Catholic wedding

I was in a similar situation -- my options were 3 pm or 7 pm. We chose 3 pm, which meant that it ended around 4:15 (then a 15 minute drive to reception). Cocktail hour was 4:30 to 5:45, we were introduced at 5:45 and started serving dinner at 6. We chose not to do appetizers, since dinner was going to be kind of early. The party then went until 9:30, so it was a 5 hour reception. You could try and stretch cocktail hour to at least an hour and a half, maybe longer if you joined in and also served some food. Then you could serve dinner around 530 or 6 and just have a slow paced reception, knowing that some people may decide to leave early since they have been going since the ceremony started early.

View Quoted Comment That’s true! I think 2 is going to be our best bet

I'd do 2. You could always do a receiving line as people leave to eat up some time, maybe start cocktail hour around 3:45- give people a chance to get to their cars, drive, park. Do cocktail hour and a half maybe, with light food from 3:45-5:15. Do your entrance and first dance at 5:15, with dinner starting to be served at 5:30. That's definitely earlier than normal, but at least you're avoiding a gap! I'd rather have a longer cocktail hour and early dinner than a gap.

According to the timeline you put for 6:30, it seems like other than the wedding ceremony occurring mid afternoon, your actually reception and such will occur during the evening. I think the 6:30 is pretty late - especially with the added distance and picture time involved. Best of luck!

Catholic ceremony here. First, everyone on this site hates the gaps between ceremony and reception, so be prepared for that. But we all know that churches only have ceremonies at certain times and reception places are often restrictive as when they will serve meals or be avaliable, not to mention no wants to eat dinner at 4pm, for example. As a Catholic, wedding gaps are normal and everyone is ok with them.

You cannot wait to feed people until 9pm, if you do this, please have lots of appetizers meeting your arriving guests at 8pm.

My options were 11 and 2 pm. We are doing 2pm, hour long ceremony and then have a small activity for out of town folks to do with cocktail hour at 6pm with a ton of food. Cocktail hour from 6-7, and reception 7-12.
I think you will feel really rushed with a 630pm ceremony. I know I would.

It's called the Catholic gap for a reason 😉 but seriously, anyone who has been to a Catholic wedding won't be surprised by a gap. It's up to you how you want to schedule your day.

We're also having a Catholic wedding and our options were 11am and 2pm. Our ceremony will be a bit longer with a full mass as well as some Filipino wedding traditions mixed in, so I imagine that we are looking at an hour to possibly hour fifteen for the ceremony. We will definitely be having a receiving line at the church too. Our reception site is about 15-20 minutes away from the church and will start at 5:30pm and conclude at 11pm. The vast majority of our guests are locals, so we aren't too worriand about the time gap.

We are also getting married in a Catholic Church, I would go with the 2:30 time slot, you will still be able to have your evening reception.

The earlier ceremony will be better.

Years ago we went to a friend's wedding...not Catholic, but Jewish. It was a Saturday in summer and the entire event was held at the Synagogue. Ceremony could not begin until the Sabbath had ended, which meant sundown. On a summer Saturday, that didn't happen until sometime after 8pm.

They held cocktail hour BEFORE the ceremony which was different, but at least everyone had something to eat around 7pm before the ceremony began. The big drawback here though, is that dinner itself didn't get served until after 10pm. That was crazy late...and it was a LONG dinner service. By midnight we were chomping at the bit for them to cut the cake so we could dash out. That didn't happen until after 1am, and once that happened guests flooded out.

Yes...earlier will really work out better.

We are as well...I picked 2 pm and our reception is 5-10p .. gives us enough time to get to the venue do pictures which takes up time and just have a little extra time for us

We are doing a catholic wedding as well. Our ceremony is at 1 and cocktail hour starts at 5. I know a gap is frowned upon on here and it’s very typical in a catholic wedding. If your guests are familiar with the gap, you can have the ceremony at 2 and start cocktail hour at 5.

Whether it’s typical at a Catholic wedding depends on your region. I’ve been to over a dozen Catholic weddings and only one had a gap and quite frankly, it was awful. I would choose the earlier ceremony, and go straight into your reception.

The venue is at a hotel, so a small gap would give everyone a chance to check in and get situated.
Ceremony 2-3
pictures 3-4
Then have the reception starting at 5 or 5:30?
Theres a lounge and a bar at the hotel as well.
any advice with a timeline would be great

I'd use a timeline similar to this:

2 -3 pm ceremony (no need to do a receiving line to eat up time)

4 - 5:30 pm cocktail hour (Exiting the church, getting to the car, drive time, plus it sounds like guests will need a bit of time to park and get inside to the reception space will eat up the hour between 3 and 4. No one should have to sit and wait more than a few minutes if at all.

5:30 - 6:00 entrances, first dance, parent dances, toasts, blessing of the meal (if you are having it)

6 - 7 dinner

After that is your call as to when you have the cake cutting. It could be right after dinner or could be later in the evening during the dance.

I went to a Catholic wedding on Saturday, with a big gap and the reception half an hour away by car (NYC wedding). At least 1/3 of the people at the reception skipped the ceremony, so that's something to be aware of even if your Catholic family expects a gap.

If you go with 2, I think you'd just have to accept an earlier reception. I'd urge you to not have a long gap. The gap on Saturday was awful. We all just sat around hungry, the kitchen where we were was closed, and they didn't provide any food. We were stuck and by cocktail hour at 6, everyone was starving. Wedding 2-3, cocktail hour 4-5, dinner at 5:30. Reception till 10 or 11. That's not so bad.

We had a Catholic ceremony with no mass. Our choices were also 2 and 6. We went with 2 and it wrapped up around 11. We had a lot of older guests leave shortly after dinner which was totally fine, but our DJ kept it going! We also did late night food (chicken wings and taco bar) since we had eaten early. I have zero regrets.

I would do the 6:30 ceremony and get pictures done beforehand. I wouldn't want my guests to wait around that long.

Im not sure why everything think gaps are so bad. Go take a nap, grab a snack, grab a drink, see the city, change. Can adults not entertain themselves anymore?

View Quoted Comment This!! I love this. I have a gap between the ceremony and reception. If you don't want to come to the ceremony that's okay with me.

Thank you everyone. I feel a little better now about having it at 2!