Another Gap Question

joey2831

Hi!  I have another dreaded gap question. 

Our ceremony starts at 4 and the cocktail hour starts at 5. I know most ceremonies won't last more than 30 minutes, so is it okay to have the guests mingle around until the bar opens at 5. The ceremony and reception are at the same place, so they only have a 5 minute walk to get to the reception area. I know people will want to come up and congratulate us after the ceremony which will take up some time. We will have all of pictures taken care before the ceremony, so we will be there mingling with everyone else. Is this time frame acceptable? We have an open bar for 4 hours and I don't want to pay for an extra hour when I know we won't need that much time. What do you guys think? Thanks for your advice.  

Liatris2010

Start cocktail hour at 4:30. You can have the receiving line right in front of the entrance to the cocktail area so guests can congratulate you and move on to get a drink. Cocktail hour is a perfect time to mingle, guests don't want or need to mingle in a 30 minute gap between the ceremony and cocktail hour.

climbingsingle

If the ceremony and reception are happening at the same venue, why wouldn't the cocktail hour start right after the ceremony?

joey2831

Great, thanks for the advice. 

joey2831

I wanted to give the DJ time to set up since they are also providing the music for both the ceremony and reception. I hadn't really thought about the time gap for the guests until I started reading some other posts. The cocktail/reception area will be open at 4:30, I just thought to have the bar open at 5. But I can just move that up.  

Liatris2010

Our DJ did ceremony and reception and I don't remember it being an issue. He came early and set everything up before the ceremony. Did he specifically mention needing time in between? As for the bar, I think it would be fine to move everything up 30 minutes and then end 30 minutes early, but if you really don't want that, you can ask about doing a consumption bar for the last 30 minutes. I would imagine the last 30 minutes people are finishing their drinks, not ordering new ones, so it shouldn't be a big expense.

steph861

Our venue insisted on having a 30 minute gap between the end of the ceremony and the beginning of cocktail hour because they said it takes that long to get people out of the ceremony room. Personally, I think that's BS. Not everybody will be waiting around (especially not for half an hour) so I'm going to do what I can to make sure that cocktail hour is set up for guests by the end of the ceremony.

To me, a 90 minute cocktail "hour" is better than a 30 minute gap followed by a true cocktail hour. It's not ideal, and I wish it had worked out differently, but we'll try to make the best of it.

LabLove86

steph11814 said:

Our venue insisted on having a 30 minute gap between the end of the ceremony and the beginning of cocktail hour because they said it takes that long to get people out of the ceremony room. Personally, I think that's BS. Not everybody will be waiting around (especially not for half an hour) so I'm going to do what I can to make sure that cocktail hour is set up for guests by the end of the ceremony.

To me, a 90 minute cocktail "hour" is better than a 30 minute gap followed by a true cocktail hour. It's not ideal, and I wish it had worked out differently, but we'll try to make the best of it.

I agree 100%!!

PrettyGirlLost

joey2831 said:

Hi!  I have another dreaded gap question. 

Our ceremony starts at 4 and the cocktail hour starts at 5. I know most ceremonies won't last more than 30 minutes, so is it okay to have the guests mingle around until the bar opens at 5.   No, people will be bored and will not appreciate standing around for no reason.  The ceremony and reception are at the same place, so they only have a 5 minute walk to get to the reception area.   Even more reason NOT to make people stand around and wait for cocktail hour to begin.  Your reception should begin right after cocktail hour, especially since your ceremony and reception are in the same location and require no travel time.  I know people will want to come up and congratulate us after the ceremony which will take up some time.  That's called a receiving line, and your reception must start as soon as the 1st guest is out of the receiving line. . . so 4:30pm.  Receiving lines go very quickly if done correctly, and some ppl may choose not to participate in one. We will have all of pictures taken care before the ceremony, so we will be there mingling with everyone else. Is this time frame acceptable? We have an open bar for 4 hours and I don't want to pay for an extra hour when I know we won't need that much time. What do you guys think?  I think you are going to need to pay for an extra hour of open bar, sorry   Or have your open bar from 4:30pm-8:30pm.  Thanks for your advice.  

novella1186

The fact that the ceremony and reception are right next to each other would probably make it even more awkward for people to stand around for a half hour. Even though it's not an very huge amount of time, it can drag on forever where there's nothing to do and you're just waiting. At the very very least you should provide people with water, iced tea, etc and places to sit down (elderly people and anyone in uncomfortable shoes will not appreciate standing for that length of time). But I agree with the other PPs that you could just shift the bar time by 30 minutes.

alpacalunch

Liatris2010 said:

Our DJ did ceremony and reception and I don't remember it being an issue. He came early and set everything up before the ceremony. Did he specifically mention needing time in between? As for the bar, I think it would be fine to move everything up 30 minutes and then end 30 minutes early, but if you really don't want that, you can ask about doing a consumption bar for the last 30 minutes. I would imagine the last 30 minutes people are finishing their drinks, not ordering new ones, so it shouldn't be a big expense.

As usual, Liatris is wise. I echo this statement.