Guest Arrival time

Ideally people will know to get there and get seated by the time your ceremony starts--you should only put the ceremony time on your invitation. the majority of our guests showed up in the half hour window before our ceremony but we also had a few early birdies and a couple of latecomers. i wasn't super concerned about people seeing me before the ceremony so it didn't bother me that i got to see a few people before the ceremony.

You'll get very polar opinions on this here, but in my region (NYC suburbs), it's standard to put an invite time of 30 minutes prior to actual ceremony time. All the venues tell you to do this. We had an invite time of 5pm, and the ceremony started promptly at the planned time of 5:30pm, and our guests were greeted with beverages upon arrival. I've literally never attended a wedding that started at the time on the invite. As far as the prelude music went, I think they started it at the invite time.

Our ceremony musician starts playing music an hour before the start time. Our ceremony started at 6pm; most of our guests arrived 45 minutes to an hour beforehand. They all got champagne and other drinks before the ceremony on us. Our guests were seated upon arrival as they got to have drinks before.

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People seem to be very polarized on the invite time vs start time debate. I'm all for team buffer time. As much as I'd like to say that adults should know to show up at a wedding on time, out here a lot of guests usually won't walk in the door until the invitation time (like it's a movie with previews or something). So it's become normal to incorporate a 15-30 minute buffer where light refreshments are provided for the guests who are responsible adults, and the ones who walk in 5 minutes "late" aren't trying to sneak into a seat during the processional.

Unfortunately the ceremony area is not a spot where refreshments would be served, but maybe a 15 buffer? Put 5:15pm on the invites and start at 5:30?

I think a small buffer is fine, but anything longer than 15 minutes would irritate me as a guest, and I would assume you (and the entire wedding) were running late.

I'm someone who is neurotic about being on time (read: 5 minutes early) for things, so having to sit around for 30 minutes would bug me.

We are purposely doing "pre-ceremony refreshments" 45 mins prior to the start of our ceremony. We want to encourage guests to get there early as there are a lot of out state guests who are not used to CA traffic and dealing with valet and such. So this pre-ceremony time will be indicated on the invite.

Otherwise, just put the ceremony start time. Also, we do have a website with FAQ and one of the questions is "what time can guests arrive?". You could indicate what time you would like people to get there if you are worried.

While there are a polar opposite opinions on this we put our start time on our invites. We had people arrive almost an hour and a half before (one unexpected guest walked into the venue when I did to get dressed). Thankfully our bar was open for early arrivers. We attended on wedding where we arrived half hour before the invite time (only to find out they built in a half hour buffer) and they ran late 45 minutes. So we were standing in the lobby for over an hour as they didn’t even open the ceremony site to sit down.

Here it is customary to put the actual start time on the invitation If you go to the symphony or the theater, and the start time is 8:00 pm, they don't keep you waiting till 8:30. I would be darned annoyed if I showed up between 6:30 and 6:45 for a 7:00 pm wedding, then found that you had no intention of starting until 7:30. I believe in rewarding those who arrive on time by starting on time.

Our venue is located within a gated-community, and the venue (and some of their preferred vendors we've interviewed) have told us repeatedly to make the time on the invitation 30 minutes prior to the start time of the ceremony. The wedding/event coordinator has been there for 10+ years, so we're going to trust her judgement on this. (People need to check in at one of two gates into the community [easily 15-20 minutes off any major freeway], then drive 10-12 minutes to the venue, either self- or valet park, and walk through the venue to the ceremony area on the back patio to be seated. Apparently, not many accomplish all of that by the time on the invitation; hence, the "buffer." There will light refreshments available during those 30-minutes.)

I would put the actual start time on the invitation. It doesn't seem fair to keep the polite, prompt guests waiting for the stragglers.

It probably makes sense to have music start when you think the earliest guest will arrive. I would say at least 15 minutes before the invite time.

That bring said music indicates that things are getting ready to begin, so I wouldn't start it before invite time if you built in buffer as well. Although I am on team no buffer because I'm an adult and plan to arrive early for major events. So I would be waiting your buffer time +15-20 that I allowed as my own buffer time.