My ceremony at 1 and reception at 6?

Question

At the hotel I am having a hospitality room for the guests to hang out in while we are taking pictures. What can I put in there beer?? What else?

In a Catholic Ceremony churches will not before a mass after 4 pm, so I think I planned it fine. Plus it will take at least two hours to take pics.

Answer 1

That is a really long break. You probably want to have some snacks for them, to avoid drunk guests. Entertainment would be a good option too.

Personally, I don't know if I would hang around 4 hours for a reception, if I were a guest.

***EDIT***
Allotting 2 hours for pictures is extreme. It's also inconsiderate to your guests. You should only need 1 hour at the most.

Answer 2

Wow that's a long break. That's worse than my break which I thought was long. I got married in a catholic church too and the latest wedding they would do on a Saturday was 3:30 because they were having 5pm mass. So the ceremony was at 3:30 ended close to 4:30 and the cocktail hour started at 7. 2 1/2 hours was the max I would have in between since they had to drive a half hour away for the reception anyway. But 4 hours in between is way too much. Talk to the church and see if they'll do it closer to 2 or 3. Because what will happen is that not many people will show up to your ceremony. Since the gap between the two is way too long they will just go to the reception. I know I did that when there was a poorly planned wedding with a 4 hour gap. Most people I invited were local so they went to the ceremony dressed normally then went home and got dressed up for the party.

Answer 3

(Query -- why does everyone always want so much time between? How long's your ceremony, 1/2 hour? So, even if you start late, you're asking your guests to do nothing for 4 hours? I appreciate that you want to take pictures afterward; so does my fiancee. But 4 hours is a long time to wait on you. I don't care what the bridal books say; I'd be impatient.)

To answer your question -- if the hotel will let you, beer and wine would be appropriate. This may be the time that you have cocktail hours, if you're going to do that. Then very light appetizers -- cheese, crackers, fruit, nuts (for those that need some protein) but not too many salty snacks.

Seriously, though, if you're going to have them wait for 4 hours, you need something for them to DO. You may need to give them an activity; perhaps see if the hotel has a game room / tv room / or something else.

My fiancee and I are having pictures taken between ceremony and reception. I think our ceremony is at 2;30, with reception starting at 6. The guests have to drive about 20 minutes, and our reception is in a science museum. Each guest gets a free pass to the museum, so they have plenty to do for the 2 1/2 hours before the bar opens up. My guess is that we'll arive some time after 6.

EDIT--
Yeah, it will take 2 hours for pics. If this is a mass with communion, then your wedding will take nearly an hour.
So you start pics at 2:15, you're done at 4:30. 1/2 hour to get to your venue, and it's 5. That means YOU have to stand around waiting for your venue for an hour yourself!
I know you don't want to be time pressured, but I believe it's rude to make your guests wait that long.
My suggestion is that you call your "hospitality suite" time a cocktail hour or something to that effect.
(The other thing to consider is, how long are you planning your reception to go? Until 11 or 12 at night? That's a LOT of time for people to invest in your wedding. I don't know that most of your guests will have the endurance to go through 12 hours' worth of wedding.)

Answer 4

That is too long to leave your guests wtih nothing to do. Mass will be over by 2:30 at the latest, so they are going to have at least three hours with nothing to do but sit in a hospitality room? Not fun at all. It's going to put a damper on your reception, because by the time 6 rolls around people will be either exhausted or drunk.

I would recommend 2:30 mass and 5 o'clock reception.

You won't need two hours for pictures.

Answer 5

I hate to tell you this, but you really didn't plan it fine. Your Catholic wedding will take an hour at the most, and pictures only take an hour, definately not two.

That means your guests will have three hours of just sitting around before your reception starts. It's good that you have a hospitality room, but your guests are going to get bored and hungry. You shouldn't have them milling around doing nothing for more than an hour (the cocktail hour). In fact, to avoid this three hour chunk of downtime, most of your guests will only go to either the ceremony or the reception.

Whoever told you that you need this much time between the ceremony and reception is lying to you, perhaps because they're being paid on an hourly basis.

Answer 6

See if you could push back the ceremony until 2:00. If you can't then you need to serve appetizers in the hospitality room along with beer, wine and soda. How far is the commute from church to the reception? Do you anticipate the mass taking longer than an hour?

Answer 7

I am getting married in a Catholic church and my ceremony is at 2pm, they have regular mass at 4pm. We have to be out of the church by 3:25pm. That gives us a little bit of time to take pics at the church and then we will go to another location to take pics. Our reception starts at 4pm until 10pm. Cocktails are 4-5pm. That gives us a cushion on arriving a little before 5pm. I think your guest will get tired of waiting until 6pm if the ceremony is over by 2pm. That is a really long break and guest might become bored. You should consider moving up the reception time, don't forget a lot of pictures are needed at the reception as well. Congrats and good luck!

Answer 8

Most people aren't going to be drinking for the 4-hour cocktail hour and then want to start a reception and continue drinking for another several hours. But anyway, I can see you have been bitched at enough for it... so I will continue....

You could see if you could rent a pool table or other games for people to occupy their time. You can provide board games and cards, maybe some sort of playgroundish bouncy house type thing for the kids although they might get dirty. I would see if maybe you two had home movies you could pull out a TV and family members could watch those and flip through old photo albums of yours. You could arrange for the DJ to come early and put on some music. I would maybe try to think about an activity for people to work on...some sort of crafty thing maybe? You could have the kids color or decorate their own placecards or something. I always also liked those disposable wedding cameras that they provided so the guests could take their own pictures while they wait. Of course I would make sure there are appetizers (but not too many) for people to snack on while they drink. I would ask the bartender to make sure that people who start to get tipsy get cut off. You could also see if there is a place close by that offers golf or something maybe, unless it is too hot and people are going to get sweaty and dirty in their suits and dresses. If there is a nice area near your venue you could see about renting a horse drawn carriage to take people for rides. If there is a lake, maybe paddleboats?

I don't know what you are going to do to fill that big gap, but there's my brainstorm list. I really hope you find something good because you don't want people getting drunk/rowdy/bored/fiesty in that time period. You don't want to go into your reception with everyone annoyed.

Answer 9

I agree with everyone else about the time period. That really is a long time to sit around a wait. If you are going to provide drink, be sure to have snacks handy to soak up some of the alcohol.
Really the best thing to do is try to narrow the gap by either pushing the wedding back or the reception forward. You can take pictures before the ceremony to save time in between. That is what we did so we had time to relax during the cocktail hour with our bridal party before our big entrance.

Answer 10

I think two hours is extreme for pictures. It is your wedding day, but you should think about your guests. Would you want to wait around that much if you were at a wedding? These people came to see you get married and to celebrate WITH you. Just because it is your day doesn't mean you should ask that much of people.
I'm getting married in July and my wedding is at 6:30. My reception is starting at 8 at the latest, plus I am getting pictures in between. I would never want my guests to wait around. I think that is inconsiderate and shows them how little their presence means to the bride and groom.
Food and drink help, but if you wait for that long, when you actually get to the reception, there may not be anyone there.

Answer 11

If you can, plan a cocktail hour from 5 to 6, then have the dinner at 6.
If you are thinking of having that hospitality room, you would have to have it fully stocked, an open bar with a bartender, and serve food as well. I don't think that's a good idea, really.
People find things to do between the ceremony and reception - they will have a rest or nap, go shopping, take their kids somewhere - you don't have to find things for them to do.