Illinois-Chicago

When should the ceremony start?

The reception cocktail hour starts at 5:30 and it takes about 5 minutes to get there from the church. The ceremony will take about 30 minutes, and we are not doing pictures before the ceremony. My mom thinks 3:30, but FMIL thinks that's too long of a gap. The reception coordinator suggested having half sheets of papers with a list of places that people can go during the gap. I don't know I just want enough time to take pictures at the church and (cross your fingers) outside at our reception site, but I don't want to be rude to the out of town guests that aren't familliar with the area. Help!
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Re: When should the ceremony start?

  • morgie44morgie44 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011

    Assuming your ceremony starts on time at 3:30, Ceremony ends at 4.  It will take at least 15-20 minutes to get guests out of the church/ceremony area.  That puts you at 4:15 or 4:20 by the time you start pictures.  Depending on your photographer, family size, and style of photos you want, at least 15-30 minutes of church photos, puts you at 4:45 to 4:50.  By the time you get your bridal party rounded up and in your mode of transportation and to the reception it will be around 5.  That leaves you about 30 minutes to take pictures and hopefully catch a breather before the reception starts. 

    I am speaking from experience...  We had a similar 'gap'.  Our ceremony was at 2 (but was an hour long) and our cocktail hour started at 5.  That (should have) left us with 2 hours for pictures and I honestly felt rushed.  We also took very few family pictures at the church, we didn't do a receiving line, and reception site was less than 5 minutes from the church.  By the time we arrived at the reception site, guests had already arrived.  I really wish we would have had some time to collect ourselves before starting the reception.  If I could go back I would have had the reception start at 5:30.

    Also, I think a somewhat short gap is worse than a slightly long one IMHO.  If your gap is an hour and a half or so, it gives guests time to go to a bar get a drink or two and head back to the reception site, where as a 45 minute break or so isn't enough time to really DO anything, just sit around and twiddle their thumbs until the reception starts. 

  • edited December 2011
    Why don't you just use the cocktail hour time for pictures and have the ceremony start at 4:30pm or 5?
  • hz80408hz80408 member
    5000 Comments 5 Love Its Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    I agree w/2nd post...I think you should have atleast 2 hrs for pics, maybe even 2.5 hrs.
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