Just Stop Gapping Already!

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826

So I got married on Sunday.  It was a blast!  I didn't take much time off and I came back to work on Thursday.  A coworker gives me a hug and I catch her up on the festivities.  She tells me she's going to a wedding Nov 8 (today!) and it's in this lovely brewery.  DH has contacts there and it was in the running for our venue choice but the logistics wouldn't work out for my family.  I tell her she'll have a wonderful time because they have been nothing but kind to us there in the past and the service is wonderful.

"Dinner is at 7.  The reception starts at 6," she says to me.  I ask if the ceremony is being performed there.  "Oh!  No no.  They wanted to get married in the church (in the next city over) at 1pm.  So we will go, see the ceremony, leave, then get ready and go to the reception."

The ceremony is an hour.  So everyone is dismissed at 2pm.  Then the reception is in the heart of the city at 6pm.  She was asking me if there's anywhere to go downtown to hang out before the reception.  A 4 hour gap.  Just...ick!  And she has to worry about parking on top of that.  I felt bad!

Lurkers, please, avoid the gap!  Avoid it at all costs!  

charlieyankee03

I grew up with a girl that has been a SS since the day she was born. She got married on Valentine's Day, which was a Friday this year. In the northeast (cue the snowpocalypse). Downtown in the afternoon, so everyone had to take off work and fight traffic. 

The ceremony was SIX HOURS LATER in our hometown, 45 minutes away. I'm so glad I didn't waste my time on that.

themuffinman16

We are having a 7 hour gap at a wedding, next year. H is a groomsman, and the wedding is really far from us.  We will have to stay at a hotel, and I will be in the hotel, by myself, for that many hours while they are doing god knows what.  Why would you have a 6 hour gap... that's like another event, in and of itself.  Maybe they have to go to another wedding, before they complete their own wedding day.  

   Thankfully, they are having a sweetheart table, so I will see H for the rest of the day. I feel bad for the other guests who won't have a hotel room, and will have nowhere to go for 7 hours.

charlieyankee03

themuffinman16 said:

We are having a 7 hour gap at a wedding, next year. H is a groomsman, and the wedding is really far from us.  We will have to stay at a hotel, and I will be in the hotel, by myself, for that many hours while they are doing god knows what.  Why would you have a 6 hour gap... that's like another event, in an of itself.  Maybe they have to go to another wedding, before they complete their own wedding day.  

   Thankfully, they are having a sweetheart table, so I will se H for the rest of the day. I feel bad for the other guests who won't have a hotel room, and will have nowhere to go for 7 hours.

Hahahaha to the bolded. My mom went to the wedding I mentioned and during the gap she went and taught 3 yoga classes.

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826

themuffinman16 said:

We are having a 7 hour gap at a wedding, next year. H is a groomsman, and the wedding is really far from us.  We will have to stay at a hotel, and I will be in the hotel, by myself, for that many hours while they are doing god knows what.  Why would you have a 6 hour gap... that's like another event, in and of itself.  Maybe they have to go to another wedding, before they complete their own wedding day.  

   Thankfully, they are having a sweetheart table, so I will see H for the rest of the day. I feel bad for the other guests who won't have a hotel room, and will have nowhere to go for 7 hours.

Awww, that's not right  Weddings should be fun, not alienating.

I remember talking to my mother about gaps and that's just what you did back then.  It was expected.  TK taught me that mentality is shifting and I'm glad for that.  We planned our wedding to avoid gaps.  I just wanted to be with my guests as much as possible!

WinstonsGirl

Gaps are the norm up here.  I've only been to 2 weddings that didn't have a gap and one was mine.  We'd generally go out with a group of friends for lunch at some restaurant and start drinking (cos cash bars are the norm here too).  Once we stopped at a casino in between the ceremony and reception and made some cash for drinking at the reception.   They suck though.  I got all dressed up and now end up back at home doing housework or trying to nap and have to get ready to go out again a few hours later.  

levioosa

My Mom was talking about a wedding with a gap she went to a few months ago.  It was so long she had time to go to the mall one town over to go shopping.  Then when she showed up to the reception, she and my Dad (who was the Bride's Godfather) were squished all the way in the back with the old Italian relatives (all of whom are now 80+).  There were so many people that nearly two hours had passed and they still hadn't been excused for food.  Finally my 86 year old BSC Nonna stood up and said she was getting food and she didn't care who was supposed to go first.  I don't know whose idea it was to keep a bunch of 80 and 90 year olds waiting to go last for the buffet, but that was a terrible decision.  

Etf: Grammar

levioosa

Oh, and congratulations on getting married, OP!