WOW! Lots of you ladies got married late in the day!

Heidisean

It is very typical here to get married at either 1 or 2 PM and then have either a 5 or 6 hour reception. We got married at 1, took pics at the church, did outside pics and then went to our reception. Our reception was 6 hours from 5-11 PM. Did you ladies who got married late in the day have a reception?

shopgirl78

4pm & yes there was a reception, right after the wedding.  It was all over by 9-10pm.  Fun but exhausting day

eclaires

Yes.  I got married on Friday evening, and it didn't start until 7:30 because of Friday being a regular workday.

We're Catholic, but I wanted an evening reception.  The Catholic gap is just not done where I grew up.  People either do Friday evenings (late) like I did and have a reception that goes until 2am (like mine), or they do Saturday afternoon and have a Saturday afternoon reception.

Our reception was a huge party full of booze and food.  Just the way I like it.

jettagurl

We got married at 3:30, reception til about 10, but no break in between.  

Personally I hate having a wedding at 1ish, then hav to find something to do for 2-3 hrs til the reception starts.  Typically we go to one part and skip the other. Or we go out to eat, then don't eat at the reception (which I then feel bad about).

I think most people don't have the timing gap, then party til wee hours of the morning.

 

justEK

We got married at 5pm and the reception went on until 11pm. And that was on a Thursday!

mlm1128

Reception was 6:00 to 1:00. Had 7 full hours.  We did a lot of pics outside at the reception during it. I wanted pics in the dark with all the Christmas lights on the grounds. We fit in a full 5 course meal, Venetian table and plenty of dancing.

lsufan

Wedding was at 5:00, and the reception was right afterwards, just a couple of blocks away.  Everything was done by 10:30, and that seemed plenty long to me.  

eclaires

lol, jetta.  We're clearly both Indiana girls.  The Catholic gap is considered to be so freaking rude in southern Indiana.  Most parishes don't allow a wedding ceremony after 2-3 on a Saturday, so your option is either an afternoon reception or the gap.

EVERY time we go to a gap reception, everyone bitches.  So much.

REOM

I was married at 3:00, then the reception was from 5-12

mlm1128

Oh yeah...and an open bar for the full time.  I don't dig that shut down the bar during dinner routine. 

firefightersgal

We took pictures before the wedding, except for the ones of DH and I together.  Our wedding took all of 20 minutes...lol.  We had a reception immediately following with a full meal and dance.  We left the reception hall at midnight.

eclaires

mlm1128:

Oh yeah...and an open bar for the full time.  I don't dig that shut down the bar during dinner routine. 

that is so annoying.  I hate that.

justEK

I did not even realize people have such a large gap between their ceremony and reception.

Goose51504

No me gusta the Catholic gap or cash bars.

mlm1128

Here's what happens with the gap. Everyone goes to a nearby bar and drinks for 2-3 hours before your reception.  They are then so *** faced that they need to leave the reception early or make fools of themselves in front of the old folks, causing the old folks to leave. Either way, people are leaving early and you paid all that money to spend the last 2 hours with your wedding party and no other guests.

REOM

eclaires:

mlm1128:

Oh yeah...and an open bar for the full time.  I don't dig that shut down the bar during dinner routine. 

that is so annoying.  I hate that.

I've honestly never seen this, but I hate it too. LOL. No wine with dinner? Strange!

eclaires

REOM:

eclaires:

mlm1128:

Oh yeah...and an open bar for the full time.  I don't dig that shut down the bar during dinner routine. 

that is so annoying.  I hate that.

I've honestly never seen this, but I hate it too. LOL. No wine with dinner? Strange!

No, usually they shut down the bar, but then wine is served with the sit down dinner.  I just think it kind of sucks, because what if you are drinking a cocktail?  I hate switching back and forth.  Or what if you just want your beer, dammit!  lol.

mlm1128

No Reom, what they do here is put a carafe of cheap red and cheap white on the table for dinner but shut the bar down so you can't have a beer, mixed drink or actual wine that doesn't taste like turpentine. So you pay for open bar at your 7 hour reception, but it's really only open open for about 4.5 hours. 

mlc92404

We had a friday wedding to save money and started late so everyone could make it after work.  We had a reception it was just short.  7-12

DandelionMom

I'm so glad other people hate the Catholic gap!  I only gave my photographer 30 minutes to get the formal shots because I didn't want to make anyone wait (or miss my mimosa cocktail hour!). 

mlm1128

Dande, I also hate the photography gap!  I was the same way.  I was NOT missing my own reception to take pictures.  Thankfully, dh felt the same way. I hate when people make you stand around drinking (like that's so bad) for 2 hours before they serve dinner.  Get the show on the road and move along to the party!

Carol*Brady2

Yep-4pm Catholic wedding--appetizers right after, then dinner & dancing until after 1. Full open bar the entire time & I hear that when the place needed to close down they gave the open bottles to my lush guests (our sibling and friends) ). The beauty is that almost all guests were staying right there (in cabins) or a 5 min walk away...tiny town in the mountains & the reception was outside the lodge under a tent. It was fun & elegant but not stuffy )

REOM

Sounds like a good way to piss off people. People like me anyway.

I honestly have never seen a cash bar at a wedding. Do people run tabs or stand there with dollar bills like at happy hour? Crazy!

eclaires

cash bars are awful.  AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.

And yeah, people usually have to have cash.  At least at every one I've been to...but I actually haven't been to many, thankfully.

jessicaclare

I got married at 4 pm cocktails were immediately after. Everyone here does the gap, not just Catholics, and it drives me absolutely batty. Is it bad to admit that I've gone to quit a few receptions already totally smashed? It just happens when you sit in a bar and drink on an empty stomach.

Cash bars are super common here. Usually beer, wine and soda are free, its just cocktails that aren't. Sometimes there is an included cocktail hour too. I had open bar, but cash bar doesn't really bug me because I'm used to it. I also know how much people in WI drink compared to a lot of places, so I can see how cash bar might be economical for the bride and groom.

snowflakemom

Our wedding was at 5pm. Reception from 6pm-1am with dinner and dancing.

Also not a fan of the "Catholic gap" which is very common here. Thankfully, I'm Lutheran so the 5pm ceremony time was no prob. Now that I think about it, our reception was quite long, but there were still quite a few people there when we left at 12/12:30ish.

MrsCali_Bride

Yes, we did. We had an outdoor ceremony and took pics during the cocktail hour. Our reception ended around 12:30 or 1:00 in the morning.

Jodi&Joe

Our ceremony was at 4:30.  Reception, which was 15 minutes down the street, was supposed to start at 6:30.  Well, my ceremony took exactly 2.5 minutes from the second I started walking down the aisle till they announced husband and wife.  And I'm not exaggerating....it's on video!  LOL

SO people hung around for a couple of minutes and watched us take pics and then headed to the reception.  Thankfully the venue was ready and opened at 6 instead of 6:30.  It was supposed to go until 12:30 but we ended up shutting down at 12 so I wouldn't have to dish out more money for the extra 30 minutes AND there were few people left at that time so really no big deal to shut it 30 minutes early.

Not only did I insist the bar stay open during dinner, I made them put it in writing!  We also had a fiasco with Bud Light bottles (our venue had 6 different beers on tap -- Joe hates tap beer!) and in the end (after threatening to move our wedding -- yes, he likes Bud Light bottles THAT much!) they conceded and brought in 12 cases of Bud Light bottles (which were gone at the end of the night - the manager there was shocked)!  LOL

 

Alibabs

Yeah.... a LOT of people have that gap in Ireland. Really annoying!

Our mass started at about 145pm and was over about 3. by the time we got to the wedding reception and did the photos it was time to sit down for the meal. About 6? The reception went on till dawn though we left early (about 1am) to go to our honeymoon.

We had our wedding on a working Monday.  Everyone took that day and the next off work. It was so much fun!

jlw2505

I personally can't stand the wedding with the 1-3 hour break before the reception starts whole thing.  At my wedding (and most of my friends/families weddings) we did all the pics before the ceremony and then went directly from the ceremony to the reception.  My pics started at 3 or 4, Ketubah signing (part of the Jewish ceremony where you sign the Jewish marriage license - the Ketubah, this is family only, wedding party, etc) was at 6:30 and then the public ceremony was at 7 to 7:30.  Cocktail hour was 7:30 to 8:15 and then the whole dinner/dancing reception lasted until midnight.  It was perfect.  I was able to sleep in, had brunch with my friends and then started getting ready at noon.