What time is/did your ceremony and what time is/did your reception start?

Our ceremony started at 4 immediately followed by cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. Is your ceremony and reception at 2 different places? As a guest I hate gaps at weddings. If yours are at 2 different venues I wouldn’t make the gap longer than how long it takes to drive to the reception.

Two different locations and my photos are going to take hr and a half...so either way guest will be waiting. I’m going to have hors d’oeuvres, DJ and photobooth during cocktail!

We are having our ceremony 5-5:30, cocktail hour 5:30-6:30, and reception 6:30-10:30. No gaps in between, and they are all at the same venue (different spaces). Typically, couples take the pictures during cocktail hour. Can you at least take some pictures before the ceremony? Like you and your bridesmaids and stuff if you don't want to do a first look. That can at least cut some of the time your post-ceremony pictures should take.

View Quoted Comment 90 minutes should be the maximum time that cocktail hour lasts. Anything longer than that and guests are going to get annoyed. Can you take wedding party pictures beforehand?

My ceremony starts at 3:30.
No cocktail hour.
Reception at 7.
I live 30 minutes from the town I plan to get married in, we usually use the gaps to run errands, sometimes even buying and wrapping gifts.
Gaps are super common where I'm from. I've only been to one reception that immediately followed the ceremony, and I didn't like it at all.

View Quoted Comment If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from? I have never been to wedding where the reception immediately followed. I thought it was just me!

View Quoted Comment I'm from Illinois. A bit north of St. Louis.

Our ceremony starts at 4:00 followed by cocktail hour at 5 then the reception at 6-11. We have 20 people in our bridal party so some photos will be taking before the ceremony (me and FH won’t see each other) then will all come together for that hour while everyone is enjoying their cocktails.

Our wedding will start at 2Pm sharpe
cocktail hour will be from 3:30-4:30Pm
(Our venues are 2 miles apart) being that people may want to procrastinate heading over to the reception site) we’re giving them that extra 23 minutes.
Bridal Party will take pictures at this time.
We have 16 people in our bridal party.

In my culture most people have large gaps in between. in fact one of the most common questions I got was "why is there no gap" ahah. My ceremony is at 5 and my reception is at 6. The venues are two miles apart from one another and the ceremony is really short. So overall we felt like we should just do it back to back. Usually because my culture is used to large gaps in between, not many end up going to the ceremony at all. But my wedding, we are actually expecting a significant amount to attend the ceremony since they are so close to one another.

As a guest and as a bride I hate gaps between ceremony and reception as well.

For our wedding, the entire event was the reception starting at 11:30am with food and drink with both bride and groom present and the ceremony began at 1:30pm. We had all our photos done before the wedding began so we could spend the day with our guests at our only location.

I would echo no longer than 90 minutes between our the time it takes to travel from each venue. Activities help if necessary. Guestbook/check-in, photo booth, pictures of memories of guests with bride and/or groom, lawn games if the apply.

I went to a wedding a couple of years ago that had almost 3 hours between the ceremony and the cocktail hour. The reception venue wasn't even open until then. I live about an hour away, so I wasn't going to go home in between. We went to Applebee's for an appetizer and drink and then went for a drive to kill the time. It was pretty annoying. Beautiful wedding, but the huge gap was off-putting.

We are having our ceremony start at 3:00 and the cocktail hour starts at 5:00 PM. Its about 20 min drive from the ceremony venue to the reception venue and we are getting married in a museum so if people need to kill time for 20-30 minutes before making that drive to the reception venue, they can chill and walk around the museum. Gaps are perfectly fine...people on here just be stressing about it.

Our ceremony starts at 2:00 pm. We are getting married at a Catholic church so we are adding about 30-45 minutes extra so maybe be over about 3:45ish. Stay behind for about an hour to take pictures so maybe be completely done by 4:45is or 5:00. Our Reception starts at 6:00 pm. My aunt got us a limo so when we leave we will ride around town having some drinks and then be dropped off @ reception. Then reception ends at 1:00 am.

View Quoted Comment

Agreed! We both are from Catholic families and Catholic weddings nearly ALWAYS have the catholic gap! I think the most important thing is just educating your guests so they're not left in the lurch and confused day of!

View Quoted Comment

Gaps are SUPER common for me too! We're both from Catholic families and Catholic weddings come with the Catholic Gap (they've even named it! lol) So i think the most important thing is just letting your guests know and referencing options for them to spend their time in the meantime!

View Quoted Comment I was thinking that too! As long as the guest are aware they should be fine!

Our ceremony is 5-5:30, cocktail hour 5:30-6:30, reception 6:30-11! The time between was the cocktail hour where food and drinks were served.

Our ceremony starts at 5pm, cocktail hour at 5:30 pm, reception at 6:30 pm. Everything's in the same venue. However, the last wedding I've been to, there was a 4 hour gap between the ceremony and cocktail hour! I didn't know what to do at first, whether to go home and relax, or maybe go somewhere and eat (ceremony was like 11ish in the morning). Yeah, that was not a good experience.