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Invite ceremony time

sdeluna08sdeluna08 member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Wedding Invitations & Paper
I am trying to figure out what time to put on the invitations for the ceremony.  This is what I have so far (working backwards):

10-6 Reception
6-5 Cocktail Hour
4-3:00 Cake reception at church
2-3 ceremony

We will be taking pictures from 4:30-6 while people start to arrive at the reception venue.  It takes about 20-30 min to get from the church to the reception, which is why we left the 4-5 slot empty.  Also, we will most likely start at 2:15 and go until 2:45, but I wanted to give some padding to the times.  Does this sound ok?
"The dress upped the ante."
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Re: Invite ceremony time

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    Kristin789Kristin789 member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    Answer to the question you asked:  You should start your ceremony on the half-hour so that the clock hands are going UP as your ceremony begins.  That's tradtional for good luck.  So I suggest:

    at half after two

    (never HALF PAST)

    Suggestion you didn't ask for:  If I were you, I'd do this:

    4:30 - 5:00 Ceremony
    5:00 - 6:00 Cocktail hour
    6:00 - 10:00 Reception

    I don't know anyone who would want to spend 1:00 to 11:00 doing an entire afternoon and night of wedding stuff.  That's too long...
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    Avion22Avion22 member
    5 Love Its First Comment
    Put the time on your invitations that you actually plan to START your ceremony.  If it's starts at two, then tell peope to show up at two.  If it's 2:30, then put "half after two."  

    Also, make SURE you know how long your ceremony is going to take.  Will it REALLY take an hour?  It might if you are doing a full Catholic mass.  Otherwise, it will likely take anywhere from 5 minutes (bare-bones secular ceremony) to 15-30 for a religious ceremony with readings, to 45-50 minutes for a Catholic ceremony with no mass.   Your guests will probably go straight to the cake-and-punch reception, and probably not want to stick around more than about 45 minutes before proceding to the cocktail hour.

    I would recommend you start your cocktail hour so that it is ready when people start arriving.  So if they will leave the church at 4, and it takes half an hour to get there, then have cocktails start at 4:30.  People won't want to wait around for drinks and munchies.

    People don't like to wait around in general, so I would try to plan everythig so there are no gaps in the action.  And please please please don't plan on starting anything late.  If you tell me your ceremony will start at 2:00, then I'll be there at 1:45.  If by 2:15 or 2:20 nothing has started yet, I will probalby leave thinking that someone got cold feet and called off the wedding.  
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    hoffsehoffse member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    PPs I suspect she's having a Catholic nuptial mass and she's trying to fill the gap between the end of mass and the start of her cocktail hour - Catholic Saturday evening masses start between 5-5:30 at most churches.  I think it's nice to do something in the parish hall to give people a place to sit between the two - I'm doing the same thing.

    OP, I think this sounds great, if I interpreted your ceremony correctly.
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    sdeluna08sdeluna08 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Thanks everyone!  I definitely don't want people waiting around getting bored, so I will probably move it up a little.
    "The dress upped the ante."
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