Planning

You should also be considering your guests, especially those who are traveling any kind of distance more than 15-20 minutes where it is too far to go back home...you may find that many guests skip the ceremony and only come to the reception. Gaps are awkward for everyone - not just your bridal party.

Sometimes the gap between church ceremonies and reception is totally unavoidable. If you're ok with people choosing to either attend just the ceremony or just the reception, you should let people know.

We had about an hour and a half gap between the ceremony and cocktail hour. But there was a 30 minute drive.
It was nice because it gave people a chance to go back to the hotel, freshen up, change clothes of they wanted to, etc. I wouldn't stress too much about it honestly. People here might try to make you feel back about it because of "how rude it is" but people are adults and can figure out how to entertain themselves.

I'm not going to a wedding with a two hour gap you need to find a bar or something to host your guests for those two hours. And why is your hospitality/cocktail hour not during the time you will be taking pictures you are going to have a lot of upset guests. Be prepared to lose a lot of your guests. That's very inconsiderate

For anyone that is going to be disrespectful please do not write on this wall. I want to thank everyone else who have been respectful and have given me advice. At the end of the day all I wanted was ideas on where people could go/ do during a time gap. There are plenty of weddings with a much larger time gap than mine. Unfortunately this is unavoidable when getting married in church. If you get married at your venue it’s a different story and your guests stay in once place and your ceremony is usually very short. It’s different for everyone, so please be respectful. Thank you.

View Quoted Comment Hi Chandra,
i Was thinking about getting blocking a hotel so guests can relax, however some of mine also live where my church ceremony is so in essence it’s not too bad. Thank you so much for your advice

I don't quite understand why the cocktail hour isn't happening during your picture time? Isn't that the usual purpose for a cocktail hour, to host your guests while you do pictures? To clarify, your wedding as you've got it scheduled, has a two hour break, plus an hour or longer cocktail hour, before the reception? So you've got about 4 hours in (assuming 45ish minute ceremony) before you've even started the reception? How far is the church from the reception?
I know you don't want people to be "disrespectful" on your wall, so don't read my tone as that way, but that is honestly a very long time between ceremony and reception for everyone attending your wedding. From the weddings that I have attended, and advice I've read online, most people bow out after 5-6 hours, so you may lose a significant number of people very early into your reception, or as others have said, only have them attend part of it.
Can you do some pictures ahead of time to avoid this gap of time?

View Quoted Comment

No one has been disrespectful and and it is against WW rules to tell people how to post. What Michelle said about being inconsiderate was true.

Is there any way to have a cocktail hour extended? To have a two hour gap is hard on guests, especially out of towners as they need to sit somewhere for two hours.

Posters are correct, people may come to one or the other. Depending on close we are with the couple, I would choose that path, too.

View Quoted Comment

I don't think anyone has been disrespectful here. This is a public internet forum, so there's going to be blunt responses. I hope you'll continue to post here

I have to echo what others have said. I grew up in the Catholic Church and everyone knows about the Catholic gap.

Its always been my rn my family has planned for though. Since you know you’re going to have a gap can you talk to your venue or hotel block about hosting light refreshments (bar snacks) and wine and beer? Typically if it’s been made obvious that a couple is going to have a large gap (more than an hour) I’ll second guess attending (I live 8 hours from my family).

Since you know now that the gap exists I think it would be good to start planning how you’ll take care of your guests during that time.

Ive only been to a couple church weddings(both in my school years). The last one I went to was a Catholic wedding. There was a time gap but we had to drive from the church to the reception. Then there was a cocktail hour for pictures. I agree about maybe trying to do an extended cocktail hour? Depending on how far your reception is from the church also is important.

I’ve been to multiple church weddings and the only one that went horribly was the one with a 2-hour gap between the ceremony and the cocktail hour. Nobody found out about the 2-hour gap until receiving the program at the ceremony. Luckily it was at the town we lived in. But, if it weren’t we absolutely wouldn’t have gone to the reception. We stayed at the reception just until after dinner (between hour long ceremony, the 2-hour gap, the cash bar, and the 5 family dances plus dollar dance we had to watch, we were so done). Everyone was bored and most of the people left hours before the reception was supposed to end. Moral of the story, yeah it’s your wedding but if you don’t want to waste your money, you really need to be considerate of your guests. It is your job to make sure they are comfortable and entertained. If you don’t want to do that, don’t bother with a reception.

I got married in a church and did not have a gap. I extended the cocktail hour so that it was 90 minutes instead of an hour. I do agree with the others that said many people will most likely skip your ceremony and go straight to the reception.

View Quoted Comment 100% agree with this comment.

What is your timeline? How long of a drive is it from church to reception? What is a hospitality hour and how does it differ from your cocktail hour? I'm just trying to figure out the time frame for your guests.

For instance if the ceremony is at noon. Say an hour long church service. 1pm til 3pm is empty time for guests. Then hospitality hour at 3pm. (Do they get food and or drinks?) Cocktail hour at 4pm and dinner at 5pm.

If I was a guest I would end up getting a light lunch somewhere. Maybe others will do that too. Or is it possible to serve lemonade and little sandwiches at church after?