Friday Ceremony: What Time?

kthame

Hi Ladies, So far our wedding is the only one booked for our church so we have a say in what time we want our wedding. Our reception doesn't start until 6:30pm so I have no idea what time we should have our ceremony? I would prefer NOT to have a lot of in-between time but I also don't want to have to RUSH back to the reception hall. I believe we have the option of a 3pm or 4pm ceremony start-time; our church is at St. Andrew the Apostle in Calumet City (our priest (the pastor) is a long-time GREAT friend of the family) so without question, I wanted him to marry us.  The church is about 30-35 minutes from my parents house (in Oak Lawn) and about the same distance from my FI's house. It's an old church (built in 1892), and has the look of a cathedral. It's gorgeous!We're not having the full Catholic mass, only the ceremony as our bridal party and families are several different religions and it's what works best for us. I'm not sure how long the ceremony will be, as I've never attended a Catholic wedding where it wasn't a mass. Anyone have any idea?I know we need in-between time for pictures (and I have NO idea where those will be taken yet) but we will be competing with traffic on I-94 and I-80 during rush-hour. So, that being said, what would you suggest?As always, TIA for the input!

gkb0910

The ceremony without the Mass will be about 30-45 minutes.  A ceremony start time of 3 or 4 will be difficult for some people to attend due to work.  I don't think either would be easier than the other though.  The way I figure it (ceremony time plus pictures in the church) if you do the 3 pm ceremony, you'll be done about 4:30 and have 2 hours for pictures and the 4 pm ceremony you'd be done about 5:30.  I guess it depends on where you're doing pictures and how far it is from the church and reception hall.

MP1105

I would say 4pm sounds good. Especially if you didn't want a huge wait in between. I've been to one Catholic wedding and it was rather lengthy, about 45 mins. Definately ask your Pastor as well. He can give you an approximate ceremony length. If it starts at 4, figure 30 minutes if it's not a full Catholic Mass (if it's close to an hour, you could be cutting it close)..that's 4:30pm, an hour for pictures that's 5:30pm, then head to your reception. You'd be there at 6:00-ish and that gives you some room for any traffic delays. Do you have a cocktail hour?

Sparkette19

We are having a full mass and I'm budgeting a full hour for it. I was told that just the ceremony would be about 45 minutes. Oh, our ceremony time is 4pm for our Friday wedding. I think our reception is going to start at 6ish. We're taking most of our pictures before the wedding, but we want to take a few pics on the golf course too at the reception. My thing was that I wanted to be at the cocktail hour to greet our guests. Not only that, but I know I'm going to be itching to get the day started. I won't be able to sit still.

morgie44

I went to a Friday wedding over the summer at Di Nolfo's where the ceremony was in Mt. Greenwood (by Oak Lawn) and it was at 3, for a full mass.  Their reception was at 6 and they got there about half way through the cocktail hour.  (Though they spent a lot of time lingering at the church before going to do pictures)  I think it was about the same distance from church to hall as it will be for you?  There was no traffic on 80 really and I doubt that there would be much going west on 94 at that time either.  I know it's not apples to apples, but thought it would kind of help you get an idea... I would suggest working backwards.  If you want to be there at 6:30 for the start of cocktails, You will want at least 2 hours from the end of the service, which I am guessing will be about 45 minutes, plus 45 minutes or so to travel (with a large group it takes a lot longer than you would think to actually get people in the limos and get going)  I would suggest either 3 or 3:30.

mjune3881

Advice from someone who had their wedding on a Friday.  Family members will come to the ceremony no matter what time it is and so will your closest friends.  Expect a smaller crowd for the ceremony on a Friday, even if the reception was immediately following the ceremony.  If you are planning on taking pictures before the wedding then I think you could start at 4 or even later.  If you want do not want to see each other before the wedding, have the ceremony as early as possible so you have PLENTY of time for pictures.  We started our ceremony at 2pm (full Catholic mass) with a 6pm cocktail hour.  We barely got to the reception site by 7.  Traffic, distance between the sites and pictures took way longer than expected!  I wish we started earlier to get more pics in.

kthame

Thanks for all of the tips ladies!!! I definitely don't want to see my FI before the ceremony, so I'm thinking a 3pm ceremony start time will be the BEST! :)I appreciate all of the input!!!

lmb5109

Our Friday ceremony started at 5:30 and the reception started at 7. All in the same place of course. We didn't think we'd have a lot of people at the ceremony but we had over 85 people! Since we had it in between Chicago & Milwaukee (Mt Prospect), people only had to leave a little early from work to make it rather then take a 1/2 day or full day of vacation.