How long should a reception last

Depends on the style. For a full reception with a cocktail hour (or hour and a half), several course, dancing and dessert, five hours is usually the norm here. For heavy hors d'oeuvres or a grazing party, where people aren't waiting for courses to come, four is probably fine.

Afternnoon weddings are usually fine at four hours.

Yep, depends on your reception and your friends. Mine was 4 hours-- buffet dinner followed by dancing-- and things had definitely started to wind down by 4 hours, so it was a good time-frame for us.

Our venue includes 4 hours, but we are going to add an extra hour. It's a lot of money, but 5pm was the latest my ceremony could start. So, with the reception starting at 6, it seemed lame to have the night end at 10. Also, with a full meal, four hours didn't seem enough for dancing and mingling.

Depends how long you want it or when your venue closes...a lot of my friends and family like to party we had an open bar so i know everyone wanted to stay and party so our reception started at 5 and didn't end until 1-2am

I was at a wedding that had the cocktail hour starting at 7 and the reception ended at 11 and I felt like it was a little short. Luckily they had about 60 guests so it was still enough time for them to go around and talk to different people but they also didn't get a ton of time for dancing either. I guess I prefer a little longer.

It also depends on the day of the week. On a Sunday I might not want to stay super late and if I had to work on a Friday I might be dead tired by the time 11 pm rolls around and if it goes till midnight I would maybe end up leaving a bit early unless things were really going. But on a Saturday to me the more time the better! Think of the type of guests you have (are they traveling far, are they older and might get tired, are they going to want to dance a lot, etc) and of course what the two of you want. It's your day so take the time to enjoy it as long as you want!

I will have to extend the time my wedding starts at 5:30 pm so midnight is good for me thanks

I will have to extend the time my wedding starts at 5:30 pm so midnight is good for me thanks

No cocktail hour, just straight to dinner with dancing and an open bar at a separate locale than the ceremony, the reception will be about 4.5 hours long

Our venue is providing 1 hour cocktail after the ceremony and then 3 hour reception.

We are using the cocktail hour for photos!

Ceremony, cocktail hour, reception all at same space, 6.5 hours (including 30 per ceremony as guests arrive). Good pace, time for dancing, won't feel rushed.