Advise on doing an early afternoon church ceremony and an evening reception,

If you want to get married at that local church, then you'll need to have a lunch reception. 4.5 hour gap is just waaaaaaaaay too long.

Best advice: don't do it. Either have an earlier reception or find somewhere else to have the ceremony. If I were invited to a wedding with a gap like that I'd only show up for the drinking/dinner portion.

Yea, too long between isn't good. You're going to have to compromise on something. Either you'll have to have an afternoon reception or get married somewhere else. Which is more important to you?

I went to one of these weddings...it was horrible in terms of planning the guests time. They had a full blown catholic wedding with communion and the whole 9 yards. We were there for almost 3 hours 11:00 am to almost 2:00...then they thought they could start their reception at 5:30. All the guests left and ate at like McDonald's because we were starving/dying and then only maybe 1/4th of the ceremony guests returned for the reception. People were angry it took so long and that people had to find their own lunch in between.

I had a friend do this for her wedding. I skipped the ceremony because there was so much time in between, She actually gave me a hard time about missing it. Seriously? We have an hour break in between ceremony and reception.

I was so set on having an evening wedding, but we booked our ceremony at 11:30am. I'm actually a lot happier with this since the wedding will be done a lot earlier, we will have more time to relax and spend personal time with family.

I would do the reception right after or pick a different ceremony location. I would be irritated if I had to wait longer than 45 minutes for the reception lol.

Thanks for the input. I'm glad to hear. Meanwhile I've had to do it for family that had a 10 am wedding and reception from 230 to 10.. It was long but no one seemed to minded.they found things to do in between. Just had a friends wedding that had similar..I loved it..we got to rest and change to more appropriate evening wear. I've also been at weddings that started at 2 ..I was dying by 8 pm lol..thanks

I am thinking of a 2pm wedding with reception at 5 to allow for pictures. Almost all of our guests are local and its in St. Louis so there is stuff do in between. lol

Ask the church if you can use their social hall and bring in snacks and drinks.

We are taking our guests for ice cream or to the local pub. The time will pass much more quickly if everyone is fed and occupied.

Our wedding is at 12 with cocktail hour beginning at 4:30. Everyone going knows its a Catholic mass and is understanding that they don't do ceremonies after 2 pm. What's 3.5 hours really? Go get lunch, check into the hotel, etc. if you are inviting adults, hopefully they can keep themselves entertained without guidance, unless you are getting married in a town with nothing to do. *i apologize for how its written, my phone is rather finicky*

Honestly, long gaps are horrid.

The last wedding I went to that had one, all the guests went to the hotel bar and got soused. Meanwhile, the wedding party drove around to do pictures, and also got soused. I'm all for having some drinks, but when the bride is completely tanked before the reception starts, it's downhill from there. The best man gave a slurring toast that made zero sense, the couple didn't really greet or pay attention to guests, and the whole thing was embarrassing.

I know long gaps aren't the etiquette approved thing to do but its never seemed like a big deal to me personally. I'm not having a gap because I'm not religious and I'm getting married at the same venue as my reception. However, if I'm going to a friends wedding and they are religious and early in the day is the only time they can have their ceremony I completely understand. I went to a wedding like this last summer and it was awesome. We went to the ceremony, went back to the hotel to relax for a few hours, and then took the trolley they provided to their amazing/fun dinner reception. Yes, we were hungry when we got there but I knew they were having great food so I wouldn't have eaten a big lunch that day anyway. I think I highly prefer that to going straight to a lunch reception. Lunch receptions are great if you're on a tight budget or you prefer less of a party atmosphere but I wouldn't just do it is because you have to have an early ceremony for religious reasons. Its true that a lot of your guests will probably skip the ceremony and only attend the reception, if your okay with that I would just do the dinner reception. Maybe make some welcome bags to be handed out at the hotel (assuming you set up a block) filled with snacks to hold people over in between.

Yaaaa. this is why my wedding is on a friday...so i could have my catholic ceremony at 4:30pm. if you are going to do this, you really need to provide at least a list of things to do or places to go. don't be surprised if people skip the ceremony though

It's kind of the norm around here (well, maybe they split evenly between religious venue ceremonies with huge gaps and weddings at one venue with no gap).

to be honest, we tend to skip the ceremony unless we are super close to the couple (family or "inner circle" friends). we never mean to, but that's what ends up happening. i told this to a colleague and she was offended that we would miss a ceremony (she plans on having a catholic wedding with a few hour gap). i understand...but it's so uncomfortable unless you're close to home!

i think it's fine if you do it, as long as you aren't offended by the decisions that your guests make. even better is planning an activity for them in between, like others suggested!

Of course it's your wedding so you do what you want (it's your day!) but I have to agree that long gaps are horrid, especially for out of towners who are close enough that they don't need a hotel but too far to go home.

If it's what you really want I suggest providing guests with an activities list in the invitation. Let them know what's available in the area and include descriptions and addresses. Include restaurants, malls, parks, museums, etc. Also, once the reception gets started, KEEP IT GOING. I once went to a wedding 2 hours from home where we went to the ceremony, waited 4 hours, waited 90 minutes at the cocktail hour, waited 45 minutes after being seated to get our salads, another 30 to get our entrees, and another hour for cake cutting and first dances. Everyone was miserable and the party never got started. The poor bride and groom couldnt understand why because they were kept busy but all the guests were sick of waiting all day and confused what was going on in time gaps.

Its normal for where I live to have a huge gap between the wedding and ceremony. I have never been to a wedding where there wasn't 2 or more hours in between. Times have changed, there is more to do now, I honestly don't see it as a big deal and I will be doing it myself. My wedding will either start at 1 or 130 at the church and my reception starts at 6 and it is about 20 minutes from the church. I am going to include a list of some local things they can do like get a light lunch, play putt putt if it is still open, local park attractions for those with kids, and many of my family members will probably go home to take care of pets etc before coming. I could possibly see it as an issue if you had a lot of out of town guests i guess but I don't think it is a big deal. Its YOUR day!

Thank you.. Yes half of our guests are out of towers and will have hotel. I'll think about it some more. I guess why do even churches do masses at 1 pm lol....I'm leaning towards a 5 pm ceremony and 7 pm dinner in iPhone place.

One place

Every wedding I've ever been to had a long gap. Church wedding at 1pm and reception at 5pm. It does suck when you're far from home. At my cousin's wedding, about 25 of us ended up at a coffee shop for 2 hours.

I've been to a wedding where there was a 2 hour gap which was really long. Then again, I have been to a wedding that had a 4 hour gap but there were games outside of the church, photographers taking pictures of everyone & handing out cards to how you could look up the picture online, and tons of finger foods & some music. It was like a pre-reception and that was a ton of fun. It really depends on what you do during those hour blocks that can either send people away or not. Also, if you do decide on a late lunch type of reception, it opens up the night to hangout with family & friends that you really want to spend your time with. good luck and either way do what YOU want most!