I have to ask is anyone having their wedding in the early am?

I think you're smart to push the ceremony back and the reception up. Mine is a beach wedding but starts at 430 pm and reception to follow. I would agree with the resounding chorus here with not going to the ceremony and only going to the reception if it wasn't changed. I think your changes will be received much better.

My wedding ceremony begins at 1 pm. Not a morning wedding, but I had really wanted an evening. I think a wedding on the beach is smart to do in the early morning, since it can get so wretched hot.

Our wedding ceremony will begin at 10am. No one that we know of has complained or even said anything about it

That's a huge time gap, if you want early morning pictures do that with hubby but I would push the ceremony to more like noon.

I think 8 is way too early. Ours was at 10 and that still felt WAY TOO EARLY . We regretted not pushing till 11 or 12

I think you are making a good decision in moving the wedding back to 10. And I truly do understand about the officiant issue. Our best friend kind of a second mom to me who is a minister married us. So she was down in Florida for a vacation too.

With a 10 am wedding you probably need to be ready at about 9:30 and it took over 2 hours to do just my hair and makeup. (Just giving you a time frame too hopefully that helps. I'm definitely not trying to be snarky about it at all!). To get into the beach we had to be ready at least 30 minutes prior to and our wedding planning services got us on there. Our guests were told to be there 45 minutes prior to because you had to walk onto the beach.

The big thing I learned is to make sure that the reception and wedding time are very close to each other. That was not a big issue for us but it was something I hadn't thought of. Also if you are worried about the beach and onlookers, as someone who was married on the beach, you don't even notice any onlookers. Also people moved without being asked when we took pictures. At 10 the beach will likely be full. I wouldn't worry about onlookers at all! Just enjoy your day and do it when you want to. I hope this does help. We loved our beach wedding and wouldn't change it for anything!!!

We had a morning ceremony at 10am and we had to get up and start getting ready at 5am. Keep that in mind when planning your ceremony start time.

Way too early/too long of a day. I think if people want to spend time at the beach, they can do so the day before or after...or even at a more reasonable hour that morning before an afternoon ceremony.

No if I was driving 600 miles (9-10hrs drive time) I would make a long weekend out of it. I would not appreciate an 8 am ceremony and if I wasn't going to the ceremony I probably wouldn't drive that far just for the reception. I am a morning person. Weekdays I am up between 4:45 and 5 and weekends I sleep in until 6-630

Um, I don't think I would expect many of your OOT guests to be coming...

I wouldn't want to go to an 8 am reception, and I definitely wouldn't be going if I had to travel.

ETA- just went back and read the comments and saw your update -- much, much better idea.

Our ceremony start time is 10am with brunch at 11:30 am. We are having a small guest list with half the guests staying at a hotel 15 minutes from the ceremony location. I personally think 10am is too early so I can't imagine an 8am start.

If you really want early morning beach photos I would do a first look and move your ceremony time closer to the reception time that way there's not 8 hours in between.

I don't know what I said to get flagged but hey, that's life.

I don't know about anyone else, but if I spent all day on the beach, all I'd want to do that night is nap.

@Celia - It was just a double post. It wasn't flagged based on the content of the post.

@Celia, you probably said the truth. Which some posters can't handle. Eta: I still stand by my comment regardless of what the content was! Consider it a broad statement!

10am is still very, very early if you are getting your hair and makeup done.

A dream wedding would be 5 AM on the beach as the sun rises. The reception would be a brunch, cocktails and dancing. B&G could leave by 1 or 2 to catch an early flight for their honeymoon. Not for late sleepers I know.

what??? Ceremony at 8am & reception at 4?? Why don't you just start your ceremony at 4?

I agree with ALC. 10am is still early. That means you have to get up at 7am to get your hair and makeup done. #nowayjose

Glad you decided to adjust the times.

Thanks for the clarification WW Laura!

@Celia: Can you give us a modified version of what you said? I never can figure out what WW Censors feel is correct.