Wedding Timeline / Urban Wedding

Can the middle location start earlier than 3pm to eliminate the gap? A receiving line/travel should not take that long.
Have sparkling cider for those who don't like champagne. Also some kind of appetizers are needed with alcohol to prevent people getting drunk on and empty stomach plus having to wait so long to eat dinner.

Once you leave the ceremony, the next part should be continuous. With no break longer than one hour ( or less) when you are not with your guests, as for photos. Two hours is too long for cocktails unless they are the whole reception. Change venues if you need to , to have it available at 3 for cocktails and going directly to dinner orain reception, greetings and dance and dinner. Anything longer than 3-4 cocktails before a 4 pm reception, and say goodby to a large portion of your guests. The best venue in the world is worthless, if half or more of your guests go home, or leave cocktails after an hour and go to a restaurant to eat. People will pretty much give you 6 hours for a wedding and reception, plus travel. Those who have a snack before getting dressed up to get to your wedding by 1:00, to park, greet people and be seated won't start a reception at 6pm, and be there til 8 or 9 at night.
Most people are not into marathon social events. You have to count out from 1pm, a half hour before the start, when polite people start to arrive, and some are taking pictures of themselves with friends and family, outside. 1 to 9 pm for a minimum dinner and run, 8 hours, is too long. Unless you want people leaving after cocktails, or at 7pm, please change. 🙂A 1:30 slot is a daytime to early evening wedding. Or change to a church or venue with a 4-5 pm slot, on to drinks, then reception starts at 6pm.

View Quoted Comment It can start earlier and of course we plan to serve hors d’oeuvres with the cocktails/champagne, but don’t you think 2.30 PM-7 PM is a bit too long for a gap between the 2 receptions?🤔

View Quoted Comment Yes it is a long gap but if you truly can't move the reception earlier or the ceremony later at an alternate venue, at least you're offering hospitality and not leaving guests to their own devices.

View Quoted Comment That’s what i thought too! But my husband doesnt seem to be concerned🙄 so i googled some timeline examples:


(8:00 am Dressing up and bridal styling10:00 Civil marriage11:30 am Small snack, a little rest)-This part is not to be concerned since we already did a city hall wedding 3 years ago-
13:00 Church wedding14:00 Greeting the guests & champagne reception15:00 Cutting the wedding cake16:00 Photo session (bride & groom)17:00 Photos with family/bridal party, group picture6:00 pm Parents’ speeches, followed by dinner8:00 p.m. Speeches by the groomsmen after throwing the bouquet21:00 evening program/entertainment 00:00 midnight snack
I basically want to try to make this work but with a venue change but im really really unsure if it will work🥴

Ask the reception venue if they can open at 4pm or look for another location.

That is a huge gap and honestly with that big of a gap if I was a guest I wouldn't go to the second reception. Especially if I was from out of town or something.

That is an exceptionally drawn out day. Most Americans would only tolerate that if it happened at an Estate or Inn or Resort, where they had no traveling before or after, and there they, could go off to their room or suite, or do something with other guests separate from wedding stuff for a few hours, and no one would would mind. And none of this would suit children. Which means that

7 seems late for a venue to start a reception at. By 7 I would think guests should be seated and starting dinner or toasts. If you can’t have the ceremony any later to close the gap, Id suggest starting the middle reception around 5 for your cocktail hour and then see if the second venue can start at 6 so you can serve dinner between 6 and 7. Offer some activities/sight seeing to guests in the few hours between the ceremony and cocktail hour. A lot of church weddings have an earlier start time so it’s important to let guests know how to fill the gap between i.e local breweries, nice areas to walk around and see sights, etc. Research some things to do and Have these options in your invitation suite and/or on your wedding website. We’ve been to plenty of weddings where there’s a big gap. As long as it’s enough time to go do something else and not an awkward amount where guests are questioning what they have time to do. We’ve usually taken the opportunity when local to go home and feed and let our dog out so it works out nicely.


The other option would be to have a late reception and no middle venue cocktail hour where you just serve drinks and desserts so that could work with your venue start of 7 at the earliest. Just need to let guests know on the invite and website that there’s no dinner. Unless they’re back to back the middle venue just seems awkward to me.

The kids are somewhere with someone else being taken care of. Are all guests staying in one place, with the two venues on the site, and church nearby? I do not know customs there. English Weddings with a wedding breakfast and yet an e evening reception or ball are only done by a limited class of people, and the guests all have "take 2 hour nap, change clothes, tea" somewhere in a gap.

Honestly, too long of a gap between ceremony and reception. While the “cocktail hour”-type event tries to bridge the ceremony and reception time, it is typically only an hour long. Even with appetizers, that is a very long gap for guests to be just hanging around and having drinks. I’d be afraid of people ending up sloppy drunk before the reception even began. Also, depending on how you have them scheduled, it could be expensive to pay vendors (photographer) for that amount of time with limited activities taking place.

This is a more typical American style, evening affair:

• 5 pm – Wedding party retreats out of sight
• – Couple gets first look of reception setup; detail photography continues
• – Guest shuttles arrive and welcome drinks are passed
• – Guests are seated for ceremony. Wedding party staged for processional
• 5:30 pm – Ceremony begins
• 6 pm – Ceremony concludes, newlyweds + witnesses sign marriage license; family portraits follow and cocktail hour begins
• – Couple moves to "sweetheart room" for drinks and appetizers
• 7pm – Guests move to reception space; wedding party staged for grand entrance
• 7:15 pm – Grand entrance begins, followed by first dance
• – Welcome toast by the Father of the Bride or another VIP guest
• – Blessing, if desired
• 7:30 – Dinner service begins
• – Champagne is passed and toasts begin
• – Thank-you speech by the couple, followed by cake-cutting ceremony
• 8:45 – Father-daughter dance / Mother-son dance / or other special dances
• 9 pm – Dance floor is open!
• – Bouquet and garter toss; late-night snack service begins
• 10:45 – Last call at bar
• – Last dance
• 11 pm – Grand exit , guest shuttles depart
• There are endless variations, but your average is 30 minutes to an hour ceremony, 4-5 hours for a reception including cocktail hour.
• If there is a break more than 15 minutes, it is for a drive from one location to another.

I agree with Katie that a long gap is fine as long as it's communicated well and it's not an awkward too short to really do anything length. I'm American, and the majority of weddings I've attended have large gaps betten a morning/early afternoon ceremony (dictated by church or cultural traditions) and an evening reception. Guests go home or to the hotel, sightsee or do things at home, then change and return for cocktail hour and dinner reception. Again, this is made clear on invitations and wedding website.


My concern for you is the three locations. It's pretty exhausting to drive/ride to three places. And with location two starting at 3, you have that awkward gap with nothing to do. I say skip that location for guests (feel free to go there on your own for pictures if allowed at no cost) and focus on just the ceremony and reception locations. If you can move up your reception even by an hour, I think that will help guests, too. If you wait to start until 7, people may get too hungry and have dinner on their own and not come back.

View Quoted Comment This is really helpful thanks katie!


Moving the cocktail hour to 5 pm is a great idea and ill ask if its possible. My husband doesnt seem to think its a good idea though bcs he thinks the ‘polite’ way here is to have the Sektempfang/champagne reception right after the ceremony 🤦🏾‍♀️The guests from abroad (US/Brazil/NL/SK) will be staying in the hotel where the evening reception takes place, but I’ll also make sure that the wedding website is informative for such details. Thank you🧡

View Quoted Comment Its good to hear this. If we wont be able to use the venue early (5 PM) for cocktail hour then i’m thinking about moving up the cocktail hour + canapes to immediately after the ceremony(2.30 PM) for an hour until 3.30 PM and the guests can go home or back to their hotel rooms (Same hotel where the evening reception will take place) or we can also give the put of towners some suggestions for sightseeings etc like katie said, so they’ll have 3-3.5 hours to ‘rest’ or do whatever before dinner / evening program. What do you think?

View Quoted Comment I like this plan. That way everyone has the champagne right away without any break. It will make it feel like it's one event even though it's two. Since the reception is at the same hotel where the guests are staying, it will be really easy for them to rest and come down in time for the festivities. Giving them a list of things in the area will let the guests know that you're thinking about their comfort, and gives them a choice to go out while they wait or rest. I hope everything works out! ❤

View Quoted Comment Guests don't sightsee or nap or change clothes between the ceremony and reception. If you want to move the cocktail hour up to 2:30/3 then do that but have dinner and the rest of your reception immediately following with no gap beyond driving time to the reception venue from the ceremony.