Catholic Gap

I am Christian, not catholic but my FH's family is catholic, to be honest I really dislike the gap, their weddings are always out of town so all you can do is go and sit at the hotel and try not to ruin your hair while you wait for the reception....however it's totally normal in his family and they're all kind of used to it. so if both sides are catholic it's probably not a big deal. The other thing I see is a lot of people just don't go to the ceremony and only do the reception, that's pretty common too. but I'm usually expected to go the ceremony or my future SIL will call me a heathen and hate me more for not being catholic, so I'm usually a hangry and bored guest by the time the reception finally rolls around. Just don't have a 2 hour cocktail hr on top of the gap time. Just my personal opinion though. I think if everyone is catholic that's coming they will know what to expect and figure it out.

The wedding I went to with a couple hour gap had a "pre-reception" in the hall of the ceremony venue with casual appetizers directly after the ceremony. There was about a 40 minute drive to the reception from the ceremony venue. I still left before everyone else did from that because I lived 5 minutes from the reception, so I just went home and hung out until it was time. If most of your guests do not live nearby or have a hotel nearby, it can be a pain. Consider the "pre-reception" if the church has a place you can do this. I don't know what the Catholic church's rules about food are, or if most would even have a hall like that. And then obviously a cocktail hour can be an option with fancier appetizers and drinks to fill the gap.

In response to your question, many people skip the ceremony because it's just far too long, I'm Christian and attend church every week, but our weddings still honor God and marriage and they are 30 minutes tops so usually everyone attends, when I go to a catholic wedding I find myself hot and uncomfortable and trying to stay focused even though our religions are centered around the same God, catholic ceremonies are known for being long and drawn out with more focus on tradition and readings than the actual joining of the couple, which is why many people skip it. I don't think it's anything against your marriage, Catholicism, the church, or God, it's simply just that people know there will be a long gap, and they don't want to sit through a 1-2 hr ceremony then wait around for another 2-3 hours, it's just hard on families even if they are catholic and want to see your ceremony. I force myself to go to catholic ceremonies just to make my FH's family happy but I'm usually miserable by the end of the night and messed up from not eating a meal for 6 hours, going to catholic weddings with gap and reception isn't fun it's usually a 12 to 12 ordeal and you HAVE to get a hotel at that point and then you're out another 100 dollars at least. I'm not angry at the people that do it, I understand why, but I will say I'm looking forward to our shorter Christian ceremony with the reception immediately following. I hope you don't take offense to this, it's just a known thing that catholic ceremonies are a large commitment with a long gap and many people just don't want to spend 12 hours at a wedding even if they love the couple.

I am catholic too- I am used to the gap and as a guest never found it rude! In my family we usually take the time to drop off a car, hang out with family we hadn't seen in a while, etc.

We are also having a catholic mass and a 2.5 hour gap- our plan is to provide a list of suggested activities for our guests.

Also- if you do not want to do a first look, please don't do it just for the sake of your timeline! Seeing you FH for the first time as you walk down the isle is special to you two and this is YOUR wedding! Best wishes to you and your groom

This is very normal for Catholic weddings. I am having one as well and the only time to do it is 2:00. Your guests who know it's a Catholic wedding will know if the gap. It happens at every one. It's a time we're people can go to their hotel room or go grab a drink. We have done this for many Catholic weddings we have attended. You can't do anything about the gab. Try to add a cocktail hour to make the gap a little less, but this is something you can't change. Also, your guests and friends who attend are there for you, if the gap is this big of a deal for them...which if isn't...they won't come.

I went to a Catholic wedding a couple of weeks ago and there was no gap. It helped that the shuttle to the reception took about half an hour. My FH is Greek Orthodox and the last Greek wedding we went to had a gap. We ended up napping in the hotel room bored out of our gourds.

I am in the same exact predicament. I can understand the responsibility of managing wait time but it is what it is. The people who are there are getting to celebrate our love and marriage at our expense so cut us some slack haha. I would like time in between the ceremony and reception to take pictures with my new husband. We won't be having a bridal/groom party so the pictures shouldn't take long anyhow. Though it's a Friday at traffic hour so hopefully that ten minute drive turns into a 20 minute one lol (; (we do plan on bringing it down to 2.5 hours though. That just sounds better than 3 haha)

We're doing a 2 and a half hour gap between the ceremony and reception. The Catholic Church will only have weddings at 12 or 230 so we're doing ours at 2:30 and the cocktail hour will start at 6pm. Most of our guests are from the area so they'll likely go home and freshen up, hang out, whatever. I'm also suggesting different things in the area people could do (nice bars, cafes, etc) on our wedding website. MIL may also be hosting some out of town guests at her house. I've been to lots of weddings with gaps. I also understand that some people won't come to the ceremony because of the gap and I am okay with that. I've always enjoyed the gap between ceremony and reception because you have time to freshen up, get together with old friends, hang at a bar, etc. WW and TK goers are really harsh about the catholic gap... Im not sure why. People on weddingbee are more understanding of it.