XP wedding timeline

misssunshine17

Hi ladies! FI is Catholic, so we will be getting married in the church. (I consider myself non-deonom and am not ready to convert right now, but see it happening in the future) and we realized today that they only doing weddings at 1pm- we had been told 4pm would work. We were planning on dinner. Did any of you have 1pm weddings? Do you think the timeline below is reasonable? This is what the venue suggested. 
1:00 Ceremony2:15  Guests- leave to reception venue, BP- pictures in church2:30-4:00pm Cocktail/heavy apps, BP- arrive at 4pm. 4:30 dinner
I'm not sold. Any input would be appreciated!!

heroeswearbrown

I recently went to a catholic ceremony that started at 2:00, we left the church around 3:30 or so after all the pictures had been taken since FI was a GM. There were no cocktails or apps, just dinner around 4:00 or 4:30. Aside from being hungry later that night, there were not issues with it. FI and I just ordered food when we got back to the hotel. No one left for lack of food and drink. It just ended around 6:30 of natural course.

MyNameIsNot

Our Catholic ceremony was at 2, as is the norm in my family.  We had a 20 minute drive distance, so the venue opened at 3:30 for cocktail hour.  We did cocktails and apps until 5.  Then when everyone was brought into the ballroom and seated, we started with toasts and a few other things to push dinner start time back to 5:30.  Then the reception went on until about 10.  It worked out fine for us.  

If you're worried that guests will get hungry again with an early dinner, you could always do the meal right away and then do evening snacks later in the event.  But honestly, most people are going to expect a meal after a 1:00 ceremony.  By the time you build in travel and getting ready time, they'll either be having an early lunch or no lunch at all.  

misssunshine17

I am so thankful for these responses! I was so upset last night thinking we were going to have to shift everything up so much that we would loose the 'party' aspect. Thankfully, neither of our families has a problem with day drinking  

We're thinking of having a whoopie pie station, so that would be available all evening if people got really hungry. 

Is it really okay that people will be having cocktails/apps for almost two hours? The half hour between with BP there, I figured would be entrace, first dance and welcome speech. 

misssunshine17

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_xp-wedding-timeline?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:cb5129ed-caab-4a62-bb6b-26e7177a1690Post:441abe85-04dc-4152-84fa-f15fc898d0b0">Re: XP wedding timeline</a>:
[QUOTE]Am I really the only one who thinks a 2 hour cocktail "hour" just so they can serve dinner is rude?  
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

<div>This is exactly what I'm afraid of. I'm really just looking into all options. As of now, we might just have to change to a non-demonminational pastor in a chapel so we can move it later because our venue allows a max of 5 hours. Thanks for voicing! </div><div>
</div><div>PS- a couple days ago, I accidently blocked you and flipped when I realized- I love reading your witty posts :) </div>

MyNameIsNot

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_xp-wedding-timeline?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:cb5129ed-caab-4a62-bb6b-26e7177a1690Post:441abe85-04dc-4152-84fa-f15fc898d0b0">Re: XP wedding timeline</a>:
[QUOTE]Am I really the only one who thinks a 2 hour cocktail "hour" just so they can serve dinner is rude?  
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

<div>You can serve a meal any time you want, so I don't get why it would be so they <em>can</em> serve dinner.</div><div>
</div><div>I don't have a problem with a 90 minute cocktail hour, especially if there's seating and it's not at a time when people are starving.  Why would a 90 minute cocktail hour in the middle of the afternoon followed by dinner be rude when a 2-3 hour cocktail reception in the middle of the afternoon with no meal is perfectly fine?  </div>

erinlin25

If you are doing a full catholic mass, the ceremony will be closer to an hour and half- two hours, so by the time your guests leave the church and get to your reception venue it will be closer to 3/3:30 anyway.  (unless its super close to the church).  Most people will mingle and talk a bit too, so I think your timeline will be fine, and by the time they transition to cocktails into the ballroom + the BP entrance, B/G entrance.  You guys can do your first dance and then toasts, etc, so dinner can be around 5.  Plus if they are having heavy aps at the cocktail hour, its probably better not to rush right into dinner so early.  For a 1pm wedding, I would think people would at least know to eat a big breakfast or something for lunch before they go to the church.

Peledreamsofrain

Our ceremony wasn't Catholic, but it was moved to 4pm without us wanting it that early due to a mis-print on the invites (long story, very much a 'breathe and roll with it' moment).

We decided that because the ceremony would be over at 4:30, it was close enough to dinner to offer people one.  To cover for the eventuality that people might not eat enough that early, or become hungry later, we had heavy apps available at the reception. (technically our reception was split, with dinner at the ceremony garden, and dancing/drinks at hotel.  Another 'breathe and roll with it' moment due to outside circumstances forcing the split)