6 hour reception too much?

WOW!! thanks guys, I love all the advice nice to see I'm the only one that want to party ALL night. I've heard of people going to after parties after weddings and i want to avoid that I want all of us to party together.

I went to a wedding that seemed to end really quickly, so I wanted to make sure mine didn't fly by that fast. So we had the ceremony at 6:00 immediately following the reception from 6:30-12:00. It was way too long. A lot of people left before it was over, which kind of hurt my feelings. I remember asking my planner, "how much longer until I throw the bouquet" and she would say 45 minutes. And I'd ask her again 10 minutes later thinking 45 minutes had gone by. I had a blast and loved every minute, but I think 4 hours would have been MORE than enough.

Yeah I agree with the ladies if your family and friends are willing to hang out drink and dance then its well worth it. Now keep in mind if people are not going to use the time spent you will be wasting extra money on the other vendors as well like if you choose to keep the DJ that long how much? The photographer? The open bar? The limo? I am not sure if those people cost additional to stay later either. So its really a matter if you think that its going to be beneficial to your cost.

Long receptions can be a blast! There are some things to consider though, such as clean-up, expenses of various wedding pros, etc. that has already been touched on. Another thing to consider is, your guests will begin leaving after the first hour or two. Many of them may be elderly, have small children, or have work in the morning. So, I highly suggest that you front-load the reception to have the important events (cake cutting, first dance, money dance, the tosses, etc.) early and then have the party drift on late into the night. This ensures that most of your guests will still be around.

Nothing is worse than an empty cake cutting or (gasp!) money dance!