How long is the average reception?

Our ceremony is 4-4:30, cocktail hour 4:30-5:30, reception 5:30-10

Our reception will be from 6pm - 10:30/11pm. So, about 5 hours.

Our cocktail hour is 5:30-6:30 and then reception 6:30-10:30. 4-5 hours seems like the standard.

My cocktail hour is 5:30 to 6:30. Reception takes place 6:30 to 10:30. If you think a lot of people will stay, you could add more time or take the party to the hotel/bar.

Our ceremony is 4:45-5, cocktail hour 5-6 reception 6-11.

Our reception is from 8:30 pm-12:30 am, 4-5 hours is ok.

Our actual reception is 6:30-11:00 PM. The dance floor will be open around 8:30/9:00. Prior we have our half hour ceremony and hour cocktail hour.

Thank you all for the reassurance

Our reception will be 7-11. With an hour after to start clean up.

We chose 7-11 because our DJ, and our photobooth company both had 4 hour contracts. If we wanted to go beyond that, we had to pay extra, and we felt like that was plenty of time.

My venue does 4 hour reception too. It's standard time unless you want a big affair

Our reception is 7-11.... So I believe. I def think 4-5 hours is enough.

Our ceremony is 4:30-5 and our reception is going to be 5:00-10:30 with cocktail hour from 5-6. At the reception once all the dances, toasts, dinner, and games occur there will only be about 3 hours and free mingling and dancing time. So depending on how many dances, toasts, and if any games will be done (we are doing the shoe game) will determine how much extra time you need. I feel like 2-3 hours for guests to dance and mingle is plenty.

This is actually not a bad question at all! I was wondering the same thing after attempting to just give a short day of timeline to vendors. Our venue gives us access from 3PM-12AM with one hour of clean up and have all of the vendors out by 1AM. Our ceremony will be 6-6:30PM and have cocktail hour from 6:30PM-7:30PM and have our reception from 7:30PM-11:00PM. I'm pretty sure FH and I will be tired and ready to go off on our honeymoon.

I think 5 hours plus the ceremony is plenty. That is what we have allotted. 4:30 ceremony, 5-6 cocktail hour and then 6-10 reception.

We are a little under 5 hours total. 7:30pm - Midnight. Entertainment starts at 8pm and they play for 4 hours.

I agree, standard is 4-5 hours. We were just at a wedding over the weekend and the reception lasted in that ballpark, and I think that was a great question. 👍

Our cocktail hour would be from 5:30 to 6:30, and reception is 6:30 to 10:30 pm. The number of hours is set by our venue.

Our reception will be 4:15p-9p. I think 4-5 hours is plenty of time! I was originally only planning on 4 hours, but the DJ gave us an extra hour than what I asked for!

We were going to do about 4 at first so that we didn't have to pay for the extra hour for the ceremony but decided we didn't want to cut into the party so

ceremony 5-5:30

Cocktail hour 5:30-6:15

Reception 6:15-11

The normal time for the reception is about 4-5 hours depending on your venue and package. We are going to have about 5 hours for our reception.