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haha we are looking at about 10 hours but I know this is a bit long so let me explain.
Our reception venue is about an hour's drive from our church (my family church). Also, my fiance is not American and he and his family think this is actually a short wedding since it is typical for a wedding to last from 3pm to 4am or longer! Our venue won't let us stay past midnight due to town ordinances so he is planning to organize an afterparty to follow. We are starting the ceremony at 1 and bought extra hours beyond the standard offering in order to keep the party going and not disapoint his friends and family and I don't think my friends and family are going to object but I assume older relatives may leave early.
Ours was supposed to be 4:30 ceremony start then 9:30 exit...didn't actually leave until 10 bc the GMs were messing w/ our car, ugh, and that's when our rental ended...luckily the owner didn't seem PO'd, bc we only used a share of our time slot anyway due to having a church ceremony first about 20 mins away
Our whole wedding will be about 6 hours (ceremony starts at 4, reception ends at 10), and our ceremony and reception are about 15 minutes apart. I think 4 hours seems a little quick, even with everything taking place in the same location. If you have the ceremony (15-30 minutes), time for the guests to get to the cocktail hour area (say another 15-30 minutes), cocktail hour (one hour), dinner (1.5-2 hours depending on number of guests and buffet/sit down/stations), toasts/formal dances/cake cutting/bouquet and garter/etc... (another hour), and dancing (1-2 hours), you can see how it adds up quickly. If you cut out some of those things, you can probably cut it down quite a bit, though.
Just curious, does your venue only allow you to have the space for 4 hours? Because I probably would cut down on the event time rather than pay for extra hours, but it might be an option for you. :)
I think it depends on what time of day you're having your wedding. Morning weddings are typically shorter, so are the receptions. A religious ceremony lasts longer (usually) than a secular one.
My wedding is in the morning, and the reception is at the same place. The wedding is at 11am, the reception ends at 4pm. So five hours total. I felt that after making my timeline, compressing the reception to 3pm would mean people would literally have to shovel the food into their faces because there wasn't enough time for eating AND the activities.
We're not having a cockatail hour, but our ceremony and reception are at the same site. Our ceremony begins at 6 PM and the reception ends at 11:30. I would think if you're going to do ceremony, cocktails, dinner and dancing, you'd need more than 4 hours. Was that the timing suggested by your venue?
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Our plan is for the ceremony to start at 2 and be outta the venue by 6:30. We're not having a formal, sit down meal and our ceremony and reception are at the same location, so I'm hoping that will be enough time for us.
We're planning on having the ceremony start at 5 (I think) and last about under an hour. Then we'll head to the reception site about 10 minutes away and party until 11 or 11:30, or until our feet fall off and we fall asleep on the dance floor.
We're doing our wedding a little different. We're starting cocktail hour at 5, the wedding will be at 6. We're hoping it will only last about 30 minutes and then the reception will start immediately at 6:30 with dinner being served. Our venue is suppossed to close at 10 pm
We actually have the venue booked from Noon-Noon the next day, We will start the ceremony at 5 and then the music has to be turned off at 10 so that would be 5 hours, which would work. The only reason I was thinking it should be 4 hours (ending at 9)is because our photographer can only cover so many hours and I want professional pictures of our exit, but we can swing 5 hours instead of 4 :)
We are also having our ceremony and reception at the same location. The wedding will be a total of 6 hours from 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM. The ceremony is planned to start at 4:30 PM, Cocktail at 5:00 PM then dinner at 6:00 PM. The rest will be one big PARTAY (yes, I purposely spelled it that way)! My family loves to party so the remaining 3 hours will be a blur.
We are having our ceremony and reception at the same location. The ceremony will begin at 6:00, cocktail hour will be from 6:30 to 7:30 and the reception will follow from 7:30 to 11:30/midmight. So from when guest arrive around 5:30ish, till when they depart around midnight that's about 6 hours of wedding fun!
Whew! I thought I was having an insanely short wedding with ceremony at 6pm and ending at 11pm. I guess this is kind of common, especially when you're getting married at the same place your reception is. I was afraid our guests would feel like we rushed them too much.
Our ceremony and reception are at the same place and the whole thing will be lasting 6 hours. It doesn't feel like enough time though but maybe even if it were 8 or 10 hours long, that day will just fly for us. But yeah, I guess I'm pretty OK with the 6 hours - 45 minute ceremony (really 30 minutes but starting 15 minutes after official start time), budgeting 45 minutes for the cocktail "hour", dinner for 1 hr, all the activities (cake-cutting, bouquet toss, garter, first dances, etc), then 1 hr 45 minutes for dancing.
Our wedding:
5:30 Ceremony
6:15 Cocktail hour immediately following Ceremony
6:40 Wedding party arrived at Cocktail hour
7:15 We held a receiving line to greet guests on their way up to dinner (it was on a different floor of our Club)
7:30-9:00 Dinner
9:00 Cake Cutting
9:15 First Dances
9:30-Midnight Party!
Midnight: Reception ended :(
***All together our wedding lasted 6.5 hours and I can't believe how fast it all went! I even had guests that said they felt like it was a really short reception (but it was really 6 hours!). If I were you I would think about adding a bit more time. Just my 2 cents!***
Here comes too much info!!!
Our ceremony is at 3, but it won't begin until 3:10 (people are consistently late, let's be honest), then it should be over by 3:40. -We'll release the guests, taking another 20 minutes. So, I think the guests should be out of the chuch by 4:15 at the latest. -We'll take family pictures in and around the church until 5, when we have to clear out for a Catholic mass. -The wedding party will then go into the resort for pictures (assuming there isn't any rain) for the next hour or so.
-MEANWHILE, guests have a half hour drive to the reception site and 1.5 hours to kill until they can go to the reception at 6, which will run until 10:30.
-hopefully, the bridal party will arrive by 6:45 for a grand entrance with dinner and festivities to begin IMMEDIATELY!!!
SHORT ANSWER: 7.5 hours including the gap, 5.5 not including the gap.
Ours is on the shorter side. The ceremony starts at 6 and hopefully wont run longer than 6:30, dinner being served at 7:15 (all at the same place) and they have to leave around 10. We aren't having dancing though (we'd have had to rent the whole venu, which I dont have the money for) Since we aren't having dancing I think that should be plenty of time! We are going to do the bouquet and garter toss though
Our arrival is at at 5pm
Ceremony from 5:30-6ish
Cocktail hour 6-7
Then partying until midnight.
so 7 hours in total. I can't wait!
Our ceremony starts at 2:30, and the reception location will be open for drinks, appetizers, and mingling as soon as the ceremony is over (approx. 15 minutes away). Our reception is then scheduled to run until 10. So we're at about 7.5 hours total.
We're thinking 6 or 6:30 ceremony start, 7pm cocktail hour, 8 until whenever for a big dinner and then we'll hang out, drink and chat. Our venue is a restaurant, so there is no room for dancing, but there is a small courtyard out front where will do the ceremony and have drinks and chat afterwards. It's probably not your normal time schedule, since it's just a vow renewal.
Wow. It looks like I'm having a long day compared to everyone else. We are having the ceremony at 1:00. Following the ceremony, the bridal party is going to a few different locations to take pictures. During this time, my parents are hosting an open house. Guests can feel free to go there for appetizers and drinks before the reception. The reception doesn't start until 7 pm, and will last until midnight.
Ours is going to be 7 hours--reception and ceremony in same place. The venue said that's typical. Funny that everyone's is so different! I had no idea.
Ejs4y8, I added a poll 
I'll be interesting to see all the answers!
our entire wedding will be about 5.5 hours. we are also having our ceremony and reception at the same location. our ceremony is 30 minutes, our cocktail hour is an hour (naturally!) and our dinner reception, with dancing, etc., is 4 hours.
8 Hours then some if you count the after party :)
Ceremony 3:00
Cocktails & hors devoures from 4 - 6:00
6:00 Dinner
7:00 - 11:00 dancing
11:00 until last call, afterparty woohooo!
I'm planning 4 hours as the ceremony and reception are in the same location with a heavy hors d'oeuvres reception. All my photos are going to be done beforehand!
The event starts at 7pm, but we'll probably start the ceremony at 7:15 and end at 7:45. That then gives us 3 hours of eating, mingling, and dancing. We're going to slot the first dance, parent/child dance, cake cutting, and toasts in there somewhere. We'll party until 11, and then probably go somewhere for an afterparty!
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Hooray, thanks Annie! I can't wait to see the results, either, and make me feel more *normal*
Everyone i know is having an early church wedding with a longer reception...i'm the ONLY one not getting married in a church so my timeline feels really unusual
We can get into the venue at 3pm, the ceremony is at 5pm, and the reception is immediately following the ceremony and lasts until 9pm. Soooo including setup and prep time, 6 hrs...but for just the ceremony and reception it's 4 hours.
We are also doing ceremony, cocktail "Hour" and reception at same place. Thrown in there either during reception or before ceremony will be a tea ceremony.
I am hoping for 6-7 hours beginning of ceremony to last dance depending on the venue.
I want the ceremony to begin at 330 (but it might end up being 430)
Ceremony: 330 - 430
Cocktail Hour: 430 - 600 (while we take pictures, making it 1.5hrs instead of 1hr bc hopefully we'll make it back for some hor'devours!)
Reception 6-1030 (music generally has to end by 1030 so I'm hoping it means guests can start to leave at 1030 not we have to be OUT by 1030)
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@bunny: What kind of reception are you having if you don't mind my asking?
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I've been to a few weddings, but all were so different, and all lasted a different range of hours. So, how long did/will your wedding last?
Also, if you have advice for me: I'm having my ceremony & reception at the same location. We will have a cocktail hour & dancing....how many hours should a wedding like this last? I was thinking 4 hours for the whole shebang??