Wedding Gap Timeline

I'm in Long Island and every catholic wedding Ive been to is like this. It sucks. If the church is close enough to me I go to the church in a more casual outfit/ dress, go home change into a reception dress/ fix makeup and then head out to the reception.

Very annoying because it literally takes up the whole day.

Understandable Bemyguest...

I guess the time to figure it out is before you commit to either a church or a venue.

Ours won't have a gap since we are doing a first look and the ceremony/reception area at the same location. I think they're annoying because... we went to my cousins wedding. After the ceremony we awkwardly drove back to our hotel, sat around for an hour, and ending up showing up to the reception a half hour early (as OOT guests we didn't know what to do). Bride and groom came in about 1.5 hours later. Another wedding I went to had a gap as well. This was maybe a 1-2 hour gap. We mingled with friends out side of the church and then decided to get margaritas at a local restaurant. This gap I didn't mind too much. But when you don't know anyone, or you're in unfamiliar territory, you're just stuck in limbo.

I am Catholic and have been to many Catholic weddings and I've never experienced a gap at a wedding. I think its a regional thing and it could also depend on the church as well. At my church the priest lets you choose a time up until about 4:30 so he can be ready for Confession at 5:00.

Rule of thumb: 99% of gaps are avoidable. People have them because they care more about their vision than they do about the comfort of their guests.

It's not a religious thing.

It's not a "we didn't have a choice" thing.

Your church requires a 1 p.m. ceremony? Great! Find a venue with a cocktail hour/reception start time immediately afterwards. Your venue requires 5 p.m. start time? Choose a different venue. Problem solved. But unfortunately, people want evening receptions or they find a venue they just have to have and at the same time, they have to do the Catholic (or whatever religion) ceremony at the church that won't allow them to move the ceremony.

Avoidable. Doable. But people care too much about their vision to worry about it.

Gaps are the worst. I don't understand why people to need to rest or freshen up after the ceremony. Where you running laps? What part of watching a ceremony do you need to rest or freshen up from?

I'm having a gap. I'm not going into detail because I've already been told by people on here that it's wrong but to me it's the norm and none of my guests expect any different.

I would not find it rude to have a gap, id like the chance to go to the hotel or home and freshen up.

I agree with Massy? Why would anyone need to freshen up after sitting at church for an hour. I typically don't freshen up every hour. That's just silly.

We went to a wedding in 2013 that had a ~2 hour gap. We were 8 hours from home and had no idea what to do. Luckily the bride and groom invited a bunch of people back to their house to hang out before the reception. But that was like only 15 of us. I have no clue what anyone else did. I wasn't a fan of the gap.

I've lived in the Kansas City area my entire life. I've been to more weddings than I care to recall. But I can say I can't think of a single time there's been a gap that was more than maybe 30 minutes to give people time to drive to the reception venue. I'm not sure what we would do for hours, especially given we live so far out. We couldn't go home. I'm really curious what people do when there is a several hour gap.

I have never been to a wedding with a gap longer than the amount of time it took to get to the reception location. 4 hours is a very long time. I do not know what I would do. I'd be pissed.

Jamie-Leigh not only was that frustrating, it was also rude AF since they tiered their guests and invited certain ones back to their place.

I don't mind a gap. I've only been to two weddings without a gap. We check in to our hotel or whatever and then hang out with friends or family not in the bridal party. Have a few drinks at someone's home or hotel bar and then go to cocktail hour. They are pretty popular where I am from and it is what it is. We probably will have about a 1 hour gap for our wedding - but that really isn't a huge gap anyway..

4 hours???? That's beyond ridiculous. There will be no time gap at my wedding. After the ceremony guest walk right over to cocktail hour but I guess that's cause we are having everything all at the same place which is what we wanted and chose to do.

I agree with an above poster maybe it's a Midwest thing? From Michigan here and every wedding I have attended... literally so many... haha has had a gap of anywhere from an hour to four hours. I don't mind it... probably because it's all I've ever known. It's honestly kind of a common thing here for the bridal party to go to a bar between the ceremony and reception... again maybe a Midwest or Michigan thing?

My church was very adamant about the fact that I could only have my wedding at certain times. I either had to have my wedding before 2pm (as in it could start no later than 1pm) or it couldn't start until like 6pm. That just wasn't going to work for me and FH and our guests. So we are having a 1pm wedding and cocktail hour starts at 2pm. Reception begins at 3pm. Ends at 8pm. It's early yeah but a gap wasn't going to work for me. So I gave up an evening reception to properly host my guests and truly enjoy my day.

Yep, I've been to many many weddings with a gap. Very common among my social circle (I hesitate to say anything is regional). I've always experienced them with church weddings (not just catholic) which are usually in the afternoon at 1 or 2pm, and then the reception is in the evening - 6pm cocktail hour usually. An afternoon reception is rare.

Personally, I don't mind either going home (if the wedding is local) or to the hotel to hang out and relax. And then change clothes, touch up hair and makeup, and go to the reception.

ETA - many people skip the ceremony and just go to the reception. I think that's totally fair when there is a long gap.

I've only been to one wedding with a gap. It was a Hindu wedding in Massachusetts. If I recall correctly, the ceremony ended around 1 or 1:30 and the reception started around 6. There wasn't much to do in the city and my husband was in the wedding party, so I was pretty bored.