Should I say 5 o'clock in the evening or afternoon?

mjl1002

I feel like I should say that my reception is at 5 o'clock in the evening, however I got corrected and was told that my insert for my reception should say 5 o'clock in the afternoon. What do you think? I need to make a decision ASAP and print these invitations up. 

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Five o'clock is afternoon. Evening starts at 6.

However, I just put "half after five o'clock" on my invitations and my ceremony was at 5:30pm. For the most part, unless you're having a sunrise ceremony, you probably don't even need "in the afternoon" if you don't want it.

ootmother2

afternoon

Half past or half after five in the afternoon

vicki0508

You could leave it off completely and just say five o'clock.  People will assume you aren't getting married at 5am.

mapledonuts

I put evening as I read others did as well

banana468

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_should-say-5-oclock-evening-afternoon?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:daa73cab-e49b-4f85-ae00-2191608e1aa9Post:26a739b4-361f-4c9c-813f-de1c2432c4b9">Re: Should I say 5 o'clock in the evening or afternoon?</a>:
[QUOTE]I put evening as I read others did as well
Posted by JCutie2[/QUOTE]

This is wrong. As pps said, evening does not begin until 6 PM.

mapledonuts

Well I know other knotties put this. So I made my own decision and went with evening. Whether it is technically right or wrong. And so far the guests haven't mentioned it. And I could care less if they did.

banana468

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_should-say-5-oclock-evening-afternoon?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:daa73cab-e49b-4f85-ae00-2191608e1aa9Post:9b4949ca-93d0-49ce-829d-ba280b784195">Re: Should I say 5 o'clock in the evening or afternoon?</a>:
[QUOTE]Well I know other knotties put this. So I made my own decision and went with evening. Whether it is technically right or wrong. And so far the guests haven't mentioned it. And I could care less if they did.
Posted by JCutie2[/QUOTE]

It's "couldn't care less".  Saying you could care less implies that you do care.

And it's a small detail, but when advising what to do, don't you think it's best to advise what's correct rather than what's incorrect?

mapledonuts

Who said 6pm was "correct" ? You? It really depends on where you live and the time of year when "evening" begins. 

And yes, I can tell someone else what I did with my own invites. Whether you think its "correct" or not.

banana468

Ditto CMGr. Oh - and Crane's says so too. It isn't about sunset. There is documented social law on the matter. You can disagree with it but that won't make your actions correct.