Ceremony time

beautifulmama28

OK...so its come down to two choices for time to begin our ceremony.

Initially I had figured 1pm, (on a saturday) because we wanted to be able to hang out at the reception for 2-3 hours then us adults are headed out on the town for a night of casino/fun before FI and I head to our hotel room.

Then...I met with my photographer and she told me if the ceremony is at 1pm, then we have to be on location to start taking pics at 10am!!!!  (location might be a 20-30 minute drive away too)

I don't mind getting up early. That being said, isn't that incredibly early to have to get up, have stuff ready, BE ready make up hair, dressed etc AND make it onto the picture location on time?

So now I'm considering pushing it back to 2pm.

My question is, am I over estimating how much time I'll need to get ready in the morning? Or would that extra hour really make that much difference? (I have no idea how much time to even anticipate which is why i'm asking lol)

I'll probably shower that morning, but wash my hair the night before, if that helps.

I don't want to intrude on the celebration time of the day, hence my apprehension about changing the 1pm time frame, but its crunch time as I'm ordering invites in the next few days and have to make a decision. TIA

tiny speck

There are so many factors to consider here. Are you getting professional hair and makeup done? What about your bridesmaids? What kinds of pictures do you want before the ceremony? Are you doing a first look to get most of them out of the way beforehand? Or do you not mind having couple's shots after the ceremony, say during cocktail hour? Also, what time will your reception start if your ceremony is at 1pm, and what kind of reception is it (just cocktails? lunch? dinner?)? I guess I'm a bit confused by you saying you only want to be at the reception for 2-3 hours and then go out... are you planning a big gap after the ceremony (which I'd encourage you to re-think)?

beautifulmama28

 Are you getting professional hair and makeup done? yes! trying to get her to come to me

What about your bridesmaids? i have no idea lol

 What kinds of pictures do you want before the ceremony? we are doing outdoors, the photographer said to schedule a solid 2 hours in so 10am would allot for 2 hours plus an hour to get to the church before ceremony

 Are you doing a first look to get most of them out of the way beforehand?

yes

 Or do you not mind having couple's shots after the ceremony, say during cocktail hour? 

We decided against this because we wanna hit the road and go eat/celebrate with our guests immediately. The reception place can accomodate us at either time (which will be an hour and a half to two after ceremony is done at most)

So if the ceremony was at 1, reception would start at 3 and go to 6pm.

Also, what time will your reception start if your ceremony is at 1pm, and what kind of reception is it (just cocktails? lunch? dinner?)?

We are going to a local sports pub, they serve all american grill type stuff (ribs,burgers,etc) we are feeding our guests dinner...then cake,

 I guess I'm a bit confused by you saying you only want to be at the reception for 2-3 hours and then go out... are you planning a big gap after the ceremony (which I'd encourage you to re-think)?

We can only book the restaurant for 3 hours tops if that makes sense, plus...you have to understand, I'll have my 8 kids with me lol its very hard to have any type of adult time when they are there (the younger ones anyways) so they plus any other children in the group will not be going out with us if that makes sense, so between those things, we are not in a hurry, just that we won't have anywhere to go and we want to spend the evening with adults/friends

ETA: by going out we are going to the casino lol not for kids

Jager1219

2 hours for actually taking pictures sounds right.  Find out from the person doing your hair & make-up how long that will take for you.  I'd say 1 hour each would be average, so that's 5 hours right there which means you need to start hair & make-up at 8 am.

artbyallie

How long is your ceremony? That seems like a large gap between it and the reception.

That said, I got married at 11am, though we didn't do a first look, we did do most of the pictures that we could beforehand. I think I got up around 6? And H and I are not morning people.

beautifulmama28

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_ceremony-time-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:034a6b0e-4ab2-404e-9da4-1bbdd3ba437ePost:070cb30c-45d7-4b0a-b8a0-733455ed567d">Re: Ceremony time</a>:
[QUOTE]How long is your ceremony? That seems like a large gap between it and the reception. That said, I got married at 11am, though we didn't do a first look, we did do most of the pictures that we could beforehand. I think I got up around 6? And H and I are not  morning people.
Posted by artbyallie[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>lol</div><div>not certain yet, we are metting with the minister in 2 weeks, so I would assume 30 minutes at most. The restaurant we are going too is a good 20-30 minute drive though,...</div><div>
</div><div>so if we do the first look, and only a few shots after, should we plan for an hour and a half from ceremony start to reception start? I'm clueless on this stuff so I appreciate you guys helping me.</div><div>
</div><div>8am I could do.  Heck...I'm normally up by 6am, so even that I could do, just want to make sure I don't feel rushed that day.</div>

beautifulmama28

ok...well pending speaking with the minister, we have decided to push it back an hour.

I know it will take me a good 2.5 hours to get ready, don't want to be rushed....so I figured a little extra time would be best, but THANK YOU ladies!! appreciate it

tiny speck

Based on when your reception starts pushing the ceremony back an hour sounds like a good idea.

artbyallie

The reception needs to begin immediately following (or at least no more than 30 minutes after) the ceremony. Gaps are rude to the guests, because they then have to find something to do and somewhere to go during that time.

beautifulmama28

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_ceremony-time-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:034a6b0e-4ab2-404e-9da4-1bbdd3ba437ePost:d2e63e2c-e15a-4670-870d-fd1e890192ef">Re: Ceremony time</a>:
[QUOTE]The reception needs to begin immediately following (or at least no more than 30 minutes after) the ceremony. Gaps are rude to the guests, because they then have to find something to do and somewhere to go during that time.
Posted by artbyallie[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>right I get that ;) I've been to weddings where we had to wait 3 hours, hated it! lol</div><div>
</div><div>my thing is its a 25-30 minute drive from the church, plus there are kids, plus we have some family type pics to take after (not many but some). but yes moving it back feels good, and besides I ordered the invitations last night so its too late now LOL</div>

artbyallie

I get that you need to take pictures and we did too... but the other guests really need to be hosted somehow during that time. We had our pastor say the blessing and tell the guests to go on to the reception while we did our last pictures.

Viczaesar

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_ceremony-time-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:034a6b0e-4ab2-404e-9da4-1bbdd3ba437ePost:65b79bb1-771b-41dc-891c-abd2e86e293f">Re: Ceremony time</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Ceremony time : right I get that ;) I've been to weddings where we had to wait 3 hours, hated it! lol my thing is its a 25-30 minute drive from the church, plus there are kids, plus we have some family type pics to take after (not many but some). but yes moving it back feels good, and besides I ordered the invitations last night so its too late now LOL
Posted by beautifulmama28[/QUOTE]
You need to host something while you're taking pictures.  Gaps are rude.

mlg78

The reception can begin with a cocktail hour without you guys...  Arrive a half hour or 45 minutes later.