Need Help: Is a 3 hour reception too short?

My reception is 3 hours, so I hope it's not too short, lol. I think any more than that would be tedious.

Our reception is 3 hours. cocktail hr then 3 hrs for.dinner and dancing. I think that's plenty time

I think 3 hours is too short, however your wedding is on a Sunday evening so that makes it more acceptable. Just remember that it takes time for people to eat, you want to mingle with everyone, take pictures with guests, speeches etc. Also if you're doing a cake cutting, bouquet/garter toss you need to factor those in. Our reception was 5.5 hours long and it still seemed so short when it was all over. I would definitely add more time if your budget allows it. You definitely shouldn't feel pressed for time on your wedding day.

I think that's a reasonable time frame. Are you set on an evening wedding? If you pushed it earlier in the day to an afternoon wedding or lunch wedding then you would have tons of time to take pictures after the ceremony. You could always take them after if you have it in the evening, but you might just want to be done at that point and your wedding party might not want to be out too late if they are working the next day. If you aren't bothered about seeing each other before the ceremony, you could always do a bunch of pictures then so that would limit the photo time after the ceremony.

I also think that's maybe a wee bit short. IDK if you're doing parent dances, garter toss, cake cutting, etc, but those things may be rushed in an attempt to fit everything into that time frame. There should be no rushing on your wedding day!

For a Sunday Wedding.., I mean I would add one hour depending on if its a sit down meal?

Dude my reception is 8 hours long hahaha

With cocktail hour... Last call at 1am

Mine is the same as @ChampagneTaste -- eight hours and lasting until 1 a.m. So I would think that 3 hours is too short. But if it's on a Sunday, I think you can get away with it.

We rented the venue for 5 hours total (including ceremony) - 30 minutes for ceremony, one hour cocktail hour, so it was 3.5 for the reception itself (intros, first dance, buffet dinner, parent dances, dancing, cake cutting, bouquet/garter toss. I would add an hour and maybe start the ceremony at 4 instead (since it's a Sunday wedding - though 9:30 wouldn't be too awfully late either), if it is in your budget and invitations havent gone out yet.

Our entire timeline is 6.5 hours - 30 minutes for the ceremony, 1 hour for the cocktail hour/pictures etc - then 5 hours for dinner/drinking and dancing.

We have our venue space from 4-11. (Including getting ready space but you have to be cleaned up and OUT by 11). Our ceremony starts at 6, we anticipate a 30 minute ceremony, we'll knock out the ceremony portraits in about 30 (we're not much for posed pics anyways) and launch into the reception. Guests will be eating while we dance.

For me personally that would be way too short! But that is just because I love dancing- I could probably dance for about 6 hours LOL.. but really at least 2-3 hours for dancing for me! Is there anyway you could do photos beforehand so that you don't have to waste time during the short time you have to do photos? Also- you will have to stay super strict to the time line so I would advise getting a day of coordinator to help you stay on task!

Ours was 7 hours, from 3-10, and that felt just about right to me.

I don't think so. Our ceremony and reception is a total of 4 hours only. 30 minutes for ceremony. 30 minutes for cocktail hour(minutes), and 3 hours for reception. We are having ours on a Saturday from 12p to 4p.

Ours is from 5:30 to 12. I personally think 3 hours is too short but it is on a sunday so I'm sure people won't want to stay out too late anyway.

On a Sunday with small amount of people, 3 hours is ok.

Rock on ^

But yeah seriously is it a Canadian thing to party until the wee hours of the night? Because I thought 1 am was too early for last call and my family and I discussed it to great lengths and we just decided it was gonna be a compromise for the venue I wanted.

Too short... ours is 3:00-9:00 including cocktail hour, and we're going to have

an after party because we definitely won't be done celebrating.

However, since you only have 50 people, it doesn't need as long a time frame

as bigger weddings, since you will easily have time to socialize with everyone.

Also, if it's not a big dance crowd then a couple hours of mingling could work.

Mines is 3 hours

Being that it's a Sunday wedding, it should be fine - ours is on a Friday and the reception is 4 hours plus a cocktail hour for appetizers, drinks, and mingling while we are taking pics.