Ceremony length?

sweetpea0911

Just wondering how long your ceremony was/will be.  We booked our chuch and now need to book the reception hall, and I need to give them a basic idea of a start time.  My reverend is sending me a copy of his usual wedding ceremony, so that we can get an idea for ourselves, but even just a basic gist will help at this point.

It's going to be a Presbyterian wedding service, and will start at noon at the church, if that makes a difference for anyone.  Thanks girls =]

britne28

Keeping it under 1/2. It is an outside ceremony about 30 feet from the reception hall.  And it is not religious so it will be short and sweet. 

swtasa

Well it depends. Ours is gonna take about 45 minutes to an hour. We're doing it at my non-demnomination christian church. But we added somethings in(vows to my daughter, things to include her more) and my pastor likes to talk.

My sisters catholic wedding took 1 1/2 hours.

Are they doing a full sermon or just vows and readings? That makes a big difference. I'd say usually an hour for the ceremony is sufficient but I'd check with your officiate to see what the usual length is

shellydiane820

I had a full mass.  It was an hour and a half.

zippityb

Probably about 15 minutes max. We want a wham, bam, thank you ma'am ceremony.

ThePinkSuperhero

It'll hopefully be no longer than 45 minutes.  If my fiance (future pastor) had his way, it'd be 4 hours long.

Fystybride

Ours will be ten minutes, tops.  Just the vows, the kiss and we're done!  We are going a nonreligious simple ceremony that just gets the point across.  I'm looking forward to the reception and spending time with our guests, we have a great party planned.

nurse_B

Ours is a Presbyterian ceremony, straight out of the Book of Common Worship (rite 1), and our pastor says 20-40 min.

We are also having our recpetion a 15-20min drive away.  Our ceremony is at 530 and the reception starts at 630 with a cocktail hour, dinner at 730.

carrieoz_76

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_ceremony-length?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:457942a8-71a4-45ce-9eb3-ff0d4bcec95fPost:799e2426-9737-4ee4-995e-c566ba05e6d7">Re: Ceremony length?</a>:
[QUOTE]I haven't, Eva! One of my cousins did it for her wedding, so I might ask her. Otherwise, I'll probably have our officiant introduce the concept then have the song that I really love ("Falling Slowly" from Once) be performed during it.
Posted by polichik[/QUOTE]
@Poli (and Eva) - I have a handfasting ceremony description in my bio (under Ceremony - scroll to the end) that as I note I actually found in mandysmear's bio and loved.  I don't know that we'll do a handfasting, but I do like the wording mandy used as well as the symbolism of the ritual.

danieliza1127

I think ours was about 25 minutes.  I think if you aren't having a full mass with your ceremony, then it shouldn't be more than 30 minutes.  Extra songs and readings just drag it out and get a little boring.