Gap between ceremony and reception

That’s super rude to do. To invite people to witness your ceremony, then leave while you treat VIPs to dinner, and then come back to party later. If you want to save money you could try a cake and punch reception at a non-meal time. But treating some people to dinner and making everyone else wait while you do that, is very rude to those people.

This is considered a tiered wedding and is unbelievably rude! I would avoid this plan at all costs.

You’re exactly right, most people aren’t going to come to the ceremony, leave for 3 hours, and return to the same place for a reception that doesn’t include a meal. I would reconsider this entire plan.

I think 2-3 hours is much too long of a gap to have your guests wait around and entertain themselves when they had to travel, bring gifts and get dressed up for your event. You don’t really need that much to time to take pictures. You can’t only feed your wedding party and then only give your other guests appetizers. That is not being a good host. That’s like only feeding your children dinner and their friends scraps when they come over. People would only come to the reception and not the ceremony because people wouldn’t want to wait around for 2-3 hours while you take pictures and only feed your wedding party a proper meal, then only feed them appetizers. You have to treat all the guests the same and be considerate of all their needs. If you can’t feed or accommodate them then don’t invite them. Try to limit your guest list. You can have a buffet with Mexican or Italian food for dinner to cut costs. Keep your cocktail hour to a spread of fruits, crackers, meats and cheeses. Have a dry bar or a wine and beer only bar. Cut costs where can but it is imperative that you treat your guests fairly.

You can do it the other way around. 2pm ceremony, short cake and punch or afternoon tea reception - say 2:30-4:30pm. Then take more photos, then go to dinner with family and wedding party.

Sounds like a bad idea to me. Why not do pictures -->ceremony--> reception with open bar, appetizers, two food tables, cake -->dancing until people are ready to leave.

two food table ideas--> salad bar/w/cheeses/assorted deli meats 2 fruit plates.

--> Chips/taco bar-chop meat,chicken, nachos,reg.chips-sour cream,tomatoes,cheese, beans,onions, varies dips(sour cream and onion,cheese, gauc, queso,spinach dip, salsa etc.)

This way its affordable, you aren't negating anyone, and you keep a healthy flow.

What if you did small plates with food stations, such as hors devours for your guests?

I don't think a wedding if it can be helped, should have a gap that long. three hours is so long! it makes sense if you have to travel from one venue to another and if there is a cocktail hour or if the party needs to set up but if you can help it, i would avoid a gap that big in general

As a guest, I would only pick one or the other to attend in that format. I don't think most people would want to hang around for several hours between the ceremony and the reception.

We are doing the majority of our photos before the ceremony to avoid that kind of large gap between events. We will have an hour gap due to the space needing to be turned over from the ceremony set up to the dinner set up, but our event is at a resort and we are planning to provide guests with drink tickets that can be used at any of the bars/restaurants onsite and they are free to wander the grounds while we take any extra pictures needed/missed before the ceremony.

2-3 hours is entirely too long of a gap. Also, only providing certain guests with a meal is rude. If you cannot afford to properly host everyone, then you should cut down on your guest list. Another option is to have a wedding at a non-meal time with a cake and punch reception. Either way, your cocktail hour should be around 1 hour, at the longest, if you are staying at the same venue.