Church and Reception on different days

Your guests are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves how long a day they want on the Saturday. You have control over the time of the reception. You could choose to end the reception at 10 pm if you're worried about being tired yourself, then people are free to carry on with an after party if they so choose.

If you change the ceremony to Friday evening, you require a two night hotel stay and at least a half day off work for the people who may have planned to drive in Saturday morning.

For church - do you mean ceremony? Your ceremony and reception should 100% be on the same day.

I don’t think your original schedule is an issue. Our ceremony is scheduled for 4pm due to sunset around 5:30, cocktail hour 4:30-5:30/6, reception 5:30/6-10/11, then we are having an after party in a different space in the venue until whenever we are done. We are still finalizing the exact times but it’s basically a similar timeframe to your situation. I would not break it into 2 days. I think people who have planned to attend on Saturday might be put off when they find out they’re not even going to your actual wedding, and that they now have to attend two separate events.

Why wouldn’t you worry about who wants to come though? If I’m only 4 hours away, I’m not taking Friday off to attend a Saturday evening wedding. I’m getting in my car mid-morning/early afternoon, driving 4 hours and staying in a hotel Saturday night. If you get married on Friday instead that means an additional night at the hotel and a day off from work for those guests.

Leave the ceremony on Saturday. Wedding guests know that they are looking at a fairly long day. Sure, some will leave early, but that happens at every wedding. Switching the ceremony to Friday just complicates the situation for everyone.

Not only is it and additional day that people have to take off work, get a hotel or drive back and forth to the events. As a woman that also means buying two different outfits to wear because I wouldn't wear the same thing both days.

And to add to my last post. What about what the bridal party will wear? Will they just put the same thing back on again or will they need to buy more clothing for the next day. Also hair and makeup. I think that it would be much more complicated to split into two days and get much more expensive for all involved.

The ceremony and reception should be on the same day in my opinion.

Your ceremony and reception should be on the same day.

That said, you can certainly invite people to a welcome gathering on the Friday, but you can't expect everyone to come to that if they're already coming Saturday.

Your schedule for a Saturday wedding is pretty typical. My ceremony was at 3 and the reception immediately followed until 11 p.m. I had a welcome dinner on Friday and a brunch the morning after the wedding. Your guests will decide what activities to participate in and for how long.

Personally, I probably wouldn’t attend, especially if it was out of town for me. I don’t really do big scenes and crowds, so two days of that would just be WAAAY too much for me

A lot of my friends have had church weddings that start at 2pm and plenty of people party til super late. You’re over thinking this one. Keep it simple for your own sake

I personally wouldn't want to go to a wedding with two different dates to attend to one. It should be all in one imo. I think that's the whole purpose of your long beautiful memorable day. You will add more stress and trust me not worth it.

Do Friday just a drinks and catching up. And Saturday ceremony with reception right after. Sunday morning breakfast and farewells.