What's more important to you? Reception or Ceremony?

Ceremony!!! definitely.

Reception, I want to make sure my guests have a great time. The ceremony is only important to me in my hopes that it lasts less than 8 minutes (that's the goal).

The ceremony is important ofcourse, but i'm most looking forward to the reception!

Since the ceremony is only 20-ish minutes long i'm not putting much effort (in terms of money) into the ceremony, since we will only be there a very short time.

Hmmmm. That's a tough one. I think I've put more effort into the ceremony. From the decor to the readers to the song selections...they all mean something to us. I'm sure most guests won't notice the significance, but FH will. Don't get me wrong, I want to make sure our guests are comfortable and enjoy themselves. But honestly, I'll be more aggrevated if the wrong song was played during the ceremony opposed to if someone mistakenly got chicken instead of steak.

I have put about 20 minutes worth of effort into the ceremony and countless hours of effort into the reception.

My ceremony was because i wrote it and it was very personnal and said everything that really ment anything. most of the time when it comes to reception people just want to party

I think time wise, its more the reception but they both mean alot to me. I know my pastor will make the ceremony exactly what it is supposed to be! He is amazing and with that we will make it special to us! As I see it it's just me and FH up there for those 15-20 minutes!

Time and $$ are in the reception of course, so much planning needs to go in that part of the day!

Apples and oranges. The ceremony is the reason any of the rest is happening, but the reception is the celebration, and you are playing host to those dearest to you. Both are important but in different ways. Although I suppose you could have a ceremony without a reception, but, if you're going to do both, do them well!

My #1 priority in our planning was that our ceremony be MEANINGFUL to us, so I totally get it. I agonized over readings, and now may have to replace one - cross your fingers. So I totally understand where you're coming from.

Reception, I wanted my guests to enjoy themselves and have a good time.

I'd say I was 40/60. 40- Ceremony, 60- Reception

I cared a lot about my ceremony, but really not the vows and readings and all. I'm pretty traditional so I wanted all the basic stuff with no frills. I was just picky about weird things: I wanted it super short and sweet, no long, boring ceremony. I wanted the aisle decoration to be pretty but simple. I didn't want a bunch of crap at the front of the church because I didn't want it to take away from everything else. And I was picky about the way my BM stood. I didn't want the traditional way because of how the church is set up, people always end up getting cut out of pictures.

But my main concern was making sure the reception wasn't stuffy or uptight. I wanted it to be relaxed and to feel like you were at a family party, but I wanted it to feel classy. I was very, very picky about my centerpieces and I did pretty much everything by myself with the help of a friend, because I wanted it to be exactly how I wanted it.

Wow, good question. For me, it is the ceremony. My FH and I are saying our own vows. The songs that were chosen for the ceremony were chosen for their lyrics and what they mean to us. The song being sang for the unity candle lighting is the same song featured during our proposal. The little touches that will be made for our parents were made because we knew they would appreciate them. I'm with Latisha. I really want our guests to have a great time at the reception, but the ceremony is the actual solidifying of our union before God and our families. I'd be more upset if someone special is late or absent from the ceremony than I would our reception.

This is a good question.

I think the ceremony is more "important" to me but I've put waaay more time, energy and money into the reception. 98% of my guests are OOT and I want to make sure they have a great time!

FH and I aren't into a lot of the "extra" parts of the ceremony, I really want to keep it short and sweet =). The ceremony is important for what it represents, but we are asking our friends and family to drive/fly a very long way so I'm focusing most of my efforts on making the reception the best it can be since its a 15 min ceremony vs a 5 hr reception. A lot of the meaningful pieces of the ceremony can be worked on closer to the wedding such as the readings and special extras, whereas the photographer, dj, caterer etc. need to be booked in advance. The only major planning we've done for the ceremony is discuss who we want to officiate, it's really important to me that we know the person marrying us. I went to a wedding recently where the officiant didn't even pronounce the brides name correctly and I just don't think I'm okay with the possibility of that occuring.

I think for us the reason why the ceremony seems to be more time consuming is because we are writing it from scratch. For me, the reception can handle itself. The country club is already decorated. We aren't renting any special chairs or tables. Centerpieces are going to be simple and the food is whatever. I don't even care if the DJ plays something on the do not play list.

I believe the ceremony is only TRULY important to the people who are getting married. Yes, everyone is there to support you and love you... but I think for guests, the only thing they can think of is getting through to "I do" and then partying! lol

Of course the ceremony is important to us... but we are completely focusing on the reception.

The ceremony is the most important to us but we are putting more engergy into the reception. We want the ceremony to be fairly simple, with the emphasis on our vows (which we are writing ourselves). The ceremony is the part that is really about us. The reception is more for the guests and we really want people to have a blast.

I never really thought of it like this...

Now, I guess I would say the ceremony. It was definitely the most important because that's when we got married. lol. It was very personal, very intimate, very meaningful to us. And I think it was to all of our guests(all 20 of them!) - my grandmother and dad were excited to see my getting married, his parents were happy to finally have a daughter in law that's a good one. lol. We personalized our ceremony a lot and it was the best part of the day.

The reception was also special to us... and while I put a lot of effort into planning it(the music, the food, etc), I let things happen as they did moreso than I did at the ceremony - which was planned down to everything we said, how we walked, etc.

The most important thing to ME is the ceremony because without it, we wouldn't be married. But the most important thing to everyone else is the reception, because people need food, fun, and stuff to drink. So I planned the ceremony for me, and the reception for everyone else.

Although I am putting more time, effort and money into the reception, I think the ceremony is more important to me. If push came to shove, I could do without a reception. The most important thing about that day is to marry FH. Everything else will be a comedy of errors, I'm sure.

That being said, since I am having a reception it is important to me that my guests enjoy themselves, have fun and have plenty of food and drink.

Edited for spelling.

Both are equally important to me.