Have reception BEFORE ceremony?

[blingergrrrl]

ie. The groom greets and chats with the guests for the reception/cocktail hour, the bride then makes her entrance and the ceremony is performed, and then dinner and then the dancing begins? I was thinking of having a late afternoon/early evening wedding and having everything at the same location.

Is this common? What do people think of this idea? Does anyone forsee any problems with this?
Around here, it''s the ceremony in the morning or very early afternoon, and then reception and dinner later in the day...

 

[vizsla]

we are having a "pre-ceremony" cocktail hour for that reason.. we didn''t want everything to start too late.... we are getting married on the beach at 6:20, but the cocktail hour will start at 5:00. i think it''s a great idea!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I don''t see why that would be a problem. It might just take some extra planning in terms of getting everything set up for dinner and for pictures.

 

[Pandora II]

Might be difficult for photos

 

[ammayernyc]

Because we are having a Jewish ceremony on the longest Saturday of the year, this is exactly what we are doing.

We are having the cocktail hour at 7 PM, which we''ll both be at, the ceremony at 8:15/30 and the reception afterwards.

I''ve been to ones like this before and they were loads of fun!

 

[Selkie]

Date: 4/23/2007 1:19:28 PM
Author: vizsla
we are having a ''pre-ceremony'' cocktail hour for that reason.. we didn''t want everything to start too late.... we are getting married on the beach at 6:20, but the cocktail hour will start at 5:00. i think it''s a great idea!

We''re doing exactly the same thing-our wedding and reception are on a boat at 6PM, but we really wanted to have the big "reveal" happen before getting on board, so we''re having a (non-alcoholic) cocktail hour at the B&B first, where I''ll make my grand entrance. We''ll mingle a bit with the guests, and then pose for photos while the rest of the guests enjoy themselves. I think it''s a great idea for keeping people occupied before the wedding starts, and gives you a little more time with them.

 

[blingergrrrl]

Date: 4/23/2007 4:39:24 PM
Author: Pandora II
Might be difficult for photos

Yeah, I was wondering about this. I guess if your location is good for photo ops, then it should be ok? I''m glad to see so much support for this way of doing things!

 

[musey]

Date: 4/23/2007 1:13:24 PM
Author:blingergrrrl
ie. The groom greets and chats with the guests for the reception/cocktail hour, the bride then makes her entrance and the ceremony is performed, and then dinner and then the dancing begins? I was thinking of having a late afternoon/early evening wedding and having everything at the same location.


Is this common? What do people think of this idea? Does anyone forsee any problems with this?

That''s the exact format that my uncle used for his wedding last summer. It was a second marriage for both of them and MUCH more casual than the usual wedding. As a guest, I didn''t feel that I enjoyed that format any more or less than the more "traditional" order (ceremony THEN reception), but I DID appreciate the fact that it was all condensed (no down time in between events, esp. good for OOT guests).