Ceremony length?

sweetpea0911 · March 2010

Just wondering how long your ceremony was/will be. We booked our chuch and now need to book the reception hall, and I need to give them a basic idea of a start time. My reverend is sending me a copy of his usual wedding ceremony, so that we can get an idea for ourselves, but even just a basic gist will help at this point.

It's going to be a Presbyterian wedding service, and will start at noon at the church, if that makes a difference for anyone. Thanks girls =]

britne28 · March 2010

Keeping it under 1/2. It is an outside ceremony about 30 feet from the reception hall. And it is not religious so it will be short and sweet.

swtasa · March 2010

Well it depends. Ours is gonna take about 45 minutes to an hour. We're doing it at my non-demnomination christian church. But we added somethings in(vows to my daughter, things to include her more) and my pastor likes to talk.

My sisters catholic wedding took 1 1/2 hours.

Are they doing a full sermon or just vows and readings? That makes a big difference. I'd say usually an hour for the ceremony is sufficient but I'd check with your officiate to see what the usual length is

shellydiane820 · March 2010

I had a full mass. It was an hour and a half.

zippityb · March 2010

Probably about 15 minutes max. We want a wham, bam, thank you ma'am ceremony.

ThePinkSuperhero · March 2010

It'll hopefully be no longer than 45 minutes. If my fiance (future pastor) had his way, it'd be 4 hours long.

Fystybride · March 2010

Ours will be ten minutes, tops. Just the vows, the kiss and we're done! We are going a nonreligious simple ceremony that just gets the point across. I'm looking forward to the reception and spending time with our guests, we have a great party planned.

nurse_B · March 2010

Ours is a Presbyterian ceremony, straight out of the Book of Common Worship (rite 1), and our pastor says 20-40 min.

We are also having our recpetion a 15-20min drive away. Our ceremony is at 530 and the reception starts at 630 with a cocktail hour, dinner at 730.

carrieoz_76 · March 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_ceremony-length?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:457942a8-71a4-45ce-9eb3-ff0d4bcec95fPost:799e2426-9737-4ee4-995e-c566ba05e6d7">Re: Ceremony length?</a>:
[QUOTE]I haven't, Eva! One of my cousins did it for her wedding, so I might ask her. Otherwise, I'll probably have our officiant introduce the concept then have the song that I really love ("Falling Slowly" from Once) be performed during it.
Posted by polichik[/QUOTE]
@Poli (and Eva) - I have a handfasting ceremony description in my bio (under Ceremony - scroll to the end) that as I note I actually found in mandysmear's bio and loved. I don't know that we'll do a handfasting, but I do like the wording mandy used as well as the symbolism of the ritual.

danieliza1127 · March 2010

I think ours was about 25 minutes. I think if you aren't having a full mass with your ceremony, then it shouldn't be more than 30 minutes. Extra songs and readings just drag it out and get a little boring.

Ceremony length?

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