We're having our wedding ceremony at my family's parish at 2 pm, and with the priest we have, I'm expecting a 45 min ceremony (I wish it was shorter but boy is he slow). Our reception begins at 5 at another venue. Google maps is saying on a Saturday that it could take anywhere from 20-30 minutes to get there. 2 pm was the absolute latest time I could get for the Church (I've been a member of the church since I was born, so switching ceremony locations is an absolute deal breaker). I was making a FAQ for the guests and I feel like I probably should put something about that big gap in between venue times but I have no clue what to put. Any ideas?
Re: 2 hour, 15 minute gap between ceremony & reception (2 locations)
Can you host a receiving line to occupy at least 15 minutes at the church? Then work with your reception venue to either move up the time to 3:30 start if possible or see if your parish hall will allow for you to host light refreshments before the main reception.
Guests need to be hosted from the time your ceremony begins until your reception ends so your task now is to determine what hit can do to shrink the gap to be only transit time to the reception venue.
It's really not cool to expect people to wait around for two hours for you to get around to hosting them.
Don't do this. Either move up the reception or do as one couple I know did, have a cookies and punch type thing with a receiving line at the church for an hour and a half, then go to the reception venue. It wasn't perfect, but it did bridge the gap. But it is much better not to have to do something like this.
A 45 minute nuptial Mass seems fairly short from my experience. You should hope that it actually extends a bit longer.
You need to find a convenient space in which to provide your guests a place to sit and enjoy light beverages during that gap. Convenient means guests either remain at the church and enjoy some time and refreshments in the church gathering space or you arrange for these same amenities at the reception venue.
A gap is not a "Catholic" thing or a church thing. A gap is a host issue and it needs to be remedied. There should be no gap at all. A known "big gap" needs to be resolved.