception starts at 12:30. We are going to take pictures during the cocktail hour.

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

Same here... I have a little more time though... Ceremony starts at 4, Cocktail hour starts at 630. Does your reception start at 1230, or is that the cocktail hour?? If it's the cocktail hour and you're not planning on attending, then technically you have until 130... I'd make sure your photographer is aware of the time schedule you'll be on. You're not planning on going anywhere special to take pics, right? Even though I do not want to go to my cocktail hour, my photographer told me we'd be done with pics with enough time for me to go to it... however, he did say there is NOT enough time in between church and ceremony to go for pics. I'm sure whatever you decide will work out wonderful!!! Good luck!

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

May I have an hour more than you, Ceremony at 10 am, cocktail at 12:30.
Do you have to travel between Ceremony/REception? My travel is about 20 minutes.

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

I had my ceremony at 6:15 and my reception at 7:30. My ceremony was on the west side of Times Square and my reception was on the west side of Grand Central so while the distances were short, city traffic had me stressing about the time.

I believe our ceremony finished exactly at 7PM (including receiving line and rose petal toss) - and we needed the entire 30 minutes to get just a few blocks away.

The timing worked out absolutely perfectly for us (not sure if all of our guests felt the same but I have not heard any complaints YET!).

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

Forgot to add that we took photos BEFORE the ceremony.

Just my opinion but I recommend you do the same. Im so glad I did this - I had more time for photos (even though it still wasnt enough!), I was less stressed (but herding around our gang was quite stressful), and I enjoyed every minute of my cocktail hour.

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

Cocktail hour starts at 12:30 and it is like a 20 min ride.

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

I'm in the same situation! My ceremony is at 11:00 and the cocktail hour at 12:30. I am VERY nervous about the short amount of time. The time between church and hall is only 5-10 minutes and is a direct route. We have already decided to miss the cocktail hour for pictures which will only be taken at the church and Fox Hollow. But I worry about the time a recieving line will take, and I want the guests to get to the cocktail hour on time!!!.......Hopefully we will get an early or on time start at the church to keep it all moving!

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

We have about 2 hours in between ceremony and cocktail hour/reception.

Our ceremony is at 4 and our cocktail hour is at 7:00pm. We want to enjoy our cocktail hour. We don't want to miss it.

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

Ours is late. It's a Friday Church 5pm and Cocktail hour at 8pm. It's about 35 minute drive BUT it's friday of Labor Day weekend.

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

I decided I'm not doing a receiving line, that may help my timing. Plus, Fh and I will not attend the cocktail hour

Re: Timing between Ceremony and reception

My ceremony is at 11:30 and cocktail hour begins at 12. We are getting maried at the reception site so we don't have to travel. However, the only way (I think) that we can get pictures done without rushing through them is to do them before the ceremony. I figure since we're spending so much money on the reception, we want to be a part of the cocktail hour.