I'm going to a wedding out of state on Saturday. The ceremony is at a Catholic church at 2pm. The reception is at a hall 20 minutes from the church, beginning at 4:30pm.
I've never been to a wedding with this type of timing (and I've been to a LOT of weddings!), so I'm not sure how this is going to work out.
Ceremony 2-3ish? (I assume it's not a full mass since it's not at 11 or 5). Driving and...hanging out in the parking lot? until 4:30. Dinner at some point? Reception ending super early?
The church only lets you get married in the afternoon; it is probably a full mass. This is how most of my family's weddings go. Usually we will find a bar and have a drink or two while we wait. That is actually not a bad gap - sometimes the reception doesn't start until 6pm.
Reception will probably be cocktail hour followed by dinner around 6-7, normal wedding timeline. I think our venue rental had 5 or 6 hours included, but we had the option to add more time. So maybe it will end a little earlier than usual, but I bet not super early.
Post by OrangePixyStix on Sept 24, 2014 10:05:04 GMT -5
I've been to a split-time wedding, usually there's a place in the reception hall where you can hang out before the full banquet room is open (in the one I went to that was like that - they had a cocktail area people could go to before the official reception start time). If the reception is only from 4:30-6:30, then I would assume maybe they aren't doing dinner? Did it have anything about food in the invite, by chance?
Otherwise, I'd hit up a bar in between the ceremony and reception, possibly one with some food.
I've been to weddings with the "Catholic gap", but it's been much longer: wedding/mass at 11, reception at 5 or 6. We went back to the hotel in between.
Post by OrangePixyStix on Sept 24, 2014 10:12:28 GMT -5
Ugh, I hate when you are left in the dark about that kinda stuff. I hope it's like MN said, cocktail then dinner with a full reception. You just never know until it's spelled out. Hopefully you get free food, drinks, and somewhere decent to pass the time between the two parts!
Oh man. I cannot fathom not serving dinner at a wedding reception, but according to that thread on ML, there are some fuckheads out there that actually do this.
Fingers crossed that they feed you! And have an open bar!
I actually don't mind when weddings have just apps or dessert, as long as it is clearly stated in the invitation and the timing makes sense. Like, if it's 4:30- 5:30 cake and champagne and then we all peace out and get our own dinner, that's ok.
ETA: Basically I'm just a needer of info, lol. BIL's wedding had a long gap between Catholic ceremony and reception, and the invitation included local bars, museums, parks, etc. where you could hang out if you weren't in the wedding party. Very helpful.