Time between Ceremony and Reception if you have a two venue wedding.

The most guests should have to travel should be 30 minutes, I would add 15 minutes for people to get to their cars and account for traffic, so I would plan for no more than 45 minutes between ceremony and cocktail hour.

I agree that adding 15 minutes to the travel time between venues should be ok. When people get to the ceremony venue they're likely gong to want to grab a drink, so I'd definitely recommend trying to minimize the time they have to wait.

I think it would depend on travel time. I would say no longer than 15 minutes in addition to the travel time.

View Quoted Comment

I agree that, ideally, the reception should begin (probably with a cocktail hour) not much later than the time it takes to travel between the venues so guests aren't left trying to figure out how and where to fill awkward time gaps.

We have a lot of Catholic relatives, so we've attended weddings with multiple versions of the "Catholic Gap." For one we actually went to a nearby deli and ate sandwiches because we were starving after a 1 o'clock mass and stuck in limbo till 5 pm (super paranoid about getting mustard on my cocktail dress...). For another, we went to the hotel, changed clothes, H took a nap for a couple hours, then we redressed and headed to the 6 o'clock reception (and the two venues were nearly 2 hours apart); that one was definitely less than ideal. We've also gone to parties/open houses at the home of parents between the two events to kill time. That ends up kind of like a pre-party with food and beverage, which is better as a guest, but hard on the hosts (hosting another event in the middle of your child's wedding day????) and makes for a really long day for guests. (I love you, but come on -- 10 or 11 hours total devoted to your wedding????) Significant gaps are hard/inconvenient for guests....

In my world: as long as it takes to get there from the ceremony. Even if the couple is still tied up with pictures, I think the guests should be able to head straight and walk right in, and get apps and drinks there at the reception location while they wait.

We are having at least 2 hours between the wedding & reception venue doors opening. We are also not having a cocktail hour. We don't really have a choice though.

Having a Catholic Mass as PP stated.

I agree with the others....travel time plus a few minutes. We recently went to a wedding that had 2 hours in between and the venue was 30 minutes away so we just had to ride around for an hour and a half which was crazy.

Our ceremony was 5:00-5:30, and our cocktail hour started at 5:45, which gave people enough time to exit the church and get to the reception site. We did not have a gap.

View Quoted Comment

I completely understand. I went to one of those and it was the same thing. I felt like leaving several times but because it was a close friend I did not. My venue is about 5 minutes from the church and I know we will need to take pictures and things like that so I was trying to account for about 30 minutes of travel time so people can get to their cars, and drive, and park.

View Quoted Comment

I appreciate the feedback. I think that is what we will likely do!

View Quoted Comment

My venue is about 5 minutes from the church and I know we will need to take pictures and things like that so I was trying to account for about 30 minutes of travel time so people can get to their cars, and drive, and park. Would you think this is too much time?

View Quoted Comment

I appreciate the feedback. Most everyone has said that. My venue is about 5 minutes from the church and I know we will need to take pictures and things like that so I was trying to account for about 30 minutes of travel time so people can get to their cars, and drive, and park. Would you think this is too much time?

View Quoted Comment

Oh Okay! I've never been to a wedding where there wasn't a small gap. Did you take pictures prior to the ceremony or was it all done during your cocktail hour?

View Quoted Comment

Cocktail hour is meant for you to take pictures. If the venue is only 5 minutes away and you account for 15 extra minutes, that gives you an hour and 15 minutes to take photos. I don't think an extra 10 minutes of waiting is the end of the world, but why delay your guests when you don't need to?

View Quoted Comment

We did a first look, immediate family pictures, and wedding party pictures prior to the ceremony. After the ceremony, we did extended family portraits and then impromptu sunset pictures with just H and I because the lighting was too good to pass up (:

View Quoted Comment

That's fair. I guess I wasn't really thinking of it like that. Thanks!

View Quoted Comment Haha I know it doesn’t always work out but does seem like the best option. I come from a big catholic family so have been to A LOT of wedding with gaps, and I just can’t help but feel like they lose some steam in the downtime. Plus it’s a little awkward as my go to time kill is always “let grab some snacks and drinks!” but I don’t ever want to do that en route to a party, haha. And a nap sounds nice in theory buttttt SOME of us have a tendency to wake up groggy and grumpy hahaha. I also went to one wedding with the aforementioned 15 minute gap and that was a little awkward too with a few of us sitting in our cars trying to figure out when we should go in. So I always like the trickle-in set up, where we can just head over when we’re ready and go straight in and mingle. People will hang around the ceremony lingering for a little bit but once the crowd sees someone make the move, they’ll follow haha. I also like this as everyone can join when they’re ready — after family photos, they can head straight instead of lingering and being a distraction !

View Quoted Comment

LOL...the "groggy after a nap" was so true! By the time we'd undressed after the ceremony with the 5+ hour time gap, and H was sound asleep, there was a part of me that was like, "really, get dressed and go out again?!?!??!?? Let's just skip it!" Also, especially at that wedding, there were probably only about 50 people at the mass in a cathedral. We were in from out of state, and I was thinking, "Wow! I so expected this to be a huge wedding." I was later blown away when there were probably 250-300 people at the reception. Given the HUGE gap, I kind of understand, but to me the whole point of attending a wedding is to witness the ceremony. Personally, I think it's super rude to blow off a ceremony, but attend the reception. Unfortunately, I see it so much with Catholic weddings with a long gap. I guess it's a by-product of the choices, but it rubs me the wrong way.