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Allisonkatbb
Savvy August 2026

Is 9pm too early to end the reception!?

Allisonkatbb, on April 12, 2019 at 3:54 PM Posted in Planning 0 19

I have been searching for venues and I found one DIRT CHEAP. $250 for the WHOLE DAY. Its cute and historic. We would have to rent chairs for the outdoor ceremony, rent table clothes & dishes, get liability insurance for alcohol and hire a caterer of our choice. The only thing is we have to be out and have everything cleaned up by 10pm so the reception would have to end at 9pm. Thoughts?

19 Comments

Latest activity by Lady, on April 15, 2019 at 4:11 PM
  • Mrs. C
    Super May 2019
    Mrs. C ·
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    My fiance and I wanted to be GONE from our venue by 9:30 at the latest because we have a decent drive home that night and we didn't want to be absolutely bone tired when we got home so we can HOPEFULLY have some time "with each other" .......if you know what I mean. Who knows? We may be too tired anyways but there is more of chance of something happening between us on our wedding night if we leave at a decent hour. We talked about it beforehand and realized it was important to both of us to get out of there at a good time Smiley smile

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  • LB
    Champion November 2016
    LB ·
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    What time are you planning on starting?

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  • Mrs. S
    Master November 2019
    Mrs. S ·
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    Mine is scheduled for 3-8pm
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  • Allisonkatbb
    Savvy August 2026
    Allisonkatbb ·
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    The time is flexible. I'd probably want the reception to be 5 hours long? I think? Never planned a wedding before so I don't know what I should do! Lol. Smiley xd

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  • A
    Expert August 2019
    Ami ·
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    9pm isnt too early at all. Most venues we looked at had similar restrictions due to noise ordinance (mostly ranches). The one we went with has a 10pm cutoff but that's not why we chose it.
    If we were ending the reception at 9 I'd just adjust my ceremony time to be around d 3pm instead of 4pm. Not a big deal at all. PLUS as others have stated, this helps get you some alone time together before you're way too tired from the long day.
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  • Danielle
    Master June 2019
    Danielle ·
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    You can always have an after party somewhere afterwards if you wanted to keep the party going. Otherwise, you'll be fine with that. I'd just have an earlier ceremony time (like at 3 or 4).

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  • C
    Super January 2020
    Cassie ·
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    I’m ending mine at 9:30 that way it’ll give us plenty of time to clean up, I don’t want to be super tired and rather be done earlier than later.
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  • Laura
    Master October 2019
    Laura ·
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    There is nothing wrong with that time. It works well if you have parents who need to get home to kids, it's good for people who go to bed early, and it's good for the bride and groom and the wedding night! Ours will probably end about the same time;

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  • Future Mrs. K
    VIP June 2019
    Future Mrs. K ·
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    I think it's fine! Ours is over at 10PM and now I wish I had it ending at 9PM hahaha

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  • Allisonkatbb
    Savvy August 2026
    Allisonkatbb ·
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    I just worry people will think it is lame! lol

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  • Shinee
    Expert September 2018
    Shinee ·
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    Sounds fine to me! I had my wedding ceremony start 2:30 pm and reception from 3-9 pm. We did have a Sunday wedding which also factored into ending it at the time we did, but I went to my cousin's wedding who had a reception that lasted 8+ hours and I was physically exhausted at the end and one of probably 10 people left... lol.

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  • Mcskipper
    Master July 2018
    Mcskipper ·
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    Not if you start early. We had to be gone by 10, so done by 9. Not too early at all— we just did the bulk of our party during daylight hours. We started our ceremony at 3:30, for reference.
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  • C
    Master January 2019
    Cassidy ·
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    We started at 2:30 (ceremony) and we left at 8:45 most of our guests were gone long before then. Our immediate families were really all that was left and they stayed to help clean up. So i think an end time of 9 is fine.
    for reference though, we got married in January and there was a chance of a winters mix moving it (it was sleeting when we left so 🤷‍♀️)
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  • Marlena
    Expert June 2020
    Marlena ·
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    We are in the boat so we decided to run our reception from 430-9

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  • Shelby
    Dedicated February 2020
    Shelby ·
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    That deal is AMAZING! You will be sooooo you ended earlier!
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  • Expert August 2020
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    Not at all too early! Truthfully, I think a lot of people will be relieved to find out that the reception isn't going late into the night. Sure, you're going to have a few who could party all night but I don't think most people fall into that category.

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  • Merline
    Super February 2020
    Merline ·
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    I went to a wedding last year that ended at 9. We even helped them break down the tables and clean up lol because they had to be out by 9:30. Then the party moved to a lounge/bar. It's your wedding/day, as long you're happy and married at the end, then who cares if people thinks its lame. We have out venue until 830pm and my mom is paying for 2 extra hours because she thinks it would be too early to end. After thinking about it I would have been fine with an 830 end time. I have a 6 girls and have to be up early to get ready.
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  • Katherine
    Expert July 2019
    Katherine ·
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    Since you have the venue all day, you could even have your ceremony late morning, and do lunch for your meal! Out of town guests would be happy to have the option to make it a day trip.

    If anyone bothers you about it, brag about what a great deal you got on the venue. SUPER worth it for that price in my opinion!
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  • L
    Lady ·
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    I would love that! you could just start your ceremony and following cocktail hour a little earlier than normal. If you did dinner at 5 or 5:30 that is about the same amount of dancing time as a late reception!

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