XP: asking guests not to arrive too early

Ghostie625

XP to Catholic weddings

My wedding is coming up in a few weeks. We are getting married in a Catholic church and are lucky enough to be able to do it after the vigil mass, however there is only a half hour gap between the end of the mass and the start of the ceremony. 

I'm not planning on doing any decorating in the church so that won't be an issue, but my concern is guests arriving before the mass ends. (5:30 end time, 6:00 ceremony). Would it be OK to put something on my wedding website notifying my guests of this? If so, how would you word it?

Thanks

ILoveBeachMusic

I doubt many guests would arrive more than 30 minutes prior to the ceremony time, but if they do is it really a big deal? I mean they probably wouldn't enter the sanctuary if they see a service is taking place. The church where DD was married runs an assembly line of 4 weddings every Saturday. Each wedding is allowed 2 hours. One wedding is usually finishing up when the other wedding party and guests start arriving. It was no problem. That being said, you could probably put something on your website informing people that the Mass might be finishing up when they arrive for your ceremony.

aurianna

Ironring said:

I agree, it's not a huge deal. But you could put something on your website saying that the mass occurring before the wedding will end at 5:30 and you anticipate the sanctuary will be available for guests to enter at 5:45 (or whatever time). 

Yeah, I don't think it would hurt to put this on a guest information or ceremony tab of a wedding website and maybe just mention it word of mouth if your wedding is ever up in conversation.

No, guests aren't idiots, but I don't think it's outside the realm of possibilities that a guest could get there and second guess themselves, wondering if they got the time wrong, and thinking the wedding is already in progress (especially if the guests aren't Catholic and don't realize Saturday evening mass is a big thing). It could save on some awkwardness.

STARMOON44

Why is this a problem? If they arrive too early surely they will know to wait outside?

PrettyGirlLost

Hell the wedding prior to mine ran late.  We all had to wait outside or in the foyer of the church before we could enter.

[Deleted User]

I agree, it's not a huge deal. But you could put something on your website saying that the mass occurring before the wedding will end at 5:30 and you anticipate the sanctuary will be available for guests to enter at 5:45 (or whatever time). 

lnixon8

PrettyGirlLost said:

Hell the wedding prior to mine ran late.  We all had to wait outside or in the foyer of the church before we could enter.

Same! We got a new priest a week prior and were not told until the day of. Apparently the new guy was very long winded and they had a receiving line. I said congrats to the bride and asked (half jokingly) if she needed anything out of the bridal suite before I got in there (15 minutes before ceremony).

Ghostie625

Thanks ladies. You're probably right that people will figure it out. I guess I'm just at that stage where where I'm worrying about all these little things that probably don't matter lol.

Ghostie625

aurianna said:

Ironring said:

I agree, it's not a huge deal. But you could put something on your website saying that the mass occurring before the wedding will end at 5:30 and you anticipate the sanctuary will be available for guests to enter at 5:45 (or whatever time). 

Yeah, I don't think it would hurt to put this on a guest information or ceremony tab of a wedding website and maybe just mention it word of mouth if your wedding is ever up in conversation.

No, guests aren't idiots, but I don't think it's outside the realm of possibilities that a guest could get there and second guess themselves, wondering if they got the time wrong, and thinking the wedding is already in progress (especially if the guests aren't Catholic and don't realize Saturday evening mass is a big thing). It could save on some awkwardness.

This is mostly what I'm worried about. My grandmother once went to the wrong wedding because she lived close enough where she could see the church from her house, saw everyone arriving and thought she got the time wrong. Turns out there were 2 weddings that day and she was invited to the later one. 

Also, there are 2 sets of doors to my church, one of which opens right into the chapel space, so people could end up walking right in to the end of mass.

Again, I'm probably worried over nothing.