What time of day would you plan a wedding? - pros and cons

[Antonia]

I have only planned one wedding - mine 20 yrs ago. It was at 4 p.m. Don't know how I came up with the time. DS and his lovely girlfriend are getting married in March 2004. I am going to be very involved in the planning - even tho I am the groom's mother.

DS does not have an opinion on what time of day for the wedding (already he is a typical man). Girlfriend cannot decide. I want to make some suggestion, but even I don't know what to do. I am leaning towards suggesting a morning wedding with a brunch reception.

Bride's father is deceased and her family will not have a lot of money to spend. Her mother, however, does work for a florist - so that will come in handy. I think about 75 - 100 guests. We will have to chip in for the costs. It will probably be a church wedding with the reception in the social hall.

Anybody have any experience or suggestions pros or cons with time of day?

 

[Pam]

Over 20 years ago we had ours at 7:30 pm on a Friday evening - this allowed everyone to get home from work, etc. Since we only had a cake and ice cream reception, this worked out great.

 

[CamColt]

We had 5:30 on a Saturday. I chose this because it was a summer wedding and I wanted it to be somewhat cooled off. 10:00am was out of the question because I wanted time to relax and get ready. On the other hand Ive known people who didnt want to wait the whole day, so an early morning wedding was an advantage to them. 2:00pm would have been fine, for another time of year. In fact if I had a winter or fall wedding I would have probably gone for 2:00 so it would have still been light out, and we could have had a post reception party. But like I said 2:00 on July 22, just sounded too hot to me....and it was.
I also liked the idea of having a Saturday night "party". Our wedding went until well after midnight and the hall was still full of people having a ball. In a few weeks we have a Sunday evening wedding to go to and somehow I cant see us really having a lot of fun knowing we have to get up Monday morning.
Happy Planning! And just know whatever time they choose, will be just perfect for them.

 

[mtemm]

Our wedding was at 11:00 in the morning. I had always figured I'd do a nighttime wedding, but the place I really wanted for my reception didn't do them, or at least not on saturdays, which with consideration to the people travelling to my wedding it had to be on. So the ceremony at my church started at 11 (catholic mass, so an hour or so), reception from 12:30 to 6 or something like that.

Pros: none of this waiting around during the day! I woke up early (of course, too excited to sleep much). I had arranged for the girl who was doing my hair to come to my house (highly recommend this). I took my shower and washed my hair, even ate breakfast, she came and styled it, even did some of my bridesmaids (they came over early). Did some pictures at my parents house (I stayed there that night before) so all of the pictures of just me, my bridesmaids, and my parents were done before the wedding. Anything having to do with my husband was done after.

Everyone had a great time. We did a typical wedding with a fully meal and lots of dancing, even though it was afternoon.

After the reception we went back to my parents house (only a mile away from the reception site) and opened the few gifts people brought (thankfully most sent before or after) and all of the envelopes (a ton...amazing at the generosity of people). Signed the checks and gave to someone (best man or MIL, can't remember) to deposit on monday. Brought some of the cash with us on our honeymoon...to WDW! My how we spent it

It was nice to have this taken care of, something that would have been harder to do with an evening wedding.

Another pro was being able to spend more time with my hubby. I hated being away from him, and we got to relax in our honeymoon suite (well, a jr. suite at the Boston Harbor Hotel, close enough). The hotel sent up champagne, we ordered room service (seriously, who gets to eat at their own wedding?) Our flight the next morning was early, and we were so exhausted still from the whole wedding week, but can't imagine how tired we would have been with a night wedding.

I don't think our wedding would have cost any more if we had it at night, but I've heard you can do things cheaper during the day. Ours was a pretty formal wedding...my husband even wore a morning suit. He looked outstanding! I think a brunch would be wonderful, and can be so pretty.

Can't think of a single con, really. Just had a fantastic day overall!

 

[DonnaS]

We were a bit unusual. We had an 11am Sunday wedding. It was in the garden area of a restaurant and they were willing to close the restaurant for us on a Sunday. Actually, they do it on Saturdays, too, but the price was much less on Sundays.

With 11am, it gave time for people to go to early mass before hand if they so wished and since the reception was right there at the restaurant we had a luncheon reception. It was nice for DH and I to be on our own by dinnertime.

We spent the night in the honeymoon suite of a hotel and then flew out the next morning to Hawaii.

It worked well for us.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Mine was at 3pm on a Saturday. It gave us all enough time to get ready (hair done etc.) We also had our pictures taken before the ceremony. And the photographer needed an hour for that. We had to be done by 2:30 so we were out of there when the guests started coming.
My wedding was in October and we it actually SNOWED! (Well a few flakes, but still....)
I am helping my SIL plan her wedding now. I really learned a lot from doing mine!

 

[katerkat]

Well, I've been to tons of wedding recently, so...

Mine:
4 pm. It was perfect! It was beginning to cool off, but t was a bit hot in the church. But then dinner was right at 6 - perfect! 4-5ish is good for a regular dinner and dancing all night, I'd say.

Also been to:
11 am. It was nice, but the bride was RUSHED to get everything done on time. Great lunch reception. Bad because they left and we all didn't know what to do - strange city and all. We - the "friends" guests - ended up hanging out at the hotel all night.
2 pm. Also very nice - they had light snacky food afterwards. (OK, I really just can't spell hor'deuveres.) It - the reception - was in the church hall.

 

[TiggerPiglet]

We got married at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon, with our reception at 6:00. I personally prefer an afternoon wedding, as it allows you time to do any last minute things you might have forgotten to do

 

[Kirby]

I think that your idea sounds fine.

 

[snuggles]

Our wedding was at 3pm on a Saturday. It was nice that it gave us time to drive a few hours before too late. 6pm weddings are so pretty though..

 

[adamak]

I did mine 5pm Sunday night. Money was the main issue. If your DS wedding is in March, I'd assume it won't be an outdoor wedding. Night time is a better time for partying, people are more relaxed. Bridal party & Guests have more time to prepare. I prefer evening receptions alot more.

Do it on a weekday or Sunday night. Much much cheaper. Those who want to come will come after all.

 

[dizneenut]

We got married at 2:00 on a Saturday.
My BIL is getting married at the end of August (on a Sat) and the wedding is at 1:00.

 

[mrsv98]

We got married at 1pm and then had a lunch buffet reception. Monsey was the main issue as we paid for everything ourselves. Actually, I really liked the way it worked out, early enough that I didn't have to spend ages waiting, late enough that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn. We only had about 80 people, but it was really nice.

I have been to evening weddings and they are nice but probably double or triple the cost, especially on the weekend. Have fun planning!

 

[Serena]

My wedding was in my parents yard. It was in the afternoon about 3 if I remember right. It was a perfect timing really. We had time to finish putting up some decorations and the guys took my h to an auto show to keep him busy and from driving everyone crazy. We had plenty of time afterwards to relax.

 

[Fire14]

WE got married at 2:30 on a fri in Oct. We chose 2:30 D/T was originally gonna be a JOP marriage and we wanted to eat at our fav resturant for dinner and with a group our size we had to eat before main rush. WE chose afternoon d/t My Dh and half bridal party coming up to MI that day. also it gave us girls time to do stuff in AM without feeling rushed.

 

[d.kurz]

We got married on a Friday evening at 7pm.

I would just suggest that whatever time you have the ceremony, please have the reception immediately following. While it's nice for the weding party to have the lull in between to do pictures, I really think it's rude to the guests who have come all dressed up and now have nothing to do for an hour or two. I've also seen the guests all head to a bar and show up at the reception well on thier way to being trashed.

JMHO. Actually, one of my pet peeves!

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

Personally I like the Saturday Morning weddings . . .10 or 11am mass and then reception following.

BUT, it all depends on where the reception is held. You'd have to find out if they are planning a reception right after yours or not.

For Example:

My niece got married on June 28th and her reception was 1 - 5. We were herded in and out of there like cattle because another reception was coming in at 7pm. It was probably the worst reception I've ever been to. If you got up and danced your food and/or drink that was on the table that you hadn't even finished yet was snatched up by the waitstaff . . .it was really tacky.

I know my brother put out good money for that reception and I hope he told someone how awful it really was.

 

[olena]

Being a nightowl, I wanted a night wedding. I ended up with 6pm. It was a little early, but I got tired of the complaining.

 

[RUDisney]

Our wedding lasted 3 days.

There was the pre-rehearsal party, the rehearsal and party on Friday night, then we got married at noon on Saturday. After the ceremony, we took pictures and went back to my Mom's house for a pre-reception party. We were on our way to the country club by 4:00 for our 5:00 reception. That lasted until after 10:00. When we got home (to the house in which my DH had been living) we were going to make tea before bed, but we were too tired, so we had a glass of water instead.

On Sunday, we had brunch at my Mom's house, then left for the airport with my brother & SIL. We had a lovely dinner at Ralph's in Philadelphia before they dropped us off at the hotel.

We are morning people, so we prefer earlier ceremonies.

I understand where d.kurz is coming from about not having time in between the wedding and reception, but I really prefer it. I hate when you get to the reception before the B&G. I think they should be there first to meet and greet. If we're at a wedding with friends, it's fun to have some downtime to get a snack and some drinks between the events, too.

Whatever it comes down to, the B&G should have whatever they want.

 

[Laura]

Originally posted by d.kurz
I would just suggest that whatever time you have the ceremony, please have the reception immediately following. While it's nice for the weding party to have the lull in between to do pictures, I really think it's rude to the guests who have come all dressed up and now have nothing to do for an hour or two.

I totally agree. I went to an afternoon wedding in another town in January and the reception started 3 hours after the ceremony was over! It was freezing cold and the vast majority of guests were from out-of-town. So they basically all went back to the hotel for a couple of hours and my then-fiance and I went to a friend's house and watched TV. Pretty boring. It was a church wedding and they possibly couldn't coordinate the time of the ceremony and reception, but they should at least have found something for everyone to do in the meantime.