OK now I'm worried

melissa82

Going through the whole thought process below is making me think there's not enough time in between the ceremony and reception. Ugh. I'm just worried if the ceremony is called for 6 pm, they usually start at least 5 minutes late. The ceremony should be about 30 minutes, and then there's usually a receiving line at the church. Even if you spend 15 seconds talking to each person, that's 25 minutes! So now we're at 7 pm. Then people drive to hotel, that's 7:30. I could do a 7:45 shuttle, but then the next shuttle will be at 8 (at least) and so people are going to miss some of cocktail hour. I know it's not a huge deal, but it's a lot of money and I want the full value! lol It's like $7pp lost for every 10 minutes of people not there!Should I ask the priest if we can start at 5:30? Should I bump the reception time to 8:15? Should I ask the priest to make an announcement that there won't be a receiving line and we will meet them at the cocktail hour (possibly making the older/more traditional folks upset)?

tyler&maggie

Could you do the receiving line at the cocktail hour? I fully understand wanting to get your full $$ worth.

melissa82

Not really, we're having a private cocktail (half)hour with our bridal party (so we get to eat!) then joining everyone in the CH rooms.

jennlin

our 3 hr gap was not enough :(we took waaaay too long taking pictures (we didn't do any before) and didn't show up until 45 minutes after cocktail hour started....dh and i wanted to join cocktail hour so we missed all our yummy food!

melissa82

We're doing all our pics beforehand, so at least that's on our side. I am telling our photographer I do not want to pose at all after our ceremony. =)But, wow--three hour gap wasn't enough? Were you traveling to another location for pics?

jennlin

not really. we walked from mccaw hall to the international fountain..but that's a less than 5 min walk. DH has a LARGE family (dad has 11 bros and sis), and they insist to be in formals....my cousins and all my mom's brothers ditched right after the ceremony..so it was only his side that took this long. we hardly did any poses for just us. after, we went to a grocery store to pick up a toss bouquet, and then straight to salty's....at 6:45...so took us almost 4 hours. how big is your family, and do they insist in being in formals? i think that made the big difference for us....well..if you're doing pics before..it really shouldn't matter too much anyway.

melissa82

No, no family in formals. Doesn't matter if they want to be in them, they won't be around for them anyway! LOL.The reminds me that FI's aunt thought that she was going to be in them. I thought it was the craziest thing I ever heard. But I didn't know some families do that.

therickson

We are moving our ceremony to 5:30 so we had more time to do a receiving line on the way into cocktail hour...

Zista

I think it's fine that some people will miss some of the cocktail hour... to me, the whole point of a cocktail hour is to keep people entertained while waiting for the whole party to arrive. People are SUPPOSED to come in at different times... think of it this way - the people who go through the receiving line first have somewhere to go and be fed/entertained while waiting for the last people. I'm behind, so I'm confused by the shuttle part.

melissa82

Back east, cocktail hour is the part of the wedding with the most food, people often say it's their favorite part. A large portion of what we're paying is just for food for the cocktail hour, so that's why it's a big waste for people to not be there. IIt's not really used as a buffer time, even though you're absolutely right that's what it was originally created to be.