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We had a 2pm wedding - got out of the church just before 3 (also Catholic ceremony) - had pictures in the rain for a little while.
Cocktails started at 5.30pm and we entered at 6pm as it was getting dark.
:)
@TheLionQueen: Sure - we are reverse from you in terms of seasons (I live in Sydney/Souther Hemisphere) so for us, it was dark by 4.30pm. Light was completely gone by 5pm. June for you would stay lighter, longer, I'd imagine?
Most folks are used to the Catholic gap. Some went home between ceremony/reception, others went out for coffee/a meal. If you do cocktails before your reception starts, they'll have something to look forward to!
@jaguar: Yea, we are opposite. In June on the West Coast (US), it stays light until 6:30/7 at least. I love that you call it the 'catholic gap', haha. We aren't doing a traditional cocktail hour, as we won't be paying for cocktails. We will have free beer & wine though, with appetizers and cash bar.
I say 6pm. Go for it.
I too have a catholic ceremony, and the only time was 1pm, that was the latest I can get, and the church is really old, fiancee's grandparents married there. My reception is at 6pm. Our families are catholics...they are use to early ceremonies and evening receptions.
I must say that as someone who has been to a Catholic wedding, I get irritated when there is a huge gap between the ceremony and reception with nothing to do during that time. If you are going to have a gap, at least offer something to keep people busy. This is especially important for out of town guests who don't know what there is to do around town.
Keep in mind if you do decide on 6pm reception, some guests my not go to your ceremony, and just go to the reception. I took that into consideration and do not expect all to be at the ceremony, which is fine by me, I'll see everyone at the reception.
If your church can only do 2pm, it can only do 2pm. There's not much that can be done about that.
The other option is you create an insert to go with your invitations of local things to do/check out - parks, museums, nice eateries, etc - so people have an idea of things to do to fill the gap.
We did the 2pm Catholic wedding and the 6pm reception. It worked out well. My son and grandparents went for naps.
We got a ton of pictures and finished them at 5:30pm.
The reception went from 6pm-1am.
@jaguar: the insert is a great idea! I'll definitely do something like that, even if it is a page on our wedding website (we're going the eco friendly route). :) Everyone coming is family and many of them only see each other once or twice a year, so I assume most of them will meet up at the hotel by our venue, or at a family member's house for drinks and chit chat. But, with a list of fun things to do, everyone has the opportunity to be occupied during the gap!
@mari328: That is what my MIL brought up. I think it's okay. I'll still get to see them at the reception. It sucks that people would come to one and not the other, but I'll be so preoccupied I probably won't even notice!!!
@mari328: Your families are used to the gap? FI's family is entirely Catholic and they were surprised we would have a gap.
@Bichon Frise: Very true. I think Jaguar's insert/list of things to do is a great idea that I will definitely run with.
@MapleBecky: Pictures are so, so, sooooo important to me. This is one of the major benefits to the gap, lots of picture time with varied locations! Plus, some time to relax, enjoy the day, and touch up hair/make up!
We did a 1pm ceremony and 5pm reception. I was so stressed out about the gap, but I made sure to talk about it on our website and give our guests something to do. In reality, since our reception was in a hotel, Mr. Biscuit's side (who all had to travel) partied in their rooms, and my side visited each other. Or took a nap, which is what my parents did. If your family is Catholic, they are probably used to the gap and anticipate it.
Oh, and quite a few (I'd say at least 30) guests didn't come to the ceremony. Which was fine. I seriously didn't care about much that day.
Hi, we are having a 2pm ceremony in June as well. Our cocktail hour is going to start at 4:30 to minimize the gap but I would have had no qualms doing a 5:30 or 6pm start time either. People find a way to entertain themselves and most people in my circle are used to the gaps.
We did a full Catholic mass at 2PM and cocktail hour started at 4PM. The church and the reception were only 7 miles away from each other, so it worked out perfectly =) I personally HATE long gaps between the wedding and the reception, as a guest and a member of the bridal party. As a guest, it makes me feel as though my time isn't valued, I know that probably sounds snobby...but I don't want to travel a long distance between venues, nor do I want to be eating dinner at 8PM, when the ceremony was at 2PM.
June 21st would be the longest day of the year. In June the sun sets in San Francisco around 8:30pm, and it doesn't get fully dark until after 9. In Los Angeles the sun sets a little earlier, around 8pm, with full darkness around 8:30.
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Hi bees!
We are having a 2pm Catholic mass & ceremony (that was the latest we could do). I'm wondering when to start our reception.
My problem is that we have an amazing indoor lighting scheme (wall splash & centerpiece pinspotting- that I won for free), so I want it to be dark outside at the reception. Problem is...our wedding is in June on the West Coast so it doesn't get dark until later. Plus, our reception venue is an old church with beautiful stained glass windows...where the sun beams through (bad for my lighting design!).
Plus, it's really hot where we are in June, so a later reception would be more comfortable (even though its inside, I imagine it will still get warm dancing and such).
We have about a 20-30 minute drive to our reception venue. The OOT hotel is a 2 minute walk from the reception venue, so hopefully most of our guests can meet up at the hotel bar and visit before the reception. All of our invitees know each other, as it is just family and close friends.
What do you bees recommend, given our situation, as a start time for the reception???
Ideally:
1) it would be dim/dark outside
2) it would be a time when the temperature starts to cool outside
Also, how much of a gap is too much?
Oh and please post your timelines as well, with or without a gap in between your ceremony and reception!