I grew up in the south and our weddings were always @ 4 or later, so you’d leave the church and drive right to the reception. My wedding will be in a Catholic Church and we have to be out of there in time for Sat. evening Mass. I’m worried that our guests will choose one or the other or that they will be bored for 3 hours. Any suggestions on what to do?
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My brother had a 2 hour gap between ceremony and reception. Most of the guests milled around, complained or went to a diner. My cousin hosted a party at his house to kill the time between for anyone who wanted to come. My fiance and I went to Burger King because we were starving lol.
You could host an interlude at the home of someone who lives local or suggest a nearby diner or bar or park for killing time.
Good luck with that!
Well in my past experiences, if the wedding was earlier, i wouldnt go dressed up like i woul dbe for the reception so i would take that gap in between to put on my nice dress, freshen up maybe take a nap and get ready for the party…
when it was a family members wedding wtih a time gap usually the parents would have some appetizers at their houses while the wedding party took pictures and did their thing everyone would get together, snack, have a drink and relax for a couple hours. Not everyone showed up, but the ones who did were kept occupied.
hope to help.
I agree with the others about someone hosting a party in between. It’s not just about people being bored, it’s that most folks have alot to do and will resent wasting three hours of their weekend, or flat out won’t be able to attend both, especially the people who come from out of town. At least try to plan some sort of activity for during the down time. I’ve heard of some people having a scavenger hunt, a pool party or you might even look into leasing a movie theater and hosting a movie there.
We’re getting married at 12 (noon) and having an afternoon reception until the evening events kick off at about 7, so we have SEVEN hours to kill!
We’re having a very English “afternoon tea”, serving tea, coffee, cakes, biscuits. It will allow our families to catch up before the friends are invited in the evening. We’re also giving tourist information for the city we’re marrying in, with things to see and places to eat/drink included in the information pack. That way if they don’t fancy sticking around for 7 hours (and who would blame them?!), they can do their own thing.
Well, if it was close to home I would just attend the ceremony, go home and do whatever I do on Saturdays, then go to the reception later, just like any other party or event. However, if I was from out of town or not close to home, that would really annoy me. You may want to have something set up for that.
This is totally normal where I’m from. You don’t have to plan anything. You go for photos after the ceremony, then arrive at the reception just before dinner. I’m assuming your cocktails are at 5, so dinner would be at 6.
People go shopping, have a rest, let their kids have a nap, change out of their clothes for a while… I know as a family, it’s really nice to have that break.
Don’t worry about it.
I would do as the first poster said and see if someone wouldn’t mind hosting a party while they wait. Honestly, speaking solely as a guest I would be peeved if I had to sit around for that long. I would just either go to the ceremony or go to the reception.
You should probably have some appetizers to pass around while people are waiting. That’s a long time, you might have a lot of crabby people on your hands.
I did something similar to Kristy.
The people will be fine.