Church wedding

I don't think you'd need to have a second ceremony. Most of your guests wouldn't want to sit through two. Maybe you and your fiance could take pictures in the ceremony site at the venue instead? But as far as the large gap, most catholic weddings that I've been to, there has been a large time gap, usually a few hours.

Is it important to you to have your guests attend your religious ceremony? If not, maybe just have you and parents at the catholic ceremony and then do a second ceremony where all guests are invited. But I would choose one or the other, not both.

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Thank you for your input. The religious ceremony is probably only important to myself and my parents. Most religious ceremonies I've been too only 25% of the guests attend so I'm expecting the same for mine. I'm leaning towards having the religious ceremony just for immediate family and inviting everyone else to the outdoor ceremony. It does seem like a hassle to pay for the same thing twice but the religious ceremony is none negotiable and the outdoor ceremony is something I always wanted for my wedding.

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If youre choosing this option I would also throw out there that you could probably do the religious ceremony a few days before so it doesnt mess up the timeline on your outdoor ceremony day. Its becoming more and more common now to get the legal part of it out of the way earlier and then still have a ceremony. You could even mention it during the outdoor ceremony and then you have more freedom in the types of things you want to include like readings, personal vows, etc.

It might also be cheaper if theyre willing to do it on a weekday or something as opposed to a Saturday. (not sure if this is a thing as I'm admittedly not Catholic)

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I agree, having the guests sit through two ceremonies would be too much. I believe we don't get access to the ceremony site if we don't book it but it's something I could look into. Thanks for your response!

I totally feel your dilemma. We wanted the church wedding and our venue happened to have a beautiful outdoor space with a gazebo for the ceremony. Long story short there were some health concerns with my mother-in-law so we ended up doing the church ceremony with only immediate family far in advance of the one at our venue. Then we reaffirmed our vows and had our reception at the venue at a later date. It was the best of both worlds for us.
As the previous person said it might be a better idea to have the religious ceremony on another day with just those closest to you, which can be as simple or elaborate as you want. I wore a long white dress but it wasn't a traditional wedding dress. Then you can do the full on ceremony and reception at your venue. And don't worry about what anyone will think. It's a lot more common than I realized.

For the record, there's actually a name for an hours-long gap between a Catholic ceremony and the reception and it's called a "Catholic gap" 😅 If you have your ceremony at 10am, you'll definitely have some guests that will only come to one event or the other, but maybe on your wedding website you can list a few things for them to do in between? Places to get lunch, things like that.

As had been said before, you are also more than welcome to have the ceremony on a different day and keep it small and intimate!

Hello, congratulations on your engagement! The Catholic ceremony is very special because it's the sacrament of marriage. Could you have the 10am ceremony be optional for your guests, but they are invited if they want to attend? And then most people will come to the outdoor reception at 6pm? I don't think you need to do a second ceremony after the Catholic ceremony, but just focus on the celebration at that point. Also, if you come from a Catholic family, won't you have a lot of extended family that want to attend in the church? They may be offended if they are not invited to the Catholic ceremony.


We also have a "Catholic gap" for our wedding. Our Nuptial Mass is at 1-2pm and our reception begins at 5pm. We are suggesting that our guests hang out at the hotel or do some suggested activities in the area. We will also be able to do our wedding photos during the gap. Good luck!