New Jersey

Need help with timing

I am starting to look more closely at our timeline and need some advice..... 

We are having a Friday night wedding in early October.  Church ceremony starts at 4:30pm (earliest time allowed) and should last about an hour.  The Reception Hall is about 5 miles away from the church, and we will have shuttles to take our guests from the church to the reception hall (also from the hotel to the church).  The cocktail hour is currently slated to begin at 7pm, but they will have a pre-CH for guests arriving closer to 6pm. 

The thing is, the more I think about it, people won't be eating their meals until like 8:30 (assuming dinner is served a half hour into the reception).  Now our cocktail hour is AMAZING, so it's not like people will be hungry..... I just don't know if people will think that this timing will be too late for dinner.  We can probably move the start-time to 6:30 from 7:00.... FI and I will just miss a portion of it, which is what we originally wanted to avoid.  But now I am more worried about the guests and how they will feel.

Any thoughts on what you think might be too late regarding timing of CH/dinner?

Re: Need help with timing

  • I personally wouldn't have a problem with the CH starting at 7.  Will the pre-CH have food too, or just drinks?  If people will have a little something to eat I think dinner at 8:30 is fine.  Honestly, I'd prefer that, because most of the time at weddings I am still stuffed from CH once the meal comes.
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Is the 90 min lapse in between the end of the ceremony and the beginning of the CH so people can check into the hotel? Or will they literally be transported immediately from the ceremony at the church to the reception as stated? This would make a lot of downtime for your guests, if I'm understanding it properly.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • My CH is at 7pm and the reception goes from 8-12. Trust me, people will be so stuffed from CH that they probably won't even notice the time of the actual dinner.
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