Time of Day for Reception?

Qston

Hi Ladies,

I am getting totally ahead of myself in certain aspects of planning, and totally falling behind in others, but wondering for a Friday wedding in August, what is an acceptable start time for reception to start (ceremony will be held earlier, with smaller group, reception will start with some cocktail time, then moving to dinner, then on to dancing, etc)

ChrisandBri

I am doing a Friday evening wedding/reception as well, but my recpetion won't start until later because my ceremony venue (Nazareth Chapel) doesn't have us starting until 7pm.

BUT, since you are having a ceremony earlier-- If I were you, I would probably not start the coctail hour any earlier than 6 because you may have some of your reception guests scrambling to get ready after work on Friday in order to get to your party on time. I guess it kind of depends on your crowd too; a lot of my fiance and my friends live in the area, and our family does not. Therefore, it will be a younger crowd that will be more willing to stay up later--so I think it really depends on who you think is coming.

Where is your reception at?

Linzstyle

I also agree.....
our wedding will be held earlier on a Friday, but it was also because of our ceremony venue.  We have to be out of our ceremony site by 3:00.....in order to get the price we got.  But, I assume, most of my family will take the day off....and as far as other friends, acquantenances, I don't care if they don't show for the wedding itself....
So, just enough time for ppl to get off work, and if you hold a cocktail hour, and don't eat until 7, it gives those ppl the time to get there sometime during the cocktail hour and not miss dinner.

Qston

Thanks Ladies, our venue, Old Arizona Theater is ours for the day, so we are doing ceremony and reception at same location and can really time things however we want. I am just trying to put together a sort of structure of the day in my head, so I can start putting together other pieces of the day.

wittyschaffy

I had a Friday wedding (private small ceremony with a large reception) and had cocktail hour at 6 and dinner at 7.  It worked out well for the locals because they could still work all day if need be and it wasn't too late for a dinner for most people. 

NuggetBrain

We are doing a Friday wedding next May.  Our ceremony is at 5:30 in St. Paul, and our reception is starting at 6:30 in Minneapolis (they'll start seating for dinner at 7:15 and serving at 7:30).  I'm worried about people having to leave work early, getting stuck in rush hour, etc.

rkroer

I wouldn't start it any earlier than 6:30, 6 pm would be okay but might make it tight for guests coming after work.  But that's just if it were me, my personal preferances.
We're having a Friday wedding in May, but our ceremony isn't starting until 7pm and reception won't begin until about 8pm (or a little before that).  We're just doing hors d'oeuvres and dancing, so we felt we could push the time back by quite a bit and this way.  Plus, we want everyone to be able to come to the ceremony (that's the most important part to me) so wanted to be sure that left time for guests to leave work, change, and travel time (abt 30 min drive for everyone).

huwehotaling

I wouldn't start your reception any earlier than 6:30p.  For those that are working that day, it would be tough to get anywhere before then in traffic.  I went to a wedding last year that started at 6 and we were scrambling to get ready because we had to drive all the way across town in traffic.