As a Guest, How Early Do You Show Up To The Wedding?

I usually aim to be at the venue about 15 minutes before the ceremony start time. If I'm traveling a ways I will buffer extra time, or if the couple has otherwise indicated I should allow extra time for parking, walking to the site, etc.

Weddings typically start about 15 minutes after listed start time. So for a 4pm wedding I would aim to be there no later than 3:45pm, and probably no earlier than 3:30pm, and expect the ceremony to actually start closer to 4:15pm. Granted our invitations said 4pm with the plan to start right at 4:15pm but still had guests arriving late and not yet seated by 4:15pm.

View Quoted Comment 15 minutes is a decent buffer for in case there's traffic! I'm also always afraid of being the one who shows up after the ceremony has started.

It depends. If it's a family or close friend's wedding that we'd be offering to help out with as far as set up etc., then we get there at whatever time we're needed!

If it's just a wedding where we're the guests and nothing else, then I like to arrive 15 min. early. We adjust the time we leave by what route we'd have to take and if there's a high chance of traffic (busy highways). I like to make sure we have a seat, but also are respectful of the couple's privacy, so we don't like to arrive TOO early if that makes sense lol.

I map traffic and street parking to make sure I can park and sit 15 minutes early (used to this in NY). I always worry I'll walk in at the same time as the bride. However, I'm not sure I've been to a ceremony that was exactly on time, more like 5-10 minutes late. I really dislike when couples lie on their invitations 30 minutes to 1 hour because they know their families/ friends they are notoriously late, and I sit there even longer. sigh. On my website, I wrote "please have a seat by 1:45pm, as we'll be walking down the aisle at 2pm". I only have 2 witnesses preceding me so it's quick.

View Quoted Comment You definitely bring up a good point! Allowing at least 30 minutes extra (probably longer if there's road construction on the route) if driving a few hours is a good idea. Otherwise, 15 minutes early seems to be a common plan!

View Quoted Comment Good point on the walk from the parking lot to the ceremony space! Arriving 15 minutes early seems to be a common plan.

View Quoted Comment Arriving 15 minutes early seems to be a popular plan!

View Quoted Comment Arriving 15 minutes early seems to be a popular plan! As for ushers seating guests, I've only been to one wedding where that happened. Every other wedding I attended, people sat themselves. Is having the ushers seat guests a common practice at the weddings you've attended?

View Quoted Comment This seems to be a popular answer! I agree that arriving 15-30 minutes early would be ideal.

View Quoted Comment Honestly I have only attended one wedding without ushers and it was a closed ceremony where only the couple and their honor attendants could participate for religious reasons. The rest (of countless) that I have attended had ushers standard (in various cities large and small in the Western US)


It goes hand in hand with never having attended a wedding with the Pinterest trend of signage on everything instead of actual people to greet guests, direct them where they need to go, etc. Typically the groomsmen will do double duty acting as ushers to seat guests including parents of the couple and then entering from the front before bridesmaids start. Or they can be someone else (older teens or college age) if you want to give someone a job, though most people prefer to be a guest instead of being given a role of reader or whatever is popular.

View Quoted Comment I like that saying! I agree that arriving at least 10-15 minutes before the ceremony start time is ideal.

View Quoted Comment Smart idea to list the arrival time on the invites! I agree, if you list 6pm, some people may arrive after then. Are you also going to mention to your guests ahead of time that doors will be locked during the event? Guests might really make an extra effort to not be late if they knew about that.

View Quoted Comment Yes! It's on my faq section on my website. I will probably verbally tell people as well. They have to visit my website to rsvp so hopefully they take a look at the important things.

View Quoted Comment Arriving early is a good idea! I totally agree, I'm also against listing 5:45 on the invites if the event actually starts at 6.

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This is what I try to do as well! If I get there early enough, I'll try to find a coffee shop or something in the area where I can sit for a little bit until time gets a little closer. Better to be there too early, rather than late!

View Quoted Comment I also would absolutely hate to be the one walking in late to a wedding ceremony!! I'd be bummed to miss the ceremony, but I'd much rather skip the ceremony instead of walk in late. I definitely don't blame you for not wanting anyone to walk in late to your minimony - hopefully everyone made it on time?

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Everyone except one person made it on time, she ended up coming late to the dinner but that was fine because everyone was already up mingling etc.

I have never been to a wedding with ushers. It's either really outdated or not at all common around here among my social circle.

View Quoted Comment 15 minutes early seems to be a pretty popular plan! I also try to get there around 15 minutes early (though sometimes it ends up being closer to 5 minutes early!).

View Quoted Comment Yikes! Glad you ultimately made it to the wedding though. I've also made the mistake of leaving the wedding invite (and the shoes I was planning to wear at the wedding) at home for an out-of-state wedding. Though since it was the day before the wedding and I was less than an hour into the drive, I was luckily able to turn around and go back for them.