Ceremony timing

kaos16

I just spoke to our venue regarding the start time of our ceremony (everything is at the same place) because I am getting ready to order our invitations.  Our contact there stated that the ceremony started at 6pm, but to put 5:45 on the invitation because they start doing the champagne greeting half an hour before the ceremony start time.  Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

kmmssg

I would be kinda ticked if I was one of your guests.  I usually arrive 20-30 minutes early and that would get me there even earlier.

You could always mention "Champaign greeting at 5:30 prior to ceremony" somewhere in your invitation.  Your guests can plan accordingly with that information.

[Deleted User]

That does seem a little odd, if it starts half an hour before shouldn't you put 5:30?  But it sounds like an optional event for people that arrive early to make sure they can find the place, get a good seat, etc.  I've read other posts about telling guests to arrive early on these forums and most people consider it extremely rude!  If you put Ceremony begins at 6pm most people should be on time, if not early!

kaos16

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_ceremony-timing-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:c85219c8-32b4-4138-b758-e84fdd332e74Post:b17d70f5-205c-45bf-9972-88b96b9b8950">Re: Ceremony timing</a>:
[QUOTE]That does seem a little odd, if it starts half an hour before shouldn't you put 5:30?  But it sounds like an optional event for people that arrive early to make sure they can find the place, get a good seat, etc.  I've read other posts about telling guests to arrive early on these forums and most people consider it extremely rude!  If you put Ceremony begins at 6pm most people should be on time, if not early!
Posted by Jinxed329[/QUOTE]

Maybe he is recommending 5:45 to allow for those that would come early, putting them there at about 5:30 while taking into account those who would come later, maybe closer to 6  I'm not sure.

I'm just thinking of the wedding we went to Saturday night where we made a wrong turn and arrived 10 minutes after the ceremony was scheduled to start, thinking we missed the whole thing, then had to wait another 5-10 minutes for it to actually begin. . . . It would have been a bummer to be there super early waiting to wait. I don't want my guests standing around waiting to long, even if they do have champagne in hand!

LeiselEB

I would list the ceremony time as six o'clock on your invitations. People will arrive earlier than 6 and can get champagne then. 

Mention that champagne is being served prior to the ceremony on your wedding website, not on your invitations.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_ceremony-timing-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:c85219c8-32b4-4138-b758-e84fdd332e74Post:357fd289-8109-4050-8c89-5dd1b10a89c4">Re: Ceremony timing</a>:
[QUOTE]I would list the ceremony time as six o'clock on your invitations. People will arrive earlier than 6 and can get champagne then.  Mention that champagne is being served prior to the ceremony on your wedding website, not on your invitations.
Posted by LeiselEB[/QUOTE]

I agree. If people don't get there until just when it starts, too bad, so sad, they miss out on champagne. Not the end of the world.

Also, at my wedding, we had a shuttle because the majority of our guests were from OOT and we were shuttling people from the hotel to the ceremony (and the reception and back to the hotel). We had a huge disaster with shuttle timing and the driver didn't go pick up the second load of guests - meaning we delayed the start of the ceremony for almost 15 minutes to wait for people who had FLOWN IN for the wedding. Tell people to be there at 6, but use your discretion. If a bunch of people walk in at 5:58 and you want them to have an extra 5 minutes for their champagne, no biggie. If your grandmother isn't there when you want to start, there's no harm in waiting for her. Unless it's going to be an extra 45 minutes and cause the people who got there at 5:30 to be really upset. :-)