How much time for seating?

Is that 15 minutes from the scheduled start of your ceremony time? If so, I would check to see if you could possible do early seating. So, if your ceremony starts at 3p could guests begin being seated as early as 2:30? If so, I would make the start time a half hour earlier on your invitations just to ensure that people are there and seated by the actual start time. Also, make sure that your ushers are well instructed on how and where to seat your guests, this way there is no confusion on the day of. Confusion and disorganization will only prolong things and cause you to run behind schedule and risk having some of your guests actually miss the ceremony or cause you to incurr overtime charges as you wait for guests to be seated. If you don't already have a wedding planner, you may want to look into hiring one, if only for 'day of services'. A planner can ensure that you are running on schedule and save you a lot of time, money and undue stress. Hope this was helpful. Happy planning!!

Agree with Dahlia!

That really doesn't seem like enough time! The problem with listing an earlier time on your invites is your guests who will be early, even for that time. You don't want people to have to sit in their cars for an hour before your venue lets them in. I'd also suggest having 3-4 ushers to speed up the process, if they won't let you access the venue sooner.

You might also give your start time on the invitations at 3pm, but actually plan to start 10-15 minutes late. That would give you at least 20-30 minutes to get your guests seated (starting at 2:45). Don't tell your guests (then they might show up too late) or venue, but let your photographer, officiant and musicians know! Lots of weddings start a little behind schedule, but if you plan for it, it should be fine!

Maybe this isnt' good ettiquette, I don't know. But, what is wrong with putting something like "seating to begin at 2:30, service at 3," or something like that on the invites? I have wondered this for a while, as there seem to be a few posts about "lying" about the start time to get everyone into their seats in time.

Katrina: that's what I was originally thinking of doing, but putting "ceremony to begin promptly at 5:00". I feel like using the word "promptly" is polite but gets the point across.

I've seen a lot of stuff about lying about the start time, too, but we've only got the venue for so long and I don't want to waste a half hour of it with waiting on people who aren't respectful enough to be on time. Plus, I don't want people to think we're starting late when we aren't.

You need 30 minutes, and unfortunately, there are always some guests that arrive late. Try this: if your wedding starts at "3:00", open the doors at 2:45, but don't start the ceremony until 3:15. Then you have 30 minutes, and guests who are a few minutes late can still enjoy the ceremony. Let your wedding coordinator know, and make sure she is running the show.