Guests leaving early?

I leave Sunday weddings earlier but other than that, if I'm having a good time and have drinks, I stay.

Oh - I left a NYE wedding early too.

I left my uncle wedding early. It was on a Saturday afternoon the D.j. was ok. I didn't care for his wife and I almost got into a fight with his wife bridesmaid. She was rude and disrespectful she kept touching and grabbing my FH. And he asked her to stop my aunt and cousin told her to stop. So i had to go

ahead and step in. After that I Apologize to my uncle and left.

I appreciate the feedback! I am sure the caterer will plan for fewer people when it comes to the later options.

I feel bad because I've never stayed until the very end of a wedding unless it was a family one. I just get tired. I'm not a party until you drop kind of person. But I don't leave so early it's rude.

My reception will end at 9:15 but I still think some of our older guests and some of our OOT guests may leave earlier in the evening. But they could surprise me, haha. I didn't want my reception to go much longer than 9 due to the fact of hoping most of my guests stay til the end or close to the end. So last dance will be at 9 with our send off at 9:15.

I know at one wedding I went to recently with my family we left early for a few reasons:

As PP mentioned - cash bar. Even though I don't drink alcohol we were still paying for lemonades and sodas which we were a little unprepared for.

There was about a 3 hour gap in between the ceremony and the cocktail hour, with not much to do, so we were all pretty bored/tired by the time we got to the venue.

Then there was 2 hours set aside for dinner when 1 was really all that was needed so again - tired/bored. It just took to long for the party to start, so it never really did.

We had a number of guests leave early. No idea what it was, we had an open bar, good dj, guests had plenty to eat. It was all the really pissed ones that were still standing at the end (figuratively.)

We're having an ice cream buffet later on! I think if you have a good dj, open bar and snacks, they'll stay longer.

I didn't read all of the responses, but I can tell you this: If you host an entertaining, open bar wedding, the majority of your guests will not leave early.

Dry wedding? Yes, many of your guests will leave after dinner. Monday - Thursday wedding? Yes, with work the next day...don't expect many of your local guests to hang around after 9:00 PM. Cash bar wedding? Your guests won't be thrilled with opening their wallets for your wedding...again (because they've already opened them several time), so expect an exodus after dinner Cake and punch reception? Expect two hours. The completely avoidable gap? Expect light ceremony attendance and heavier reception attendance.

Host a wedding followed by a cocktail hour featuring real cocktails (not mocktails and soft drinks), apps, a lovely dinner, a DJ, an open bar, and host it in a climate controlled environment, and you can expect a majority of your guest to linger.

The only time I left early was during a reception where FH and I hardly knew anyone. We also had a birthday party of a dear friend to attend the next day about 4 hours away.

- location/travel time back home

- location/season/weather/traffic

- timing as in what day is the wedding on/ time of day

- timing as in too long of a day/gaps between day of events

- timing as in guests waiting for couple and BP to show up/ out at bars/taking pics

- timing as in too many games between dinner and 1st Dance

- bad DJ. A bad DJ can kill a good crowd in minutes.

- cash bar with no ATM or previous announcement

- cash bar

- lack of food

- self catering. Once the guests realize they've been bamboozeled and are being fed non pro food, a myriad of thoughts are thought and the biggest one is, "OK. They want the numbers but they won't host those numbers."

- just not being comfortable

- just being bored

- just ready to leave for whatever reason

Honestly, you can host the most awesome event but it's still not a guarantee to keep guests partying with you. Your guests' priorities will never 100% mesh with yours. It's always a chance you take when hosting a party ... you can't satisfy everyone.

For this reason alone, host the party you can afford and are happy to host.

I think some of it is a know your crowd thing. Lots of people left my evening wedding reception early, but I expected it as most of the guests had small kids and planned the cake cutting/first dance relatively early.

At my FSILs wedding she had many people leaving early and it made her incredibly upset. She had an open bar and tons of food, the music was great and the dance floor was full but the problem was it was a Sunday night and the MC and venue didn't keep the reception moving along. Many people had work the next day and left by 10pm before the cake was cut. The dinner moved very slowly so even though the reception started at 6pm, no one saw their appetizer till 7pm, their meal didn't come until almost 9pm, and they didn't cut the cake until literally 11pm. Everyone was getting mad because they had work the next morning and felt like it was inconsiderate but it didn't seem like the bride and groom really had a choice because it was the venue moving slowly. It didn't feel great to be eating so late at night, and my FH and I felt sick the next day because of it.

We are expecting some guests to leave early, since we are doing it on a Sunday evening 5pm-11pm. .

we understand people have to work the next morning

I left a wedding pretty early once (prob 9 ish)? My friend had a very small intimate wedding with the couple's college friends and immediate family. I was her only friend from a new job with both started, and my FH came along too. Here friends were not interested at all in getting to know us or making us feel welcome. They had their crew and when we tried making conversation, they just weren't having it (one girl even rolled her eyes at me). On top of that, there were a lot of lulls, no cocktails or snacks, and not great pizza for dinner. Staff was also very rude (I asked the bartender what the wines were at this vineyard venue and she scoffed at me before just pouring some non-descript white). The DJ was also an iPod that people had to keep fixing. I was bored to tears, and we left early...I think a couple of others left right after us.

Friendship with the bride just kinda fizzled after that. I don't know if she was ever mad at me for leaving or something, but I feel like it might've been that.

When you see this in a Facebook group ask one question, what was for dinner? You will understand quickly why people left early. So far I've been 99% accurate.

I leave most weddings early. I don't dance and there's only so much drinking I can do. It doesn't mean I didn't have fun when I was there but I'm not a big stay up until the end dancing person. The last wedding we left early had an open bar and all the frills but it was just pounding dance music. I felt like I was at a club. Which wasn't bad. Their friends certainly liked it but I'm old and cranky.

If the food is low in quantity and quality, i.e. a couple of 4 hot item, roll and salad buffet; we'll leave early to get something to eat.

If the music is too loud; I've attended some receptions with brain-shattering bands and DJs; however, the presence of a live band makes it more likely we'll stay (I like the energy).

If either of us have headaches, stomach aches, etc. I was pregnant and feeling nauseous through one reception (evening sickness?).

If I'm not seated with people I know, there's more of a tendency we'll leave early. I don't want to spend 4 hours trying to make small talk with strangers.

I will stay if there are still courses to be served. In our region, almost all receptions are plated (4-5 courses), with open dancing in between. Then guests stay through the last course.

If it seems the couple didn't consider guest comfort: the worst is outdoor weddings when it's hot, using porta potties, bugs, etc.

We went to a wedding last night and stayed to the end but there was a lot of people that left after dinner. We started dinner around 6 so it's not like it was too late.

I have left 2 weddings early before. 1 was because we came in from out of town with my 2 year old son. It was a 3hr drive and we drove there and back on the day of, did not get a hotel. So we couldn't stay until midnight or whenever. The other wedding that we left early was because it just wasn't fun lol. We didn't really know very many people and there was NO alcohol. Not even a cash bar. Ugh. So annoying. Just because you don't drink doesn't mean your guests don't want to