Ceremony Only Wedding / How soon after the ceremony should guests leave??

Uh... you need to provide something for guests after the ceremony, even if only a cake & punch reception.

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We are unable to have a reception due to Covid... even with things opening back up this is what we had planned when it was at its worse and now its too late to have a full reception as we originally planned and we only have 4 hours at our venue which allows us enough time to set up, get ready, get married, take photos, and clean up. We're having a dinner with our families beforehand and some friends of ours or hosting a get together afterwards.

At least an hour after you greet all guests and serve a minimum of cake and coffee/punch. Etiquette (still in place to navigate social situations even in pandemic times) requires that you do this. Do not invite anyone to the ceremony if you are not willing to host them properly.

View Quoted Comment If you’re allowed to host a ceremony for 50 guests, you’re able to provide light refreshments afterwards. Your wedding is in a few weeks, it’s late notice but you could uninvite guests who aren’t being invited to your dinner, explaining due to Covid you’re cutting back your wedding to family only. But probably better to provide light refreshments for an hour following the ceremony.

I agree with the others that you need to provide at least snacks and drinks after especially since your ceremony is at 4:30. You should honestly be providing a full meal. I would be very upset as a guest if I showed up for a ceremony and was asked to leave afterwards without any type of food at dinner time.

I'm just being honest here, I wouldn't go to a wedding if it's just a ceremony and then home. I'm not getting dressed up and making the drive and going through purchasing a gift just to sit at a ceremony for what, 30 minutes, and then leave. And if I did go through all that and found out the day of that that's all it was, I would leave pretty peeved.

Are you not providing any refreshments or greeting guests? That's going to be very awkward. At mininum you should offer some cookies and lemonade and stick around to greet everyone who wants to say hi. I'd allocate at least an hour for this. This gives you little over 10 minutes per guest. If they're paired up, it should go faster.

Yikes, this whole plan sounds awful. Who invites guests to a ceremony but not a reception? At least feed them some cake and lemonade or something...

Is it too late to arrange some pre-ceremony cocktails, a receiving line, and perhaps let the guest hang around and have some bites/drinks while you take photos? You could also arrange an after party at a restaurant nearby or someone’s home. Have you talked to the venue about extending your contract for an hour (if that’s an option for your budget)? Hopefully you’ll find some advice here that’s workable for your situation. 🙏🏻

Another Covid bride here. It's such a pain, isn't it? We're currently weeks away from our first anniversary reception after having to downsize to a backyard microwedding a year ago. We have had no choice but to plan around restrictions currently in place that will likely be lifted by the time we get to our date, but by the time that happens it will be too late to invite additional guests, change the menu, add additional venue staffing, etc. Back when it seemed that we might be prohibited from serving food at all (as it sounds like you might be?) I was considering a receiving line with nice boxed lunches from our original caterer that guests would be able to take with them, and we were going to suggest some nearby parks. Maybe you could have some fancy cupcakes, box them individually with tea or coffee samples, and include a little note along the lines of "Thank you for coming to witness our vows. Please enjoy this treat in a relaxed mask-free location while listening to our playlist" and then list some of the songs you would have played at your reception. You could also put on your invitation or Website "Due to Covid restrictions, please plan to take the refreshments home with you, as we are unable to serve food at the site" so people will know what to expect.

View Quoted Comment I like this idea! Covid bride here as well and planning with the sudden changes of restrictions is a bride and groom’s nightmare. I like the receiving line idea a lot and with 50 guests it’s very doable and personal. Another thought is having a group picture with all guests would be cute!! ❤️

Hi Moriah, I’m going to go against the grain here and just say if a family member of mine had a ceremony only, I would totally be there!! It’s family- period. ❤️

That’s incredibly rude hosting. You need to have some type of reception even if it’s at a different venue. I suggest finding a restaurant or another venue where you can host any type of reception after your ceremony and photos are done.

Another Covid bride here! We got married last August and the restrictions were that we could have a ceremony but no receptions were allowed. We got married outside at a local park and provided cupcakes and little bottles of wine and water to go for people to drink there or take with them. That way it wasn't a reception per say but it was still something where we could greet our guests and thank them for coming. Then we took pictures after everyone left. You could maybe do something like this so there's a little thank you for guests?

I like the receiving line idea. That way you could say hello and thank everyone. I feel like most people should know it's a ceremony only thing so they probably wouldn't stick around after saying hello. Covid restrictions have changed a lot of things but even before covid I would have been fine with attending a ceremony only wedding. If it upsets people they just won't come and that's not your problem. Personally I don't attend weddings because I want to be hosted. I attend because it's an important event for people that I care about.

If you can't have a reception due to covid, how are you having 50 people at your ceremony despite covid?


You don't have to have a full blown reception. You can provide individually wrapped snacks, although I agree for a 4:30 ceremony, dinner should be served

This is an extremely rude plan. Just about as rude as you can be.

With having a venue for 4 hours you should be able to find a way to properly thank your guests for coming to your ceremony. Cake and punch and thanking your guests for coming at least. Do you have to do the set up? By getting ready do you mean getting yourselves dressed etc. Normally you would not include that in your 4 hour venue time.

Instead of just calling you rude like most of the people on here, I'm going to sympathize with your situation and actually offer some advice.

Covid is a thing. Providing drinks and food may not be possible due to event restrictions (attendees can't be masked when they eat/drink, but can me masked for everything else). I work at a college and having an event with 50 people is NOT the same as serving food and drink to 50 people. Logistics are very different for an event where people will be unmasked vs one where masks stay on.

If you are doing dinner before with families and a get together with friends after, will you be able to be in the company of most of your 50 guests at some point during the day? If so, I think not providing refreshments or food isn't as big a deal. Would you consider a little welcome/goodie bag for guests that can include a little note from you (or a ceremony program), a snack, and a wedding favor? That might be a nice touch if there are people at your ceremony that won't be able to celebrate with you at all otherwise.

As long as you are clear that it is a ceremony only, people will find their way out. Some might linger, but eventually it will be plenty clear that the event is over and people will disperse. Having a program or schedule for guests might also help give the hint that once "I dos" are said, your guests are free to leave.

I agree with the others that you should at least provide a pre-packaged snack that guests can take with them, which is probably all you could do in some parts of the country with COVID restrictions. Maybe get some cookies or cake slices from a local bakery that are packed to be taken home? I also agree you should do some kind of receiving line, so that you can thank everyone for coming. The bonus of a receiving line is if you have it near the doors and have people's little snacks all packed to go, then *most* people should leave pretty quickly.

As with so many of the people here, I'm sure this wasn't what you wanted when you first thought of your wedding, but I hope that everything is wonderful.