What time should my Ceremony start?

My wedding is on a Friday. My CH starts at 8:00. What time should I have my ceremony start? 2, 2:30, 3 or 3:30?

I will be taking pictures after the church ceremony. Me and FH want to attend our cocktail hour with our guests.

I think that 3:30 may be too early if your CH starts at 8... thats a 4 and a half hour gap between the ceremony and the CH... you don't have to have that much time in order to make it to your CH...
We had our ceremony at 3 and our CH was at 6:30 and we still had plenty of time...
Is having a later ceremony an option?

I'd say if possible no earlier than the latest time that you listed (3:30). Since it's Friday (I'm having the same issue), unless people take off from work, they'll never make it and if you do it any earlier you're going to wind up with a ton of time in between church and reception. But, then again, it's your day so do whatever you want (Our ceremony is at 3:30 -not a full mass, and then a 45 minute drive to reception, with CH starting at 6:00--I don't plan on missing any of CH either.)

It all depends on where your guests are traveling from (and which ones you want to make the ceremony). Assuming they are not off that day, most people get off at 3 - 6 p.m. Leaving the city (by train) most people are home within 30 minutes - 1 hour.

I guess a lot of people would have their clothes with them and leave right from work so they could be at your ceremony by 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. I would think. That's a big gap of time but if a lot of your guests are off that day, I'd go for 3:30 p.m. or later.

I'm having the same dilemma. I'm actually considering doing my pictures before the ceremony so we can go from church to CH (about 10 minutes away) without skipping a beat. We're both unwilling to miss a minute of the CH - so I'm thinking this might be a reasonable solution.

That said, I'd probably do my ceremony at 4:30 or 5, with CH starting at ?????? I have total flexibility as I am the only wedding that night, so the timing is up to me. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon...

Good luck with your decision!

How long will pictures take?

If I start the ceremony at 3:30 it will end at 4 (4:30 with pictures) after that I want to take pictures at a park (have not decided which one) and then at the reception(I want all pictures taken before the CH) I don't think many people will attend the ceremony b/c it is Friday but that is okay with me. I want to give myself extra travel time b/c it is Columbus day weekend.

3 and 1/2 hours is too much time for pictures?

I agree..around 3-3:30pm.
I having mine on a friday as well with a 8pm cocktail hr. Church 4:30pm but I choose to take pics at my place so, I dont need the time in between.