start time

No you are not...4:30 IS the start time.

If your DOC thinks otherwise, I would consider hiring a new one.

I did the same thing and now I'm freaking out about it. We put 6:00 on the invitations, and I agree with you that people should be there and seated by 6:00, but now I'm wondering if we should have put 5:30 to be safe. Ahh!

Also agree. Start time is start time. You can have a seating time or something, which I've seen some people do, if you have guests that are a bit dim, but...

@Dwyer...no, no, NO you should NOT have put 5:30 on invitations for a 6pm start time. Adults are perfectly capable of telling time and knowing when they need to be somewhere.

I'm a very punctual (usually early) person...if I got an invitation that said 5:30, I would plan to arrive around 5:15 or so...and if it actually didn't start until 6pm, I would be LIVID that I had been deceived and be forced to sit twiddling my thumbs for 45 minutes.

Ok thank you! I mean I figured there will be those people who can't be on time anywhere they go and will trickle in, but hey they can sit in the back then!

Thank you for confirming I am not crazy! lol

I think of an invitation like a ticket to a show in the sense of the time on it being when the event begins.

When you've got a ticket to a concert and the ticket says 6:00, that doesn't mean for you to get there at 6:00, it means the show starts at 6:00.

Wedding invitations work the same way.

I was told that the invite time is the start time, but to plan my timeline for 10 minutes after. Invitations say 3:30, and by 3:40 seating of the mothers will start. We aren't having a terribly long ceremony (cocktail hour starts at 4) so for me it works. I know my guests well enough to know they aren't on time. For me, ten minutes is peace of mind. If you get there at 3:30 help yourself to a drink, grab a program, and listen to the music playing. Get a good seat. . .

I've never heard of the start time being anything other than the start time. I just added a note to our website that says that our wedding will start promptly at 4:30 and that we recommend guests arrive 15 to 20 minutes early so we can begin on time. If they arrive after, I'll just ask the ushers to not allow anyone to enter until the bridal party and myself have walked down the aisle.

To avoid confusion my sister wrote that seating begins at 2:30 and the ceremony begins at 3.

I would be prepared to start a little later but i think making guests wait a full half hour is too much (unless i have some wine in my hand). 10mins i would be fine with waiting, i always get there before the time on the invite.

Ha thanks for the reassurance, @Maltese. I'm the same way as you but I don't necessarily trust all of my guests to feel the same... If they arrive late, a staff member from the venue stands in the back and prevents people from coming and sitting down (it's an outdoor ceremony) and then they'll just join the cocktail hour afterwards. It's only a 15ish minute ceremony. Now I feel better - thanks!

I once was the DOC for a friend who wrote 3:00 on her invitation when the wedding actually started at 3:30. She and her husband are Taiwanese-American, and half their guests were age 18-25. People arrived between 3:00 and 3:30, and no one seemed annoyed at being made to wait. They all just looked relieved to know it hadn't started yet. What sounded like a terrible idea to me worked out fine.

When it was my turn, (12 years later), we started on time. The invite said 10:00. The prelude started at 9:55, and the processional started at 10:05.

I've never heard of that before.... When the invitations say a time, the event starts at that time. If people don't know how to arrive on time, that's on them. You shouldn't have to alter invitations because of a few people that are incapable of acting like adults and showing up at the correct time. You're totally right!