Post # 1

Member
2099 posts
Buzzing bee
Once upon a time everyone knew it was rude to be late to certain events, weddings and funerals being top on the list – however people tend to be late to EVERYTHING these days. My Fiance and I had proposed putting our start time 15 minutes early on the invite to cut down on this some – how are the other Bees handling this?
Post # 3

Member
3521 posts
Sugar bee
We put the exact time down. You have to think of your guests (if any) who are chronically early–I make it a point to show up at least 10 minutes early, so if I had to wait an extra 15 because there was padding, I’d be a little irked.
Post # 4

Member
987 posts
Busy bee
I am one of those people who DO turn up early/on time so I would feel a bit irritated to sit around waiting if you wrote an early time on your invite – especially since the bride is normally a bit late anyway.
Give up worrying about people arriving on time or not – if they’re decent people they will be there. If they’re late, that’s their problem. Let it reflect poorly on them.
Post # 5

Member
3363 posts
Sugar bee
I voted 15 minutes padding…but technically I didn’t plan it that way. The invitations said 5 pm. The coordinator informed me that we would start at about 5:15. Worked out well since a lot of people were late!
Post # 6

Member
7298 posts
Busy Beekeeper
I have been late to many events but never a wedding. I would be irritated if a wedding said it started at 1pm and I got there at 12:45 or so just to find out it really doesn’t start until 1:15.
Post # 7

Member
3363 posts
Sugar bee
as far as waiting….people enjoyed the chance to socialize! It was only 15 minutes!!
Post # 8

Member
5493 posts
Bee Keeper
We are having our cocktail hour before the ceremony so we are putting the time that the cocktail hour starts. if anyone is late they miss a portion of the cocktail hour and not the ceremony itself and then it’s their loss for missing out on the crab cakes.
Post # 9

Member
6571 posts
Bee Keeper
We put the right time. I know I always get there early (like a half hour just in case), and then if I had to wait any longer I’d get impatient. Plus, the chances of you actually being ready and starting by then are probably pretty low.
Post # 10

Member
1315 posts
Bumble bee
I’d maybe include five minutes or so, but not much more.
Post # 11

Member
171 posts
Blushing bee
I put 5:00, planning to start at 5:15. At 5:15 there were still some key family members missing so we waited. I think we started at 5:20- 5:25. I peeked a couple times and everyone was chatting, the MC didn’t tell people to sit down until we were actually ready. Maybe it’s different if the ceremony is in a church where people feel they have to sit and be quiet.
If we had started at 5:00 on the dot, there would have been a lot of people missing. Our ceremony was short, so they would have missed the entire thing!
Post # 12

Member
7581 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
I put 6pm, but knew we probably wouldn’t start until 6:15. We started at 6:10
Post # 13

Member
691 posts
Busy bee
I put in 15 minutes of padding. We’re having our wedding on a Friday, and the ceremony starts at 6:30. I was concerned about traffic, since most people are coming from about an hour away, so some of the most important people that will be there have the potential to be late! I’m constantly early to everything, so I can understand people being irked by having to wait a few more minutes than expected.
Post # 14

Member
11324 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
We put the correct time down. I paid attention at the weddings I went to this year (4 of them) and every time people were on time… so I didn’t want to make people wait.
Post # 15

Member
9048 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
We put the real time.
On the website we noted that the wedding would begin at 2:30pm sharp, and seating would begin at 2pm.
I took my first step down the aisle at 2:32 and our ceremony was only about 15 minutes, so if anyone was late, they probably missed it.
Post # 16

Member
7294 posts
Busy Beekeeper
i put the real time, but i don’t think we will start on time because my ceremony is on the beach in Jamaica and i heard Jamaica doesn’t usually is laid back and starting on time is not the end all be all.