Lunch after Ceremony

KrynnerBear

We are considering having a lunch after our ceremony as our location is kinda out of the way for most of our guests and there will be about a three to four hour gap between the ceremony and reception. What is the lunch etiquette and such? They aren't common around here so I'm confused as to what it is as well. also how do you save all the meeting and greeting for the reception? We are planning to have a recieving line as well before the reception and would like some time just to breathe for a momment and take it all in.

Lizzieyounce

Why is there such a large gap in between the ceremony and the reception?

Why not just either;  keep your current ceremony time and host a luncheon.

A luncheon reception is perfectly acceptable if your ceremony and reception fall into a meal time. You could even do a brunch reception with mimosas etc, if your wedding is mid day.

Or, an you move the ceremony time to later, so that you can host a dinner reception, if you envision having an open bar and dancing.

KrynnerBear

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_lunch-after-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:a214ab00-ccfb-44fe-bbcf-9d72887ff579Post:3321164a-eb57-4f42-85aa-0a7fa9e817d6">Re: Lunch after Ceremony</a>:
[QUOTE]Why is there such a large gap in between the ceremony and the reception? Why not just either;  keep your current ceremony time and host a luncheon. A luncheon reception is perfectly acceptable if your ceremony and reception fall into a meal time. You could even do a brunch reception with mimosas etc, if your wedding is mid day. Or, an you move the ceremony time to later, so that you can host a dinner reception, if you envision having an open bar and dancing.
Posted by Lizzieyounce[/QUOTE]


We might be outside for the ceremony so we were thinking that it'd be cooler. We were thinking about 2 oclock for the ceremony and start the reception at about 5:30 with the meet and greet. Plus we want a good amount of time for pictures. I was thinking maybe the luncheon would keep those guests entertained so we could have some time for pictures

HockeyFan4

Gah....gaps are rude.

Depending on how long your ceremony is..... do your ceremony and have an hour long cocktail hour for your guests while you do your pictures.  Soooooo 4:00 ceremony...4:30-5:30 cocktail hour, 5:30 reception.  Depending on the time of year, you should have some wonderful lighting that time of day for your photos and your guests won't be annoyed that they are sitting around for hours waiting on you.

Lizzieyounce

Why not move the ceremony to 3 or 3:30, then host a cocktail hour while you have your pictures done? You'll still have the benefit of  cooler evening weather, and won't have a gap.

A good photog can get your apres ceremony shots done pretty quickly, and you'll be saving money by not having to host two meals, and not breeching etiquette with a gap.

Do you have a back up plan in case of inclement weather?

RebeccaB88

2pm is right in the heat of the day, at least around here.  And it's after lunchtime.  Having a morning wedding would be better as far as the cooler part of the day, then you could have a nice lunch/brunch reception immediately afterwards, so you could lose that awful rude gap.  Or you could have a sunset ceremony (after 7pm) and have light munchies and dessert after.

MyUserName1

2pm is pretty much THE hottest time of day. 

Just have your ceremony at 4:30ish and do photos while your guests are at cocktail hour. Problem solved.

melb2013

Maybe OP can't change the ceremony time?  If that's the case, then you should just have an earlier reception so that there is no gap.  

I would advise against doing both lunch and dinner.  First of all, your lunch time would be too late for lunch.  Second, I just attended a wedding where there was an early ceremony, then lunch, then a gap, then cocktail hour, followed by the dinner reception.  Everyone was annoyed because:

1. It was such a long day!

2. It looked like they were only serving two meals just to show off.  They could have easily just moved the ceremony to a later time to be followed by the evening recption.

J&K10910

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_lunch-after-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a214ab00-ccfb-44fe-bbcf-9d72887ff579Post:980fb252-af2d-460b-ad0e-0616ace66f02">Re: Lunch after Ceremony</a>:
[QUOTE]<strong>Maybe OP can't change the ceremony time?</strong>  If that's the case, then you should just have an earlier reception so that there is no gap.   I would advise against doing both lunch and dinner.  First of all, your lunch time would be too late for lunch.  Second, I just attended a wedding where there was an early ceremony, then lunch, then a gap, then cocktail hour, followed by the dinner reception.  Everyone was annoyed because: 1. It was such a long day! 2. It looked like they were only serving two meals just to show off.  <strong>They could have easily just moved the ceremony to a later time to be followed by the evening recption.</strong>
Posted by melb2013[/QUOTE]

I'm laughing at your contradiction.

OP, try to avoid the gap if you can.  Like others have said, 2pm is going to be hot.  Either do a morning ceremony with brunch or lunch, or late afternoon ceremony with your dinner reception.

Also?  We took pictures before, and we allowed about 2 hours, including our first look, hour and a half without (which you won't need if you're not doing photos before).  We had more than enough time, and we went to 2 different locations for pictures.  It's perfectly reasonable to take some pictures before (with your family, your side of the wedding party, etc), and get all the rest done during the cocktail hour.  You don't need 3 hours.

MyUserName1

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_lunch-after-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a214ab00-ccfb-44fe-bbcf-9d72887ff579Post:dc8ee333-6fb2-43e9-a65d-a594e87eff8e">Re: Lunch after Ceremony</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Lunch after Ceremony : Um, how is this a contradiction?  Her advice to the OP is she "...should just have an earlier reception so that there is no gap."  The comment about moving the ceremony to a later time was what she thought the couple whose wedding she recently attended should have done.  That coupld had a timeline similar to the OP's.  Maybe you should read more carefully.
Posted by Sleeper2013[/QUOTE]

<div>Maybe you should read more carefully before being snippy.  Go back and read the highlighted statements.  Clearly, they are contradictory.</div>

brilibby4

I agree with the PPs who recommend either changing your ceremony to a later time or moving your reception to an earlier time.

AdeleDazeem

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_lunch-after-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a214ab00-ccfb-44fe-bbcf-9d72887ff579Post:a818aed0-3a4a-4ba0-9301-4d87b6a4e7df">Re: Lunch after Ceremony</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Lunch after Ceremony : Maybe you should read more carefully before being snippy.  Go back and read the highlighted statements.  Clearly, they are contradictory.
Posted by MyUserName1[/QUOTE]

I don't think she's contradicting herself, just providing an example.  But hey.

OP - you don't need three hours for pictures.  I can imagine that my husband would be downright angry if I said we had to take three hours of pictures.  We did one and that was MORE than enough.  Have your ceremony, host a cocktail hour so you can do pictures, then either have lunch or dinner depending on what time you decide to do your ceremony.

Summer2011Bride

You said you wanted cooler weather, but if your ceremony is outside and it's at 2:00 that is the hottest time of day. You'd have cooler weather by moving the ceremony to 4 or 430. If that's not enough time for pics, then do 330. This way, you can have a cocktail hour for guests immediately following the ceremony and you can sneak away and do pics still. I would find it odd to have a luncheon after a 2:00 ceremony anyhow; that is way past lunch time, and if you serve a huge lunch then, guests won't be hungry for dinner three hours later.

KrynnerBear

We live in Utah so 4 is when it's really hot for us here It kinda opts out the idea of an outdoor wedding

I love the idea of a sunset ceremony I think though in order to get pictures we want will have to do our ceremony earlier though, the only reason why I didn't want to move it too late is that 1. We want to leave at about 9:30 that night to get to the airport 2. We are having a weekday wedding, so we didn't want to keep people really late and have the miserable the next day at work. I think what we are going to do is:
have the ceremony around 4pm inside our building
-we are planning to have about a half hour ceremony
do pictures from 430ish to 530
have a recieveing line from 530 to 6
and have our receptiton 6-9

Thanks for all the help

mbrischoux

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_lunch-after-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:a214ab00-ccfb-44fe-bbcf-9d72887ff579Post:ffc5eb91-c49c-4d02-a73a-98f435960c96">Re: Lunch after Ceremony</a>:
[QUOTE]2pm is pretty much THE hottest time of day.  Just have your ceremony at 4:30ish and do photos while your guests are at cocktail hour. Problem solved.
Posted by MyUserName1[/QUOTE]

I absolutley agree with this. We did our pictures during cocktail hour and had plenty of time to get the last 20-25 minutes to mingle with our guests and see the reception room before the rest of the guests got in there.  Our ceremony was at 4:30 and our cocktail hour started at 6:30...still a little gap but nothing that anyone could complain about (between the ceremony and the getting to the reception site, there was maybe an hour to kill...plus, there was a bar downstairs from the ballroom where guests could hang out before the cocktail hour).

I;d see if you could move your ceremony to a later time.

melb2013

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_lunch-after-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a214ab00-ccfb-44fe-bbcf-9d72887ff579Post:849546e6-35c6-4fc4-a3ec-0bfa30c72aed">Re: Lunch after Ceremony</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Lunch after Ceremony : I'm laughing at your contradiction. OP, try to avoid the gap if you can.  Like others have said, 2pm is going to be hot.  Either do a morning ceremony with brunch or lunch, or late afternoon ceremony with your dinner reception. Also?  We took pictures before, and we allowed about 2 hours, including our first look, hour and a half without (which you won't need if you're not doing photos before).  We had more than enough time, and we went to 2 different locations for pictures.  It's perfectly reasonable to take some pictures before (with your family, your side of the wedding party, etc), and get all the rest done during the cocktail hour.  You don't need 3 hours.
Posted by J&K10910[/QUOTE]

<div>Not a contradiction.  I was asking if she could change the ceremony time if she wanted to.  In some circumstances, this is not possible.  For the example I provided, the couple could have easily changed the time of the ceremony if they had wanted to.</div>

aurianna

If it's a weekday wedding I'd say definitely have it no earlier than 4. Later would honestly be better... I hate having to take vacation time from work to go to weddings.

Other alternative would be ceremony at 11:30 with a few formal pics at the ceremony site and then hop straight to lunch, letting your photographer do candids / speeches / table shots /etc. Then just do a few of the wedding traditions (cake cutting, first dance, bouquet toss) then call it a day for the guests, then you and fiance could finish off pictures. Guests could be back at work by 1:30-2.

But 4's a better bet.