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Jade
Expert November 2021

Wedding day schedule

Jade, on November 18, 2019 at 6:56 PM Posted in Planning 0 8
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My ceremony is taking place at a Catholic Church followed by a reception at a different venue. My reception venue is asking for a tentative start time for my cocktail hour. I can later change it but I want to try and be as accurate as possible.
My question is how much time do I allow for people to travel from ceremony to reception? At my sisters ceremony people hung out for at least 20 minutes after the ceremony, should I consider that when I pick the cocktail hour time? And since my venue offers valet, should I factor that in at all? I’m not sure if valet will take longer than normal parking. Also, my wedding is late November in Michigan. It usually doesn’t snow much in November, but we did get a foot last week, so should I just be extra cautious and allow a little extra time in case of bad weather?

8 Comments

Latest activity by Sinéad, on November 20, 2019 at 7:33 AM
  • Destiny
    VIP May 2020
    Destiny ·
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    As a michigander id say allow a little extra time for weather since it can be so unpredictable. And from what i remember Catholic weddings usually have an hour between reception and ceremony right?
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  • Jade
    Expert November 2021
    Jade ·
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    Well the ceremony is an hour long, but we can start the cocktail hour whenever we want! I know catholic weddings often have a long block but we opted out of that because we think it’s inconvenient!
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  • Erika
    Devoted August 2021
    Erika ·
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    How far is your church from your reception? Factor in the drive between the two places.
    Valet should not take that long and most likely they will let the guests leave the car and they will park it.

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  • Sinéad
    WeddingWire Administrator January 2025
    Sinéad ·
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    Hey Jo!

    Typically, how long is the drive from your church to your reception venue with no delays?

    For example, if your ceremony ends 4 your guests will not all leave the church immediately and get into their cars, especially if you and your new spouse are hanging around. I would leave roughly 20 minutes for your guests to gather their things, mingle for a few minutes and offer their congratulations to you. Then add the drive time on to that.

    If parking takes another few minutes, that is fine but you can rest assured that the first guests in will be greeted with your venue that is prepared and waiting for them and not still setting up because you left too much time.

    Is that helpful?

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  • Mary
    Dedicated October 2020
    Mary ·
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    Are you doing family photos afterwards? We are planning to spend an hour doing family photos after the mass.

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  • Jade
    Expert November 2021
    Jade ·
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    We are doing family photos. But my family and FHs family are tiny. At my sisters wedding it took 10 minutes so thats what were kinda planning for! I can’t imagine it would take longer than that.
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  • Jade
    Expert November 2021
    Jade ·
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    Yes, that was very helpful! Thank you! What do you think about planning for potential snow? Should I leave an extra 15 or 20 minutes for that? Michiganders are used to driving in snow, so if it does snow it’ll hopefully only add 20 minutes to the drive.
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  • Sinéad
    WeddingWire Administrator January 2025
    Sinéad ·
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    You could definitely mention to your venue that in the event of adverse weather, they can expect that guests will not arrive exactly on time. That way you don't have to worry about it snowing or not, the venue staff will know to expect a slight delay. I don't think it something that you should worry too much about, especially when your venue seems so accommodating and flexible about guest arrival time.

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