invitation start time vs. ceremony start time

I wish I would have put maybe 15 minutes early. I didn't even think about it when I had my invitations made. I've seen plenty of brides whose ceremonies don't start on time because people are late. I would do it.

Yup, very typical. Our ceremony begins at 3:30pm and our invitations say 3:00pm

I went to a wedding that said it started at 4:30, but really it was 5. As a guest I didn't like being mislead since we had to travel out a few hours to get to the venue. And, we didn't want to sit around waiting for 30 plus some minutes because we arrived earlier to be there way before the ceremony was listed as starting. I can understand 10-15 minutes, 30 is a little much.

I'd like to add that this was a ceremony and reception outside in Alabama. This does not go well with people that have allergies including myself. So I wasn't happy sitting out in the grass waiting for the ceremony to start. The reception was at least right next to the plantation and on cement.

I agree with Jess, 30 minutes is too much in my opinion. If you do that, you're basically punishing everyone who arrives "on time" by making them sit around and wait for an extra half an hour. I take the time on the invitation as the time it starts and usually arrive about 15 minutes early, so I would be annoyed if I was a guest at a wedding where they did this and I ended up having to wait 45 minutes for the ceremony to start.

That being said, you know your guests, if you have a ton of chronically late people, go for it I guess.

This thread was just posted, I'd check it out:

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/went-to-wedding-this-weekend-please-dont-do-this/34049cef89524424.html

It may be a cultural or regional thing. For us, 2pm means 2pm. If anyone runs late it will be FH.

Our invites said 4. We planned to start at 415, but everyone showed up on time and we started at like 405.

The place i am having my wedding has a welcome lounge and they told us to put 6pm on the invitation and our ceremony really starts at 630. Some of my super LATE friends im telling them 3pm hahahahahhaha

For our wedding we put 6:00pm and people were showing up 5:00! I thought it was nutty that people were showing up so early.

I would say 15 minutes early max. Most people show up early anyways. I wouldn't want to sit for an extra 30 minutes, especially if it's gonna be a long ceremony.

We put the actual start time, but planned an optional 10-15 minute delay if needed (the ceremony was super short and we didn't need the whole allotted 30 minutes). I also listed the start time on our FAQ section on the website and said to please plan on arriving a little earlier. I think we started 10 minutes late (5:10 vs 5pm).

I'm personally not a fan of listing a false start time, especially if it's 30 minutes or more. I always assume the time listed is the actual start time.

Our invitations said noon. It actually ended up being 12:30. We didn't plan it that way, but the hair and make-up person got stuck in traffic, which delayed everything else.

We put the correct time but individually communicated with people to please be a few minutes early because we had to start on time.

I wouldn't make it 30 minutes earlier, but I wish we would have put it as starting 15 minutes earlier or had a section stating guests could/should arrive between 6:30 (30 minutes early) and 6:45PM (15 minutes early) for our 7pm ceremony. We had to start the wedding late and lost precious sunlight for picture taking after the ceremony due to a couple groups that are notoriously late. I even wrote in our welcome letters to arrive 15-30 minutes early to the ceremony. It was very frustrating!

Do a half hour. Fifteen minutes is suspicious and everyone figures that you'll start on the hour or the half hours and they ignore the invite time.

Nothing makes me crazier than late guests; I even wrote a story in the NY Times about it. And if you add up all the dollars you're spending on the reception, missing 15 minutes or more can add up to thousands of dollars you literally threw away.

I honestly wouldn't wait for anyone. It's your wedding. If they can't get there on time, then they miss it. Decide when you want to start, invite them for a half hour before and start when you want to start.

We listed 12:30 P.M. on our invites for our ceremony to begin. We told all our friends and family (mostly DH's) that we would be starting at 12:30 and not to be late.

Well guess what, we started at 12:32 p.m. and everyone was on time.

If you're worried abot guests, just call or text those you are concerned about (and who are important) to please make sure they are on time.

It was extremely important ours started on time because there were weddings after ours in the church.. so we texted our friends/fam the night before (like 9pm) and said hey can you please arrive a few mins early because we have to start on time? Everyone was there and we started RIGHT on time. And no one was "fooled".

I was wondering the same thing. We are going to be doing our ceremony during the regular Sunday mass. We really like the idea of it being a congregational event. However, this means mass will start at 9 regardless of what time guests arrive. Should we put an earlier start time so they are seated on time, or put some polite wording to the effect?

I commented in the other post, but I have one more thing to say. Why punish the guests who arrive when they are supposed to?? No. I will punish the late guests by starting on time. If they don't care enough to get there on time, then I don't care enough to wait for them.

Thanks for the advice ladies! Now my question is: if I decide to have guests arrive 15 minutes early the invitations would say the start time is "quarter to three in the afternoon." Does that sound weird?

Also, we will be having the bar open when guests arrive (water and soda only, I don't need people drunk during the ceremony) and music playing (string quartet) so I figured the extra time may be beneficial for them as well. They can grab a drink, pick their seats, and enjoy the music.