Reception Time

5.5 is pretty long for a typical reception.

We did ceremony at 4, cocktail hour 430-530, then dinner and dancing and everyone left at 10.

5.5 hours seems pretty long for a reception. I would say maybe push your timeline back an hour to start the ceremony at 4, cocktail hour 4:30-5:30, and reception to begin at 5:30

View Quoted Comment Did that feel like enough time? We are having open bar too. My FH thinks it’s not enough time and 10pm is early so we were thinking of getting transportation to a close downtown bar after if anyone wanted to go out after.

View Quoted Comment That’s what I am thinking since it’s open bar too. What kind of timeline did you have?

View Quoted Comment Definitely enough time! And that included a 2 hour plated multi course meal. I feel like any longer than that people get too drunk and/or tired. We did go to a bar after with some people who wanted to as well.

I would push it further like at least 5p for dinner as earliest

View Quoted Comment Ours was pretty different because we had an afternoon wedding. We did ceremony from 12-12:30, cocktail hour from 12:30-1:30, reception from 1:30-5

Most receptions are about 4 hours long or so.

We had our ceremony at 5, cocktail hour at 5:30, and reception started about 6:30/6:45, we were done around 11.

Our ceremony was at 4:30 followed by cocktail hour at 5:00 then our grand entrance at 6:15. Our reception ended at 10. We went to a bar for our after party. Our reception was just shy of 4 hours. It wasn't too long or too short. It honestly was just the right amount of time and everyone had a great time.

Our ceremony will start at 3, cocktail hour 3:30-5 and reception 5-11!

Time flies when you're having fun they say. I've been to receptions that lasted 2 hrs max where people weren't ready to leave their socializing, and others that lasted closer to 7hrs with dancing that no one wanted to end. It's completely up to you and what your guests like.