How long will your reception last?

Ceremony - 4:15 to 4:35ish

Cocktail hour - 4:45 to 6 p.m.

Reception - 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.

All at same location!

Most receptions go until 11 or 12, usually 11. Our venue gave us the option to extend until 12 and we did.

Ceremony at venue 6pm cocktail hour 6:30-7:30 and reception 7:30- 11:30pm

We're having a church ceremony starting at 2:00pm. Cocktail hour is 4:00-5:00pm. Reception starts at 5:00pm and goes till 9:00pm.

I am from Costa Rica and the weddings here end at 1 to 3am, it is not required. Currently, I live in USA and will marry an American, but our wedding is CR and I already decided reception is from 630 to 1030pm. If you add the cocktail hour (that's 1.5 hours) I end up with 5.5 hours of open bar. That's enough!!! You can get a table at a bar and move everyone there. Have fun on your wedding day. ?

We are having a smaller wedding. Pictures in the morning. Ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Reception will immediately follow (start around 2:00 p.m.) then end at 5:00 p.m. We are not having a dinner and the reception will really be just socializing and maybe some card playing. There will be cake, some light sandwiches/snacks and refreshments. Then my new husband and I will still get to spend our wedding day evening together. I think some people are a little upset about no dance and/or dinner; but my mom and a few of my aunts made me realize that it's my day and I get to choose how it happens. I put on our wedding website what the "events" of the day are and it's also in the invite. Therefore the guests know what they're getting into and if they don't want to come then that's OK!

Does the reception have to end when the open bar ends? My venue has a policy where the cocktail hour and reception spaces are rented for 5.5 hours, but the open bar is only going for 5 hours.

Ceremony begins at 4:30 pm, cocktail hour begins between 4:45-5, cocktail hour lasts roughly 45 mins (we're not doing a first look but we have two photographers so we're taking care of all the pictures that don't need the two of us together before hand), dinner beginning between 5:45-6, reception activities go on until 9:30 when we will do our final dance (the historic park we're getting married at has a noise ordinance that begins at 9:30) then sparkler send off and we're outta there!

we are not late night party people plus our wedding is on a sunday AND our honeymoon flight leaves the next day at 5 AM so that time works perfect for us plus I feel like it's plenty of time.

I agree with Danielle. My wedding Is at 3. Then the reception from 5-9. I am having a separate get together at my house after the reception. We are also only serving wine, beer, and champagne. The liquor is for the after party at home.

I dont think thats abnormal. Ive seen some venues that need to be done by 10 or theres a fee. Each place is different. You're going to be so tired by the end anyway you wont even know what time it is!

We are doing ceremony at 4, then cocktail hour, dinner at 6:30, then dancing til about 10. From there we plan to walk around to a bunch of pubs in the area since our venue is right in the middle of a bar/restaurant district.

Call me curmudgeonly, but I'm planning my ceremony for 2:30 p.m., followed immediately with heavy hors d'oeuvres, cake, and champagne. I figured everyone will be gone by 6 p.m., and the leftovers can go down the street to a bar for post-party! I'm not planning on having a bunch of dancing--more like an elegant garden party? The wedding (both ceremony and reception) will be in a park, and we can't be there later than 10 p.m. anyway. This does present a conundrum with photos. We'll probably have to do that before the ceremony.

Our ceremony starts at 12:30pm. It's followed by cocktail hour and the reception. The reception ends at 6pm. We are having an after party that evening for those staying at the hotel we have a block at.

It depends a bit on what you're doing for the reception. For starters, 10 minutes for the ceremony isn't enough. That is barely enough to say, "do you? yes!" And it means you have to start EXACTLY at 6:00.

If you're doing a plated dinner, it's not enough. If you're doing a cocktail style reception with stations, 3.5 hours is plenty.

Since I have a winter wedding we had to start earlier. Ceremony starts 2pm-8pm reception ends. 6 hours seems like plenty at a wedding.

Ours is Ceremony 430 to 5, the cocktail hour, reception at 6, dinner at 630, grand exit at 11.

Ceremony at 630, cocktails and appetizers immediately following, dinner at 730. We have to be out by 11pm so I imagine we will start packing up at 1030. We aren't having dancing so 3 hours is plenty for dinner, drinks, cake, and socializing.

My ceremony starts at 12:00 & ends at 4:30pm.