Is it best to have a daytime wedding reception?

Hi and congratulations!

I understand what you are trying to do....but you cannot do it that way. That is the same thing my son and daughter-in-law wanted to do, but after I consulted a wedding etiquette site, we figured we could not.

The reason being....for all intents and purposes you are having 2 receptions......one "meal" reception and then another "night time" reception. You cannot do that.

You CAN invite more people to the reception and not the wedding....but you cannot do it the other way around....invite more to the wedding....then only a handful to the meal portion of the reception....then invite everyone to the night time doings.

You have a couple of options:

(1) Have family ONLY to the wedding and the meal. Then invite others to the night time reception. If you do this, make sure the invitation states:

Susan Kay Johnson

and

Brian Adam Smith

invite you to share in their joy

at a reception to honor their marriage on

Saturday........

date, time, place, etc. (all the usual stuff)

Then also put.....

A private wedding will be held earlier in the day.

Then for the family that you WILL invite to the ceremony & the meal...enclose a separate card with that information.

2.) Your second option is to cut your guest list way down and invite EVERYONE to the wedding and the meal, dancing, etc.

This is assuming that the reason you only want family to the meal portion is due to costs, which is understandable.

Another way to cut down costs (if that is what you want to do), is to have a wedding around 11 a.m. or 12 noon and have a lunch buffet, which is usually cheaper than dinner.

I hope this helps!

You can invite more people to the reception than to the ceremony but you can't invite people to the ceremony and not the reception. You also can't invite people then make them figure out what to do for a few hours while you have a meal then only invite them to dancing or something.

Basically what you are telling them is "We want you to come bring us a gift and see us married but you aren't worthy enough to be fed".

Instead I would either have a intimate meal BEFORE the ceremony or invite the others to something very casual like a potluck a day or two afterwords and have a screening of your wedding video. You can also hold the reception at a point that isn't a peak mealtime and only serve cake and punch or appetizers.

Have two separate receptions are two different times is NOT a good idea.

Why? Because the people who are not invited the meal after the ceremony will not know what to do . . and that's where the problem begins.

These people will get bored and they will go someplace to drink and drink and drink or they will go back home. And if they are drinking in a bar they might decide to stay there instead of going to the second reception. And those people who go home may also decide to stay home and skip the second reception. And now you have dinners that have been paid for that no one is eating because you made the decision to have two different receptions at two different times.

Answered by: A Certified wedding specialist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant

You should never make your guests wait longer then 1 hour between the ceremony and the start of the reception/cocktail hour. Also, most of this time should be spent traveling.

In this case, you should consider having an evening ceremony and reception. You are having a civil ceremony which gives you a lot of flexiblity in terms of time. Where as religious/church ceremonies can only be performed at certain times of the day.

I think it's unfair to make guests dress all up for the ceremony, only to have to wait a really long period of time for the reception. You may run the risk for some people not being able to attend the ceremony. Especially, if they have kids. It might be difficult for them to hire a babysitter for such a longer period of time. Like in the early afternoon for the ceremony and then having to continue having the sitter through the wait time and then the reception.

Well, the only reason I can think of a daytime reception being more ideal is because the later it is, the more likely people are to drink too much and ruin things. This is of course, assuming you are serving alcohol at the reception. You definitely know your guests better than I do, so if you think a nighttime reception would be more fun or special, I think you should do it! It is your special day, after all, and I think you know what's best. I just hope you take everything I said into consideration when planning, and I hope you have a wonderful wedding and a very Merry Christmas!

I think around 1-2. Then the time that your waiting for the evening meal you have the dances, games, pictures, and perhaps conversations with family members.

My cousins wedding it was around 5 and we were all there until around 11 P.M because we were all dancing most of the time.

Hope this helps!

Merry Christmas

are you able to provide greater info? hues, is there a topic, what kind of region? As a social gathering clothier i'm chock crammed with suggestions yet without understanding somewhat greater its annoying to offer one which will rather greater wholesome you. I comprehend your candle delimma in view that we are staring at an afternoon reception besides. an particularly stylish concept that has been catching on presently is to plant wheat grass in bins, or wheat for fall, etc. Use them as a residing centerpiece and encompass with river stones. For a spring wedding ceremony you need to use silk flora (greater fee-effective than genuine) or you need to use candy to make "flora" and function them becoming out of the grass. yet another decision is to circulate to the nursery and p.c.. up bedding flowers on your hues like mums, pansies, although they have reachable. you will get an entire flat for like $12 which might do countless tables and all you may desire to do is transplant them into prettier bins or for a u . s . a . look you may in simple terms cover the present bins with burlap, advantageous fabrics, or ribbon. After the marriage use them on your place or donate them to a park. (be conscious: in case you donate them it quite is a tax deduction so which you pay much less on the top of the three hundred and sixty 5 days) you may additionally get lanterns. do away with the candles and as a replace you may placed a single flower or perhaps a butterfly (presented they have sufficient room to flutter somewhat and you supply air furnish and a few leaves or some thing to munch on, then launch into wild afterwards)

Daytime is great! I was married at 1pm Sept 22nd 07'. We were married indoors then went out for pictures the weather outside at that time was beautiful. :) The sun was out, the sky was blue, the water was sparkling, it made for a lot of remarkable pictures! HIGHLY Suggested!!! If I was gonna do it again, I'd do it just the same! Good luck and have fun!!!!

photos flower gardens go to a park possabilitys are endless a boat ride or a tour in the area also if you are getting married at one starting a reception at 5 30 serve dinner at 6 and and end the reception at 9.30 inst far fetched esp if you want to do photos between 1 and 5

I think around 3 or 3:30 PM would be good...it gives people time to get there, mingle, talk, and then you would most likely serve dinner around 5PM.