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Morning Mass

bibliophile2010bibliophile2010 member
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in Catholic Weddings
I know that several of you have had or are considering having their nuptial mass in the morning instead of the afternoon or evening.

How did it work for you? Did you have trouble getting ready or having others ready on time? Did you like having the wedding and reception done in the afternoon/evening or did it feel like a let down? Did you have some kind of after party or gathering after the formal reception?

If you didn't have one, why did you decide not to?

I've decided to consider this, but want to have some information to back it up when I discuss it with FI. Thanks in advance!

Edited to fix punctuation. Smile
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Re: Morning Mass

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    Calypso1977Calypso1977 member
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    edited December 2011
    we were married at 11:00 a.m.  this worked perfect for us for several reasons.

    1.  i had OOT guests who were traveling 1-2 hours by car to get to the wedding.  this helped them avoid unnecessary hotel expenses as they could leave home that morning, and be home at a decent hour (reception ended at 4pm) so most were home by 6 or 7 at the latest.

    2.  we did not invite children.  again, for those guests traveling, etc., they did nto have to line up overnight babysitters.  all of my friends were home in time to put their kids to bed and send the grandparents home.

    3.  we were able to leave that evening on our honeymoon (1.5 hour drive).  as we had limited vacation time, we wanted to honeymoon right away.

    We opted to do all of our pictures before the wedding.  As such, i was up at 5am that morning as the hairdresser arrived at 530.  she finished around 730, and i dressed and we were out the door by 8.  we did pics from 830 to 1030, then we had half hour to relax and regroup before the 11am ceremony and mass.  i DID have some trouble lining up a hairdresser that would meet me either at home or at their salon. however, hair was not all that important to me so i would have done it myself if i had to.  if id had multiple bridesmaids i'm not sure how it would have worked out.   i had my nails done on the thursday before. 

    we purposely chose the morning wedding. we wouldnt have done it any other way. i personally dont like evening weddings as i hate eating a large, heavy meal at 7 or 8 pm, and i am not a night owl.  most evening weddings i attend, i usually leave at 10pm, right after dinner.  H and i are not big on dancing either (didnt have it at ours).
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    Calypso1977Calypso1977 member
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    edited December 2011
    oh, folks did all meet up at a local bar afterwards.  we did not organize or promote it, the guests did all that on their own. i guess it was pretty wild from teh stories i heard later!  lol
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    mlhw NHmlhw NH member
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    edited December 2011

    We are doing 11:00.  That is the latest that our church will do weddings.  We are starting hair at 6:00.  I have two hairdressers coming to my house to take care of my Bridesmaids and myself.  We are doing a late lunch.  All will be said and done at 7:00.  We are going on our small honeymoon 1.5 hours away just like Calypso.  We are leaving right after because I work in a school, our wedding is in October, and I have limited vacation time. 

    OOT guests as of now are still making hotel or other overnight arrangements, but they very well could still drive home afterwards. 

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    Tuneful_BrideTuneful_Bride member
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    edited December 2011
    We had our ceremony sans Eucharist at 10 AM, followed by a luncheon reception. We opted for formal morning attire for the men rather than suits. Hair started at 6 AM, but I wish I had paid the extra to have the hair dude come to me, because getting to his salon and and back took too much time. Guys had their pics done before the ceremony, and girls were supposed to, as well, but we had to do the girls' pics after the ceremony. It's OK, though, because in all the shots taken in the dressing room before the ceremony, I looked life I was going to vomit. Much better to have those pictures taken after the ceremony if you think you might be a wreck. We took 30 mins of pics in the church, then headed to the reception.

    We didn't have any guests coming from 1-2 hours away. They were either in town or pretty far out of it, so they were traveling the day before to get there any way.

    Our hotel was in walking distance of nightlife, so most of our guests had a afterparty, but we had already left for the honeymoon.

    Here's the argument that will sway your FI most: The BEST part about having a morning wedding is the DISCOUNTS. We had a luncheon reception, which cost about 1/2 as much as a dinner reception, even though the menu was the same. We chose not to serve alcohol, and I don't think it was really missed that early in the day. Even if you chose to serve alcohol, most people just don't want to drink that much that at noon. Much lower bar tab. We got discounts from the photographer and hairdresser because they would have the opportunity to take clients later in the day. The jazz combo for our reception cost less because they could still take a high-paying evening gig.

    HTH!


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    bibliophile2010bibliophile2010 member
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    edited December 2011

    Thanks for all the input! The lower costs are certainly part of my thinking! With our budget, we can do something nicer for the same guest list -- I like that!

    We haven't made honeymoon plans yet, but I imagine we'll stick around at least through Sunday because we will both have family in from out of town. That said, I really like the idea of having a nice dinner just the two of us the night of our wedding and then dealing with any other family stuff the next day.

    I also really like that some of those 1-2 hours away guests (we'll have plenty of those!) could avoid an overnight if they wanted to.

    Knowing the main group of kids who will be at my wedding (my nieces and nephews), having it in the morning means that they will be much less likely to have a meltdown, which I also like.

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    edited December 2011
    We were married at 1pm. I worked out really well. Our ceremony (full mass) was over a few minutes after 2pm. Our cocktail hour started at 3 or 3:30 for our guests. We (bride & groom) were there by 4pm, did a few more pics outside the country club and then had dinner. Most of the people were cleared out by 7:30/8pm, which was good for us (except we paid the dj until 10pm) bc we left for the HM the next day bright and early.
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    LAK011LAK011 member
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    edited December 2011
    I'm glad I found this post! I've been having crazy dreams about not being ready in time for the wedding! We're having a noon wedding and in every dream, I wake up at like 9:30 and my hair and make up isn't done. haha So I suppose this is one thing I'm stressing about already! haha I've got 7 bridesmaids and myself to get ready by noon!!! Depending on when your wedding is, let me know how it goes and what you recommend!!
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    Calypso1977Calypso1977 member
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    edited December 2011
    you can do it LAK.  hair shouldnt take that long, and seriously, never understood "getting ready".  it took me less than five minutes to step into my dress and have it zipped up.
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