ceremony timeline and Hotel Check-in times

Not have my wedding at 2 pm, but I'm not a fan of early afternoon weddings, they usually have a gap

Ok but I specifically made the wedding at 2pm to accomodate for anyone who wishes to drive to and from the wedding without staying at all. (2.5 hours on a straight highway isn't too bad). my 2pm wedding ends by 9pm which, for a sunday, is completely permissable.

This particular friend wants to stay over so we can post-party at the bar in my hotel... I'm not a huge drinker but i'm down to keep the party going... anyway...

and also there is zero gap because my ceremony/cocktail hour/reception are all in one location

ETA: I'm finding it near impossible to accommodate everyone and having her check into a hotel at 9pm after the wedding doesn't sound like the worst thing ever. As far as getting ready.... Maybe she could get ready at the venue. There is plenty of space as long as she doesn't get in the way of the bridal party.. would this be a viable solution?

It seems to me that there people who aren't staying will leave long before 9 pm, because that gets them home at midnight when they have to work the next day. Totally exhausting. So I would just push the ceremony back to 5 and assume anyone who isn't staying the night will be leaving right after dinner. Doing your first dance and cake cutting early would give them "permission" to get back on the road as soon as possible. I'm surprised anyone is even contemplating this as a five hour drive on a Sunday with work the next day would be a hard pass from most guests.

Our ceremony and reception venue was at a hotel. Check-in was 3:00 PM, so we started our ceremony at 5:30. My sister's blocks were all a 4:00 PM check-in, so her ceremony started at 6:00.

I would not want to stay over 2 nights, or travel 2.5 hours, in my fancy clothes. Considering the circumstances, you might just see me at the reception, or if I couldn't/didn't want to take off that Monday, I would send my regrets.

This is *exactly* what I was contemplating when I booked the hotel... Whether to have the wedding of my dreams in a further location or have a decent wedding closer to home

"do it, it'll be beautiful, it's your day, people who wanna be there will be"

so I did and now I'm getting grief.

Oh well

The venue is paid and i LOVE it... if 8 people show up, I can afford an unlimited lobster feast for them.

What did you end up doing? i am in the same boat and risk losing an hour of my wedding to accommodate guests checking in that don't plan on staying the night before.