Gap between ceremony and reception?

stc211

The ceremony begins at 2pm and will be a full Catholic Mass - probably around an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.  The distance between the ceremony site and reception site is a good 20 minutes, plus time to park down the block, walk, etc so I feel like starting the cocktail hour at 4pm would force people to rush.  (Also, half of the guest list is from out of town so they will have no idea where they are going and might need to check into hotels at this time)  Would starting at 5pm be too much of a gap?  Should it start at 4:30?

mcda04

I actually think you have a pretty good schedule. let's say your guests leave the church at 3:30, they still have time to drive to the reception. Having cocktail hour start at 4:30 leaves a little more room for pictures with your guests outside the church or a remote location but i would leave it as is.

QueerFemme

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_gap-between-ceremony-and-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:b26ecbed-f578-4165-920c-923bc5dd8d18Post:55c907ad-3581-4d37-a36c-f37cf9f8afa6">Gap between ceremony and reception?</a>:
[QUOTE]The ceremony begins at 2pm and will be a full Catholic Mass - probably around an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.  The distance between the ceremony site and reception site is a good 20 minutes, plus time to park down the block, walk, etc so I feel like starting the cocktail hour at 4pm would force people to rush.  (Also, half of the guest list is from out of town so they will have no idea where they are going and might need to check into hotels at this time)  Would starting at 5pm be too much of a gap?  Should it start at 4:30?
Posted by stc211[/QUOTE]

I think starting at 5 is too large of a gap.  I'd go for 4:30 at the latest. Personally, I would start cocktail hour at 4pm.  People are going to be tired and possibly antsy from sitting through the full mass and may go straight to the reception if they have already checked in to their hotel. 

kmmssg

Another vote for 4pm.  Your guests won't be rushed, you get to cocktail hour when you get there.

KellyBrian2013

Yet another vote for 4PM... if guests choose to cut into the cocktail hour time to check into their hotel rooms, they can. But for those that choose not to (or who have already done so), you won't be leaving them high and dry, twiddling their thumbs waiting for things to start.

maggieandrey

I agree with 4pm. That way people can go straight from the church to the reception, and don't have to wait.

Our full catholic mass starts at 11am, and reception at 12:30pm. Our reception is a little bit closer to the church than yours is, but I figure it's not like the venue is going to be setting up until exactly the minute the reception starts, nor will they turn people away if they're a couple minutes early.

SmallenForever

I'd start at four too. Perhaps you could say on your invites "cocktail hour begins at 4, reception at 5," so that if out of towners need to check into hotels or whatever, they have the option of skipping cocktail hour. 

Calypso1977

your reception should start after the ceremony, no gap.
people can either check in early before the 2pm ceremony or check in after the reception.  some folks might be checking in friday if tehy are making a weekend of it.

zantster

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_gap-between-ceremony-and-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:b26ecbed-f578-4165-920c-923bc5dd8d18Post:55c907ad-3581-4d37-a36c-f37cf9f8afa6">Gap between ceremony and reception?</a>:
[QUOTE]The ceremony begins at 2pm and will be a full Catholic Mass - probably around an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.  The distance between the ceremony site and reception site is a good 20 minutes, plus time to park down the block, walk, etc so I feel like starting the cocktail hour at 4pm would force people to rush.  (Also, half of the guest list is from out of town so they will have no idea where they are going and might need to check into hotels at this time)  Would starting at 5pm be too much of a gap?  Should it start at 4:30?
Posted by stc211[/QUOTE]
My situation is the same as yours except my reception site is a few min further away than 20 min. But after taking a few pointers from these ladies like Stage, I went for the 4pm start time as well.  I figured it's better to have it start a little bit before everyone gets there than to have it start afterwards as people wait around.  That happened to me where guests had to sit and stand in a waiting area while they set up for the cocktail hour and it wasn't fun.

banana468

I had the exact timeline you did and we started the reception at 4.   Any later than that and you'll have people waiting for their G&T.

MyNameIsNot

We had pretty much the same schedule.  Our mass was at 2:00.  The drive was 20-30 minutes.  We started the cocktail hour at 4:00, and I found out that some people were actually at the venue at 3:45.  

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

4pm is fine. People can miss 5-10 minutes of cocktail hour if they don't want to rush. It's not a big deal. That's the point of cocktail hour - it's just drinks and mingling. No scheduled events. I'm honestly okay with having a 90 minute cocktail hour as long as you give people seats and/or allow them to find their tables and settle in. Our cocktail hour started at 6 and most people didn't get there until 6:15 or even 6:30. We got there around 6:45.