12pm-5pm wedding vs 6-11pm wedding. Which would you be excited to attend?

Definitely 6-11pm! EASY lol

View Quoted Comment

Really, even with late 8ish dinner? this makes me feel a bit better!

View Quoted Comment

I mean I would personally rather receive dinner from a wedding than to eat around lunchtime. If you did the 12-5 time then you would have to serve a late lunch because it would be at that awkward time of the day. Besides, cocktail hour doesn't necessarily need to be a full hour if you don't want it. You could always ask them to serve dinner earlier.

So I would prefer 6-11pm, but I think the bigger question is why it takes 2 hours for them to set up the ceremony? From my understanding of speaking with venues and from weddings I've attended in the past, a 1 hour cocktail hour should be plenty of time. I've been to 2 weddings where they flipped the room from ceremony to reception and it took less than an hour.

I would do the 6pm ceremony for sure. As a guest, I would assume dinner would be late and just make sure to have a snack or lte lunch.

Also, if you're doing any outdoor photos, noon to 1pm is the worst time of day for outdoor photography.

For what it's worth, my FBIL's wedding was a 12-5 wedding, we still had a full dinner meal served. Honestly I loved the timing of the wedding as a guest. I feel like with most weddings (From a guest perspective even if it's an evening wedding) your whole day revolves around the wedding, when to get ready, when to leave, yadda yadda yadda. With the earlier wedding I was able to start getting ready right in the morning, and didn't have to just fill my day waiting for when I could get ready for the wedding.

It's also worth to mention I tend to go to bed early and really don't prefer staying up late.

FBIL and FSIL booked a block of rooms at a hotel and almost all the younger guests got rooms in the block, so after the wedding we all went back to our Hotel rooms and changed from our wedding attire and all congregated in the Bride and Grooms suite and kept the party going! FH LOVED this and wants it to happen at our wedding (but we are having a 5:30-11PM wedding and I think he's underestimating how tired people will be) But nonethless everyone had a great time just partying it up at the hotel and when someone wanted to leave a go to bed (me) they could without feeling like they were dipping on the wedding early.

Since your wedding is in July the sun will still be up at 5 PM so you could definitely plan an after party at an outdoor bar for those who feel inclined or something along those lines.

I will say with the early dinner at the reception we were hungry later, but the hotel was next to a mcdonalds so we all just walked to the mcdonalds for a later dinner. (which was also fun and made for cute pictures since FSIL went in her wedding dress still)

Given the age of your guests, you'll probably lose a lot of people by 10 pm. 8 pm is a super late dinner time for me, personally. But I agree with PP that the lighting would be very harsh for an afternoon wedding.

I had a daytime wedding and would definitely do it again. Especially if people live close - they can have a lovely day and either go home after or go out. Everyone who attended enjoyed the timing but it was more of a 30-50 y-o guests list.

6-11 no question. 12 is way earlier than I want to be dressed up and ready and in wedding/party mode. Plus I never know what to do with myself after a party ends at 5. Go home and nap? And wake up again for a real dinner?


I personally see no downside to the 6pm.The other thing about the early slot for you and your bridal party is it means a super early start for getting ready with hair make up and photos.

Also the other thing about the earlier time slot is if they have an event after yours, I’d worry they’ll be rushing you out so they can have the space back to get ready for the next event. Even though you’ll be wrapping up and both events are the same length, I’d think if you were the last event there would be less pressure to clear out

View Quoted Comment

Ohh i didnt even think about them rushing us. Good point! I think ill stick to the 6-11 timeframe with a short cocktail hour with heavy hor dorves.

I’d rather attend an evening wedding.

I personally would rather attend an evening wedding. A couple different things to think about though, 1) with the early slot, you'd have to clean up fast/would they expect you to take all your decor right then? when is set up, do they do all of that? Also it means a potentially earlier start to your day depending on when hair and makeup needs to start and/or photos. 2) with the later slot, you would have more time to get ready, but I assume you couldn't get into the venue till right before due to the other wedding. So would they be able to set up or are you responsible for that? 3) I don't know where you're located or if anything is outside but if it's july, it could be hot, a day wedding could not only have harsher lighting but hotter temps for your guests.

Ceremony and reception are at the same venue? Where will guests hang out after the ceremony while waiting for the cocktail hour? 8pm is very late to start eating. Assuming dinner is 1 hour from the first person served until the last plate is cleared, 2 hours is very tight for dancing and other festivities before guests have to leave. They will not be as likely to notice the time crunch in the afternoon.


Either time frame is fine but they have completely different vibes. So it depends if you want subdued afternoon or party evening.

I would attend both first 1 to will end in the evening that ppl will still have their rest the day and the second is still good some ppl may have to work the next day

Hi there! We are wedding date twins!! My wedding is booked for July 2, 2022 In Poughkeepsie NY!


I chose an 11:00am-5pm slot for my wedding. Granted the price difference for the evening was significant rather than equal in your case. We are still having a cocktail hour and a plated meal!
I know myself and having to wait around all day would actually make me so anxious and nervous. FH and I decided we wanted to do the ceremony early and get to the celebration part ! We have a decently large crew of guests who will spill into the after party we organize and it allows for our older family to head home if their exhausted, go off on their own quieter evening fun nearby, or they too can join us as we party into the wee hours!
I dont think you can ever go wrong with either choice but since we shared details with guests we have had a lot of positive responses to our timeline choice.
Good luck!

Evening wedding, no questions asked!

I'm very surprised both time frames are the same price (being that brunch/lunch is generally less expensive than dinner). I would be concerned that that the venue double books weddings/receptions on same date.


- If you're the earlier slot, you will fill pressured to be out on time. If you're late slot, your time could be pushed back if there are issues with earlier group.
-July will be very hot for midday wedding. However, 8:00+ is quite late for those 50+ to eat dinner and then other events to follow.

6-11 it’s a must for weddings 🥰

I feel like an evening wedding excites me more but i also see the practicality of doing a daytime wedding if it reduces the cost haha