How long between ceremony and reception?

Are they in the same location? Or is there travel time?

Cocktail hour being an hour is totally fine if you have drinks and food

I think an hour long cocktail is fine. I think their should be exactly zero minutes between the ceremony and cocktail hour.

I think an hour is okay if there's drinks and snacks.

We are not doing a cocktail hour because there's a distance to drive between the two venues (7miles) so the food will be ready when the ceremony is due to end so that our guests can arrive at the reception with the bar and buffet waiting.

We had a Catholic wedding with an hour long cocktail reception in between - actually it was more like 1hr and 15 minutes. We arrived at the 1 hour point, but then we had to get organized for introductions :-)

We had temps in the teens and while DH and I wanted pictures after the ceremony (outside) we didn't dawdle. We got a few shots and headed to the reception.

This is totally differant based on each person. I hate gaps at all. I would rather everything be in one place.

But anything more than an hour makes it so your guests have no clue what to do. I went to a wedding in June that had a 3 hour gap. FH and I went shopping and ate in the time between. It was weird, but I know they had to because they wanted to get married at their church.

FH will NOT see me before I walk down the isle but we will be saying a prayer together on opposite sides of a door.

We have no time between ceremony and cocktail hour but we do have an hour to hour and a half cocktail hour. People will be fed, be drinking, and playing lawn games so I'm not worried.

Gaps don't bother me at other people's weddings.

I think the gap discussion is turning into cash bar and snow camo

I think it depends on your guests. For example, my family and FHs family are all Catholic, so we are used to gaps. No one would be offended by it. If we have the wedding in our hometown then a gap would be no problem because OOT guests will have several houses to choose from to hang out at in the meantime where food will be provided. That's how our families are and what we're used too. If we have it in San Diego, where FH and I live, then we'll have a short ceremony before the reception and the next day take the sacrament just him and I at church.

If your guests would, for the most part, be offended, then yeah I would say about an hour gap where the cocktail hour takes place.

Our ceremony and reception are at the same location. Ceremony is scheduled for 630. Reception is scheduled for 730. I'm hoping the ceremony will last about 20-25 minutes then we can do pictures. I'm hoping we have enough time. We are going to get a lot of the picture done prior to the ceremony.

When people are talking about gaps they mean there is nothing going on for guests. Most people when referring to reception are including cocktail hour, it's not treated as a separate thing. If you are starting your 1hr cocktail time directly after the ceremony it's not a gap.

Example: ceremony ends at 2pm and guests don't arrive at the reception site until 5pm for cocktail hour.

Cocktail HOURs - okay

gaps - bad

:-)

Our Ceremony will probably be completed by 2:45 and there will be a gap until 5:00 where a cocktail hour will start.

I know a gap won't bother our guests as its very common that there are time in between weddings over here for pictures and stuff. Most of the time we just go and start pre-drinking because everyone has CASH bars

An hour is fine if you are providing drinks and food. I think that’s a pretty generic timeframe “cocktail hour,” : )

Paris are you back?

I agree with @Lindsay. Cocktail hour is generally an hour so you are right on target.

Big gaps don't bother me though and they are really common in my area.

Thanks guys fot the input. Ceremony and reception are all at the same venue. Ceremony outside. Cocktail hour at bar and then reception in a nice ballroom (i dont know any other word for it then ball room ha)

Our ceromony and reception are at the same place, we have a one hour cocktail in between so we can do pictures.

I am doing an hour for cocktail hour. There will be drinks, appetizers, and some music. I was worried this still won't be enough time to get all our pictures so we are doing almost all the pictures besides me and FH together before there ceremony.

We are doing the exact same thing you are. We will be doing a cocktail hour immediately following the ceremony. There will be drinks and passed appetizers. The cocktail hour will be only an hour long. During that time FH and I will have some family photos done and then photos of just us. We aren't seeing each other before the wedding either.

Don't worry if it's inconvenient towards your guests. I don't think it is. It's your wedding. Everyone will get to talk with you once your photos are done