Ceremony start time

I think you should put 5 pm, the actual start time. Many guests will show up 15-30 minutes early. Don't lie to them and don't keep them waiting even longer than they planned.

My wedding coordinator told me to put that my ceremony begins at 3:30 when it really begins at 4. She told me that I don’t want people arriving while people are walking down the aisle.

I've heard the same thing about having the "invitation start time" being a little before actual start time. We're going to state 6pm on the invitations and will plan to start at 6:15pm.

Depends on where you're from and who your guests are! If you know they'll generally arrive early, I think allow 15 minutes just to let everyone get settled.

In my wedding though, I'm pretty sure I'll need to give at least half an hour's leeway just because Trinidadians arrive late for everything!

Maybe I'll even tell my fiance it's an hour earlier that it really is

On another note my cousin's wedding invitation stated that the ceremony was at 3pm SHARP.

Only a little over half of the guests showed up at 3pm. And they started only like 5 minutes late, if at all.

Your website and your invitations should say 5 pm. I would arrive between 4:15 and 4:30 for a 4:45 pm ceremony and would be super annoyed if I had to sit there for 45 minutes.

I would put 5 on your Invitations. Guests know to arrive early so if you tell them any time before that they will be sitting there for a while. One of my husband's friends told everyone 4 when their wedding didn't actually start until 4:30. It was terrible. The wedding was in a barn at the end of June and barn was only cooled by two fans. It was so hot and everyone was miserable. Everyone was also looking around wondering why the wedding hadn't started yet. Only one guest was late and he didn't arrive until 4:40 so it didn't make a difference what time they told him because he would have been late either way.

Our wedding is at 5 o’clock. Most people start to arrived 15-30 minutes early. For our wedding we’re starting exactly at 5 o’clock on the nose!! I’m coordinating our wedding myself. The DJ has been told to start the music for the wedding party at exactly 5 o’clock.

I put our ceremony start time on our invitations. I agree with some of the previous posters who said guests tend to show up early.

If the wedding starts at 5:00 p.m., then you should put 5:00 p.m. on your website. Your invitations, and save the dates if you are sending them, should also say 5:00 p.m.

Invite time should be the actual start time. No need to punish those who are on time. If you'd like to wait 10 or 15 mins to start afterwards is cool but to tell a fib to the every single guests to nake up for a few is not necessary.

Ours starts at 5:00pm and we put 5:00pm on the invites. We plan on having a short ceremony, so if we need to start at 5:10 then that gives us a buffer. These are adults who should manage their time appropriately and make sure they show up on time, so we're not worrying about other people lol

Always put the time it actually starts. People know to arrive early. You're going to have annoyed guests if they arrived too early. Hell people arrived an HOUR early for my wedding cuz some of my family thought the ceremony was at 4. Don't know where they got that information from or why they didn't check both the website or their invite. Some of my husband's family arrived early too. I was infuriated because I was trying to wrap up pictures outside and people kept seeing me in my dress. Trust me, you aren't gonna want guests there early besides your parents and bridal party.

What I did was put my ceremony time of 4:30 and I put a note saying "Music starts at 4:00 p.m." meaning they could begin arriving at 4!

I would put 5pm. They are adults and know how to be on time for events. If not - you wont' even notice. It's rude to to give an incorrect time on purpose.