Arrival time vs ceremony time

Jacks, did you read my post? Your guests wouldn't be sitting for 30 minutes. You'd arrange for (and most venues will provide) coffee in the morning, wine and sparkling water in the afternoon. They'll shmooze, they'll go to the ladies room, they'll say hello to aunt Mary.

I'm jealous of those of you who have guests who show up early because this has not been my experience at all.

FH and I went back and forth about this. Our venue is gated and we anticipate people might run a little late due to delays at the gate.

Ultimately, though, we decided to just put the planned ceremony start time on the invitations. We put info about the gate on the website and suggested that people might allow a little extra time for that. I was worried that if I put a time 30 minutes early, people might show up 30 minutes before that and be waiting for an hour.

ETA: If a lot of people are late, we will likely just start a little late.

I feel your pain. We have the same issue with family. Our wedding is to start at 6:30pm. We are having a half hour cocktail time before the ceremony. One signature light drink or soda and two appetizers. our invites list the start time as 6pm. This way they will have a drink and we will have a sign with something like. Please enjoy a cocktail ceremony to start at 6:30. We are not letting anyone know we are planning this either.

I think they are one and the same. People shoukd know to show up before the listed time

We will be putting our exact start time

We will be putting 30 min earlier than the ceremony time. I've been to weddings/receptions where people have shown up literally an hour after the invite time!

The majority of our wedding guest (close family/friends) are notoriously late for everything. Not kidding at all. Most of their own weddings have started late. Our ceremony really starts at 5:30, but we put 5:15 on our invitations for that exact reason. We hope that people will be there by 5:30 and will probably still have people late.

I guess it really depends on how your family/friends are for other event. If they typically show up on time, put the correct time on your invitations.

Ceremony start time. I was rather ticked this past weekend for my brother's wedding when they put down the ceremony was starting at 4:00 when they planned to start at 4:30. We were in Jamaica and they were having an outdoor ceremony. Sitting in the hot sun....waiting and sweating.

I put the ceremony time and I did not notice if anyone was late.

I always get to weddings 30 min early and I would be very miffed if I had to wait an extra 30 min (so an hour total) for the ceremony to begin.

This is interesting! I didn't really think of it. I worry about traffic and the shuttle being late so many it makes sense to build in some buffer time.

I did 30 min before the ceremony...

Our ceremony is at a church in a small town with not a lot of traffic and plenty of parking. Our invitations have the actual ceremony start time.

Maybe unpopular, but I think you put the actual start time on the invitation and people can be adults and show up on time. We got married at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday (and put 5:30 on the invites.) The first guest showed up at 4:45. Imagine if we hadn't been planning to really start until 6, seems like a waste of their time.

We put the ceremony start time. I'm always early and I would be very annoyed sitting around an extra 30 minutes because we had to wait for the late people.

If your venue is telling you to and says they will provide drinks I think it is fine, though.

Ceremony time. As a guest I would be really annoyed if I planned to arrive early (which is custom for things like weddings) only to find out I was lied to and now have to wait longer.

I did start time but if we have to hold for latecomers for 15-30 that wouldn't be the end of the world. Almost every wedding I've been to has started late for that reason but it didn't affect cocktail hour that much.

My venue provides hospitality hour from 6-7pm, and my ceremony begins at 7pm. After reading different opinions, I decided to put 7pm. On our website I mentioned the hospitality hour, and we let our VIPs know through word-of-mouth. I plan on walking down the aisle between 7:05-7:10pm. I thought about some what-ifs: like, what if I'M the one who is late, and I made guests show up at 6:30pm and they are now waiting for an hour or more (for those that always show up early). The hospitality hour is nice, but no liquor is being served - just soft bevs, pastries, and cookies. The liquor won't flow until cocktail hour. :-p

We just put the ceremony start time. If people are late that's on them we're starting on time

We just put the ceremony start time. If people are late that's on them we're starting on time

Our familes are notorious for being late so I am having welcome drinks for an hour before the ceremony starts. Our moms actually suggested this to make sure everyone has enough time to get there since it is an out of town wedding. But I will also add that this is what we are doing on the rsvp page. good idea!