Ceremony start time/timeline

Is that time for set-up too? take down? these can influence your timeline massively.

Also when can guests arrive? Our venue contract is 6-11. But they insist the ceremony can't start till 6:30 then because guests can't get in most of the venue until the contract start time (6pm) and guests need to arrive early. Set up time and bridal party/family are allowed before that though (but the venue does all set up).

Oops I forgot to put that! We have set up and break down outside of that time frame. We have the venue for guests from 5-11 so if we wanted cocktail hour to start at 5 then that's when guests could arrive. The ceremony could start whenever because we have the church all day.

I would start your ceremony about 4:30 - 5 pm...that will take about 30 mins unless you are having a high mass then add another hour. Cocktail hour would start about 30 mins after your ceremony..So if the ceremony was at 5, cocktail hour would start around 5:30, seating for dinner at 6:30-6:45...you can have the speeches during dinner and once everyone is done eating start the dancing....you can take a little break about an hour after the completion of dinner to cut the cake...after that just continue with the dancing...no need to do the garter or bouquet toss...

We are getting married in a church within a few blocks of our venue. The venue we have from 5-11 also. Originally I was planning on having the start time of the ceremony be two but our photographer suggested possibly moving it up to 1:30 to make sure we have enough time for photos in case the ceremony runs over. The ceremony will probably be about an hour and we are not doing a first look

Are you having a DJ? I would discuss reception timeline with them- I really had no idea about those events either and he walked us through it, and ran them all day of.

@Meghan, so your guests will have to figure out what to do for 2.5 hours? Any way to have your ceremony start at 3:30 or 4? 2.5 hours is a really long gap to have.

@OP - whatever you do, make sure that your cocktail hour is exactly that, a cocktail HOUR. Try and get as many pictures (family, wedding party, etc) out of the way before the ceremony and then do the ones with both of you after the ceremony if you opt to not do a first look.

@Joanna having it at 3:30 or 4 would mean people would miss part of the cocktail hour and we wouldn't have any time for pictures around that area. My family is very chatty and it will take them a while to exit the church and get to the venue. My photographer said 2 is ok but 1:30 might be better so we aren't stressed on time in case the ceremony is long.

If the chuch is 5 minutes from the reception, have the cocktail hour start at the time you expect the ceremony to end. Guests shouldn't show up there and have to wait around for the doors to open, and 30 minutes is not long enough to actually go do something else. So if you want cocktail hour to start at 5, have your ceremony be planned to end around 4:45 or 5.

I guess I just disagree. We don't want to miss all of cocktail hour because we are doing pictures and it is at a hotel so no one will be standing waiting on doors to open. My family and friends must do it differently because I've never been to a wedding where the reception starts right after unless the ceremony is in the same location. I've always had a couple hour gap and never minded it. Just trying to give a suggestion on start time for the original post