(Closed) Length of Your Reception?

• Luckygir15
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: July 2011

Ours will be 6pm  to midnight

• totheislnds
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: February 2011

mine was from 5-9 but we ended up extending till 10.

Cocktail hour started at 5 and the reception started at 6. we chose 4 hours  based on the amount of money we wanted to spend – if we uped it we would have had to pay for liquor/bartender and a DJ for more hours so money was a huge factor in our picking the length of time we wanted.

we could have started later but i didnt want the huge “catholic gap”we got married at 3 it was over at 4 and then the cocktail hour started at 5. it was easiest that way, i didnt want people having nothing to do for a few hours between wedding and reception, i also knew a lot of people were staying at the hotel we had our reception at so i figured they could hit the hotel bar if they showed up before 5.

we were originally scheduled to end at 9 but when 9 o’clock rolled around we werent ready to quit so my mom wrote checks for an extra hour. after the reception ended though, people migrated to the hotel bar and hung out most of the night – my husband and i went up to our room around 11:30. but word on the street is people were still in the atrium around 4am!

• HappyCrickets
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: June 2011

Ours is 6pm-12am.  It was decided because that’s what the reception hall does… all packages include 6 hours and start at 6pm.

• PrairieGirl
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: August 2011

Ours was dictated by our venue. Our ceremony starts at 6pm and the dinner/reception will begin at 7pm. (everything at one venue) It’ll go till 1am.

• kala_way
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: May 2011

Our biggest deciding factor was we want to go on our honeymoon! lol

No but seriously. Ours will probably be between 2 and 3 hours. It’s gonna be laid back and we aren’t having a lot of the traditional “activities”: throws, dances, a ton of speeches. So while I’m prepared to stay till 6 (3 hours) I can’t imagine it lasting longer than that when we aren’t serving a full on dinner.

• Entangled
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: September 2011

Our reception itself will probably be about 12 hours, but I said “days” because we have the venue from Thursday-Sunday so people can come hang out all weekend.

We knew we wanted a long reception – our friends and families are really scattered and if everyone was traveling to be with us, we wanted enough time to really be able to hang out with them.  Finding a venue that could accomodate this was the #1 priority in our search.

• Willow1991
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: December 2017

I am in between 5 hours and 6 hours. My venue books for 4 but considering I won’t be there for part of the time due to pictures I am extending so I don’t feel rushed.

• BriarRose
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: January 2011

Ours started at 6pm and finished at 12am – everyone wanted keep dancing but it was in the contract that we would have the ballroom til midnight!

• mkewed2010
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: September 2011

We get our venue starting at 5pm.  We can go until midnight, but I feel like thats too long so I think I will end at 11 or 11:30.

• anne B
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: August 2012

we are in the middle of changing ours a little bit,  we get married at 2pm, then from 2.30 – 3.30  we will have champagne and canape’s,  then the photographs,   then on to another hotel for a 3 course meal  from  5pm  til around 7pm. 

so not long really,  from start to finish  will be around 5-6 hours,  but at 7pm  when the meal is over,  we will still stay together for the rest of the night.  but as there is only 22 of us,  we are not having a party with dancing

• dixie1337
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: November 2011

We get our venue ’til 1 whether we want to use it that whole time or not, so we booked all our vendors ’til 1 as a just-in-case, but I really don’t know if it will go that long or not.

• squeak35
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: July 2011

3 hours max.  Having a wedding dinner instead of reception so we can just eat and socialize.  Then hang out @ local bars afterwards. 

• MM423
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: November 1999

Our ceremony will start at about 7:30, cocktail hour 8-9, reception 9-12 (dinner probably 9-9:45ish, and the rest is dancing!) I’m hoping we can keep the end time a bit flexible in case people want to keep the party going.

• .twist.
• 7 years ago

• Wedding: October 2011

Our reception will be about 3 hours. Although there’s a huge after party after… so I dunno it sort of continues…