Ceremony in the morning, reception in evening

Don't do this. I honestly wouldn't go to the ceremony if I was invited. My ceremony and reception are in the same area so my guests have a 5 minute gap lol from the walk to the reception space for cocktail hour.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

No, I'm not having a gap because it's rude af.

Why do you want to do this? I can't imagine people getting all dolled up just to wait so many hours for the reception. I would not expect a lot of people at the ceremony.

One thing for me.. I wouldn't want to wear formal clothes all day. I can do a 1 hour gap, but I would go to the recepition and skip the ceremony. That way I wouldn't look like a hot mess by the end of the day because I was standing around/riding around/waiting...

Yeah...Not a fan of this idea.

Being honest am used to catholic ceremonies that start at 12, bride is late, so between the mass, and talking outside the church it's them 2.30-3pm before you leave the church. Then a drive to the venue maybe 30-40 mins. But then a drinks reception would start with canapés, tea /coffee sometimes punch, beer or persecco. Dinner bell would then be between 5-5.30 depending on venue. There needs to be something for your guests after the ceremony, to keep the day going. Perhaps you have something planned? If there isn't anything the momentum goes and the guests get tired and hangry just hanging around.

That's a huge gap! Don't, it's rude.

No offense, but as a guest I would not plan on attending your wedding and I'm saying this in the nicest way possible.

What is your reasoning towards this?

As a guest, I don't want to be up early for a ceremony at 11am and waste the rest of my day as I either sit there for another 6-7 hours or leave after the ceremony, but can't plan to do anything else knowing your reception will be later that evening. It's kind of rude to waste your guests entire day for your wedding. Either you have a brunch ceremony and reception or an evening ceremony and reception, there's no in between. Is June 11th your true wedding date and if so is it on a Monday? That's pretty awful to have your guests take off work to waste an entire work day on your wedding. Then again, week day or weekend, people don't want to be waiting around all day for a wedding.

Stop planning this. You're asking people to spend an entire day at your wedding, which is a selfish and inconsiderate plan.

I'd be expecting most people to go to one or the other.

The only POSSIBLE exception is if one or both partners are Hindu. What usually happens there is that the traditional ceremony is in the morning, it lasts for hours followed by a hosted luncheon then a Western ceremony then a dinner reception. The key difference is that anyone familiar with the culture is used to this.

I echo what @Celia Milton said. Not everyone has the same cultural background. My family is Hindu and gaps are common because we typically serve lunch in between and people need time to change clothes or do other rituals.

If you're not South Asian, do you have a specific reason for doing this? If so, I would try and serve lunch to ease the gap, as well as recommend or organize some sort of group sightseeing tour or activity to keep them busy.

Also, out of curiosity, are you doing hair and makeup at sunrise then? Kudos to you if you were able to get someone that early.

That's a really big gap. UO, I'm okay with small-ish gaps but yours is way too long.

If I was invited to this, I'd skip the ceremony.

And we have done just that.

I know it's against guest etiquette to skip the ceremony and just attend the reception, but with a gap like that, we have skipped a couple ceremonies and just gone to the reception! Sorrynotsorry.

I'm not devoting an entire day to YOUR wedding.

I went to a wedding that had a gap just like this and it was pretty inconvenient, but I understood that getting two venues to line up with each other is extremely difficult and it always doesn't fall into place as anyone would like.

Pretty sure no one likes to have a gap that big between events, it's just hard to get that to happen unless you're having everything in one place (which sometimes doesn't happen because religious beliefs such as churches and stuff are involved)

I agree with others in this thread. Really not hospitable to have guests wait several hours for the reception. What are they supposed to do with the time in between?

I've been thinking of doing something similar. The goal would be to only have immediate family at the ceremony in the morning, and the early evening party from 4-7 would be for extended family and friends.

These replies are actually hilarious! People are so angry, like chill out! I am also having my traditional Ghanaian ceremony at 11am and my reception starts at 6pm. My ceremony will last about 2ish hours which is the main reason for the gap. Tbh I really don’t see the big deal. Guests can go home, grab lunch or just do whatever they want and return for the reception. I have done this plenty of times for my other friends and they were not traditional weddings LOL. I think you’ll be good. And if people want to skip the ceremony and only attend the reception that’s also fine by me.

Oh man the dreaded gap! I have been to several weddings with gaps and while inconvenient it wasn't terrible. A few things to consider here A. how long will the ceremony be, B. are the ceremony and reception at the same venue and if not how far away are the 2 spots from each other, C. How local is it for most guests (will they be able to return home), how many out of town guests do you have are the staying close to the venue D. will it bother you if people only show up for the reception, that does tend to happen with big gaps. If you must have the gap and many of your guests are locals I think they can easily go home and figure out the afternoon for themselves, if you have a lot of out owners I think you should maybe do a little something for them at the hotel or make sure to give everyone recs of places to see and things to eat, Gaps can be a big pain but if it unavoidable you can make it work. But do your best to make your guests as comfortable as possible. What will you be doing during that long gap, that's an extra long day for a bride! Good luck!