Travel time between sites

This is kind of a tough decision. Is there anyway the closer church can accommodate you coming later, so when you’re done it’s closer to 6? Or, can the reception venue have you any earlier than 6 at all? I just don’t think it makes sense to have a long gap between the ceremony, and reception. I also feel like it’d be inconvenient for guests to drive 40 min between the church & the reception. If at all possible, I’d find a way to make the timing a little smoother. Even if it means changing churches and/ or reception venues!

View Quoted Comment Can’t change the reception site as we already put our deposit down. Other churches I reached out to but weren’t available all had 2 pm as their latest time because there is 4/5 pm mass on Saturdays at most churches. I emailed reception site again to see if we can at least do 5 pm which would be a little better and would then maybe be a 2 hour gap. I said same about the 40 minutes drive- FH disagrees and said because it’s a Saturday wedding, traffic won’t be as bad.

View Quoted Comment Can there be a ceremony at the same location as the reception? Cause you could possibly have a pastor come there and marry you. Where you guys from? Because Saturday traffic in LA is still pretty bad lol. Also, would your guests already be traveling to get to the ceremony / reception area in general? If so, I’d keep that in mind too. Either way, whoever is most important will be there for you!

View Quoted Comment We’re both Catholic so we’re aiming for a Catholic church ceremony. We live in Arizona but the wedding will be in the Metro Detroit area in Michigan so Saturday traffic isn’t great but not terrible like LA and even here in Phoenix. My family is already in Michigan and his family is coming from Wisconsin so there is some travel already occurring. The family all said the same thing that they’ll be there regardless lol
but I also am thinking about them and don’t want to make it too complicated.

View Quoted Comment I totally agree with ya! Well I’m catholic too, and I’m planning to have a priest come to our ceremony (it’ll be on the beach). Or, did you absolutely want it to be in a church? Because hiring a priest to go to you would avoid the time gap. It’d also mean your guests wouldn’t be driving around either!

View Quoted Comment I don’t mind the ceremony being elsewhere but FH really wants it in a church. Since I get everything else in the wedding, I figured I’d let him have this one haha. Also we’re using his priest from childhood so he’s traveling from Wisconsin too.

View Quoted Comment I understand! That makes complete sense. I would honestly just mention all of this to him. Maybe he would be willing to consider not having the ceremony at the church. It’s worth a shot to at least bring it up! Good luck with everything 🤗

In my experience, for Catholics, "the gap" is pretty much a given and people understand. We're not Catholic, but have tons of family who are. In our family (multiple sides) the huge bummer is that a lot of people just skip the ceremony because of the gap and show up for the reception. That makes me sad because I think the ceremony is the MOST important part of the day. If you're going to have a long gap either way, I'd choose the church that's close to the reception; bad enough there's a big gap, don't make people drive all over, too.

I've only been to one wedding with a Catholic gap, and over 50% of the guests skipped the ceremony and just went to the reception. The church & reception were around 30 minutes from each other and they had a 3 hour block. I'd pick whatever venue is closer to your blocked hotel, since I assume guests will just go sit at their hotel and wait for the reception to start.

Some people don't mind a gap. I hate gaps aha but I've been to plenty weddings with that three hour gap in between.