Ceremony-Reception Time

jaw383 · August 2010

I have always had my heart set on getting married in a Catholic Church by the priest who married my parents. I am currently running into a huge problem. The church and priest only do Saturday weddings at 2 pm. I was planning on having cocktail hour at 5 pm at the earliest and the reception to start at 6pm. Which leaves a ridiculous amount of time between the ceremony and reception.

I have no clue how to work around this. I have toyed with the idea of of having the ceremony after Saturday mass which wouldn't be until about 7 pm, but then people wouldn't be having dinner until 8pm at the earliest. I'm assuming others must have encountered this problem...any suggestions or ways around this are greatly appreciated.

trix1223 · August 2010

Move the reception up.

If your ceremony is a full mass, that will likely then be from 2:00-3:00 pm. Allowing time for receiving line and travel to reception, your cocktail hour should start no later than 4:00, and dinner/reception begins at 5:00 pm.

aerinpegadrak · August 2010

I think you'd be fine to do the later ceremony, and then do heavy apps/light dinner/dessert following. I know that if I were attending a wedding starting that late, I'd eat something first even if there was going to be a regular dinner afterward. If you're not serving a full dinner, be sure to indicate as such on your invitation, and you're in the clear.

mgietler76 · August 2010

In my experience this is the norm for a Catholic wedding. My ceremony is at 2 and the reception starts at 6, you also have to factor in the recieving line, pictures in the church, and location pictures if you are going anywhere else, and travel time. But like I said this is just my personal experience with weddings, they always had a 2-3 hr gap.

jenn.daniel · August 2010

Move the reception time up, like trix said.

dco324 · August 2010

Having just come from a wedding that had a 7 pm ceremony, please do not do this to your guests. Despite knowing it was a later time, there was no time to eat anything before and everyone was cranky and hungry. Dinner wasn't served until after 9 and we were so full from eating so fast no one danced or enjoyed the cake.

I think having the ceremony at 2 pm is fine. Your ceremony will be longer if you have a full mass. Depending on travel time to your reception, you wouldn't be leaving people hanging for too long, especially with a cocktail hour.

banana468 · August 2010

Why not do the Nuptial Mass at 2 and then cocktail hour starting at 3:30 or 4:00?

kristinanddan · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_ceremony-reception-time?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:1b5ca500-cad2-4fff-9462-75107b664cc5Post:d942ddac-398a-445a-aaa3-0c8580822373">Re: Ceremony-Reception Time</a>:
[QUOTE]In my experience this is the norm for a Catholic wedding. My ceremony is at 2 and the reception starts at 6, you also have to factor in the recieving line, <strong>pictures in the church, and location pictures if you are going anywhere else</strong>, and travel time. But like I said this is just my personal experience with weddings, they always had a 2-3 hr gap.
Posted by mgietler76[/QUOTE]

That actually shouldn't be factored in. You should be taking photos while your guests are at the cocktail hour unless you take the photos before the ceremony. It is rude to delay your reception so you can take photos.

OP - What you are describing 2pm ceremony and 5pm cocktail hour is the norm in many circles. That doesn't necessarily make it right of course. Could a family member host a bit of a gathering from 3:30-4:30 or so? Maybe at someone's home or a hotel?

hz80408 · August 2010

I was in a wedding last summer that was a 1pm Catholic service and 5pm cocktail hour...quite frankly I think it's rude to the guests to have such a big gap.

Move up your cocktail hour and reception.

annagtz82 · August 2010

I'm also having a Catholic ceremony with the full mass starting at 3pm. The mass will most likely run an hour long ending at 4pm. Our cocktail hour is starting at 6pm. So I'm in the same time frame you're looking at with 2 hours between the ceremony and cocktail hour. I don't know if you're guests will mind the 2 hour gap but that's always been the norm for our family weddings. We usually go to McDonald's after the ceremony to get a quick snack to hold us over till dinner.

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