How long in between ceremony and reception???

I would start the cocktail hour immediately following the ceremony, so that gives time for you to take pictures. And that will give your guests time to munch and drink before dinner

My wedding ceremony is at 2 so we are done by 2:30 pictures until 3 or 3:30 and then we are having one stop for photos which the photographer said will take another 30 minutes, but we want to stop at bars on the way to our reception. So we aren't arriving until 5:30 or 6 to our reception. I have it where guests can start arriving at 5 and dinner at 6. Most of my guests will be staying in hotels around the reception and they can't check in until after the wedding so this worked out real well for us.

I would strongly advise you to have the reception start soon after the ceremony is over. If there is too big a gap, your out-of-town guests will not know what to do and will either show up early for the reception, stop somewhere and spend the time drinking, or leave. I have arrived at way too many cocktail hours well before the scheduled start time, only to find that many of the guests were already there and well on their way to being drunk before I even had a chance to set up. In my opinion, it is very inconsiderate of both your guests and the reception venue.

Is there any chance you could take your special pictures before the wedding or at another time all together? Don't forget, your wedding is a celebration, not just a photo-op.

This was a dilemma for me. My wedding started at noon and I wanted the reception to start at 2. My wedding planner advised against it. The gap is too large.

I had a long wedding so guests really didn't leave church til about 12:45 or 1. The reception started at 1 and we got there at 2:45. But we did have cocktails, a video, and a photobooth for them to enjoy while they waited.

0! We're taking a river cruise immediately after.

Our ceremony is from 2:30 to 3:30. Since the reception venue is so close, we are starting cocktails at 4 but we don't make our grand entrance until 4:45pm or 5. We will use that time to take pics and kiss

Our ceremony will most likely be at 5:30 and then the reception starts at 7....but it's pretty much immediately after the ceremony because by time the ceremony is done it will be 6 and it takes a half hour to get to the place...

I would advise not having a huge gap unless you have something planned for your guests to do while you are out taking pictures because guests get very annoyed having to wait around

As long as it takes people to walk in from outside and find their seats.

I would really recommend you start cocktail hour right after the ceremony. Or depending on your venue you could have games, a photo booth, etc.

We had our ceremony at 5:30. There was a 3-5 min drive to the reception. Cocktails started immediately following the ceremony. Since we did a first look and the majority of wedding party and family photos priror to the ceremony, we only did pics for about 20 min after the ceremony. We then went to the cocktail hour to enjoy our friends and family. Dinner started at 7.

I have never been to a wedding with a large gap, but I would imagine it wouldn't be very fun for out of town guests or guests who don't live near by. What are they going to do during the break time?

Our ceremony is at 2pm and our reception cocktail hour starts at 6pm

I'm having a cocktail hour following the ceremony and I'm using one venue for everything so it makes a little easier.

But the weddings I have gone too that chose separate places it probably took about 1 n half to 2 hours. Until people started arriving to the next area. It took the bride and groom about 1 hour after that so 3 hours total.

If you are going to have your guest wait for you make sure they're refreshments. It doesn't have to be fancy but a fruit platter and cheese and cracker platter. Some water, ice tea and lemonade.

Our wedding is at 2:30 and the social hour is at 5:00...dinner at 6

A large gap is hell on the guests. We are all dressed up with nowhere to go! Momentum is everything, and momentum is lost when we are sitting around in our girdles and spanx.