Start on time or late?

I've been to a weddings that started on time or within five minutes and I think everyone appreciated it. I am the SAME way. Also, I would want to start on time because we only have the DJ for so long and I wouldn't want to mess up the timeline, especially with food. I mean sure, 15 minutes won't ruin the wedding but... I've never seen being on time be frowned on!

I'm team on-time.

I am kind of bonkers about being on time myself so I feel you. That said, I do think that it's probably wise to start the ceremony a few minutes late - People get invited for a certain time, but the likely hood of them all getting their butts in seats and being quiet at exactly that time seems unlikely to me. I would rather start a few minutes late once folks are settled in, than be in the middle of my ceremony and get interrupted with a lot of noise and fuss as people who arrive exactly at 5 or even a few min late try and find a seat...

We ended up having to start late because the guest shuttle didn't show up on time. We were all ready to go on time. I was in the military so I have the mentality that 15 minutes early is on time, on time is late, and late is really late! So I had no intentions of starting late, but when the people we invited to be there to celebrate with us weren't there I didn't really have a choice.

Mine started late, for no reason since myself and my husband were there, and I was super stressed out at our officiant. We were supposed to begin at 2, we had a Jewish wedding and there was stuff behind the scenes we did, then we’d be processing in at 2:10ish. We didn’t begin the behind the scenes until almost 2:15! Ultimately we ended up not getting all the pictures we wanted at the ceremony location. And our on time guests were sitting around for close to a half hour! A few minutes to let everyone settle is one thing, but no more then 5 in my opinion.

We started on time. Our ceremony was outside so I didn’t notice if anyone showed up late, but if we had started late, we would have been pushing it into cocktail hour and I didn’t want to do that.

View Quoted Comment Never served but apparently, I live on military time. I have to restrain myself quite a bit to not get to a party too early.

On our invitations it said 3:30PM... you have to realize that there will be at least 1 person who will be late. We waited until 3:45 to start for that reason... and yet you can see people sneaking in, during the middle of our ceremony on our raw footage... Just something to consider.

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I was thinking the same thing! My FH is a vet and the entire length of our relationship the phrase "early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable" has been used! Based on our time line and adding in buffering times, I honestly see no reason for our ceremony to not start on time.

I'm also a scarily efficient former secretary that knows how to weild a calendar! LOL

I've yet to attend a wedding that did not start on time or within five minutes. I would prefer to respect those who show up on time, most show up early, rather than accommodate those who aren't on time. In my experience, those who are late are always late to everything. Their lack of respect for others shows in their lateness.

I’m starting like 10 min late but I will have a slideshow of baby pictures of my FH and I playing on time. I know FHs got people in his family who have walked in late to every wedding and I’m trying to give them buffer time.
im also considering not allowing people in after we begin walking down the isle. Like they just need to hang out in the lobby then. With our venue there isn’t a good way to sneak someone in if they’re late, everyone would see

Ours will probably start about 10 minutes late. Mainly for those people who come in late.

I so badly wanted to be on time, but my bridesmaid lost her keys so we were 20 minutes late. It all worked out though.

I’m right there with you! If I’m on time I feel late. I know my wedding will be starting on time or at least very close to that because if it doesn’t I will be going crazy lmao

I will not be delaying my start more than 5 minutes. I'm like you with always being early so I have a hard time penalizing those that arrive on time or early by making them wait even longer.

I put 5pm start on our invites but we won't be starting until at least 5:15pm. I'm a wedding photographer and I HATE when the bridemaids and bride are trying to walk down the aisle and guests are still arriving and trying to walk down the aisles or down the sides. I've had so many bride entrances ruined from late guests!

I think a 5-15 minute delay is never bad. More than that, I personally think is rude and cuts into other wedding events. We plan on starting 10 minutes late to give guests a little extra time to arrive.

Being on time isn't a bad thing, I had one friend who was a huge Lost fan, and wrote on her invitations the wedding started at 4:08 so don't be late. People got there in time, and the ceremonyvstarted at exactly 4:08. And I've been to weddings where it has started later. Some times people are waiting for a particular relative to arrive, or had some type of technical issue. People are fine with waiting for shirt while also, usually.

I am starting no longer than 5 minutes after the listed time. Our wedding is outside in August in GEORGIA. I am always early to places, hate being late, and refuse to punish those who get there on time or early by making them sit out in the heat. The main person I know who is late to everything is my mom, but she has to be there a few hours before. Fmil is late a lot too, but for stuff like this, she shows up on time

Weddings in my region always have a buffer. Our venue had us put a time of 30 minutes prior to the actual planned ceremony start time on our invitations, and then beverages were available upon guests' arrival. I've literally never attended a wedding that started at the time on the invite, it's always a half hour later. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

When I was in school, I had a teacher who would tell us, "To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late. To be late is unacceptable!" I have tried to be early whenever I am able ever since. I understand how nerve wrecking it may seem if things get a little off schedule, but I don't imagine anyone would think poorly of you, or that anything catastrophic had happened to cause the delay. I imagine most people anticipate a slight delay, or some couples may even build a later ceremony time into their schedule to anticipate any delay that might occur. I am certain everything will be fantastic on your wedding day!