How long should the reception be?

I think usually day time is around 6 hours.. not sure tho'.. might want to ask someone that has been to a daytime wedding. Mine starts at 5pm and won't end til' midnight and will probably keep going after that for some of our really good friends (they are late nighters)

Our reception will be fairly short, cocktail hour and then reception from 6-9pm. A lot of our older family members/friends with liittle ones will be ready to call it a night by then, I'm sure. As for everyone who's still got it left in them, the after party will be at a nearby bar downtown for as long as everyone chooses to stay

I am planning about 4 hours with picnic style buffet as a late lunch for a sunday wedding. We are starting at 2 is the difference.

Aretina is right. Three hours in the afternoon. Much of the time at a wedding reception is spent waiting for courses to come, which you are not having. I think the bar choice is great, the time is ideal for an hors d'oeuvres reception, and HEY WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLDER???????? US 55 YEAR OLDS ARE WILD! LOL!

Don't make it too long; it's better to have the 'formal' part of the reception move right along and if some of you are having too good a time to go home, you can move to an

"after party" at the hotel.

It's the perfect plan, and should put you right at 4 hours for the whole celebration, dj and photog wise.

We only have our venue from 1-7, so our situation's a little different, but we're just having a reception from about 3:30 until 6:30. Most of our guests are from out of town, too. We're hoping to squeeze in some extra time with them the day after/day before, since most of them are making a weekend of it. Just do what works for you, but I think 3-4 hours is about perfect.

I agree with Celia since you are not serving an actual meal, then your entire event should be 4 hours max, even 2:30 to 6:00. This allows time for people to go have dinner, relax or even head home. I would consider cutting back on the # of dances, toasts etc too. This usually happens as guests are eating and since you are only having appetizers it could drag the reception. Your bar selection is good and I would be happy if I went to a Sunday wedding with your schedule.

@ Happily engaged- I may cut back on the dances especially the dollar dance (my parents wanted that more and possibly last dance).

Thanks ladies for the advice!

Our reception is only going to be about 3 hours. No sit down meal and our wedding is at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Our reception will las from 9:00 p - 1:00 a maybe 2:00 a, but we are getting married New Years Eve, so our guests are expecting to party to the wee hours.

Ours was 5 hours 7p-midnight

I like what Celia and one of the other girls said. Keep it short. If you go to long people will want a full dinner... what kinda of heavy apps are you doing? The drinks are great, if you dont want to do the $ dance, don't.

I am planning my reception for 4 or 5 hours, but we are having a catered buffet meal, if you are not doing a full meal and only serving something light, I wouldn't go past 3 hours, because that leaves a lot of time for m=people to get hungry. You are having it early enough so they may go out to dinner after.

Ours is super short in comparison. Only 2 hours, but it does include a river cruise, so I'm not worried about it.

Unless the dollar dance is something that your cultural or geographical group considers essential (I never see it in my area.....) get rid of that.

I love the cruise idea, Merfy!

We are going to have a cocktail hour followed by a 4 hour reception. That's how long we hired the band for and I don't think we want to spend extra for more than 4 hours.

My reception crowd will be mostly "older" folks too. Wedding is at 4 with reception immediately after. We are doing a buffet. I doubt there will be more than 30 to 35 people, so I hired the DJ for 4 hours starting at 5 pm. He will be playing background music while we eat and then dance music starting around 5:30. By 9 pm those who still feel like partying can stay as long as they like as the reception is right here at home. We can do coffee and nibbles if it goes much past 10 pm.

ACK!!!!!! STOP WITH THE OLDER LOL!!!!!

Cocktail hour plus a 4 hour dinner & reception is just about perfect. Any longer than that you will start losing the older guests, people who have a long drive, people who may have to work the next day, people who have kids/babysitters, people who have church the next morning, etc. By that point of the night the bride, groom and immediate family are worn out from a long day anyway. At the end of the night you are usually left with the 20 drunkest people who will only leave when you kick them out so let them go back to the hotel and continue the party closer to their final destination. Its for their safety plus you will have less issues when it comes to getting your security/cleaning deposits back! Most problems start developing right after the 5 hr mark. Also many venues/vendors base their price on 5 hours and charge more afterwards so that is usually right around the "sweet spot" in their pricing for the most bang-4-ur-buck!