What time should my wedding ceremony take place?

The bulk of our Wedition wedding couples tend to opt for an afternoon ceremony varying from a midday to a 2pm start, with 12.30pm or 1pm being the most popular times. Although in our experience this is the most common ceremony time, it may not be the most suitable time for you. However, it is important that your ceremony time fits in with your plans, sometimes these are determined by the venue, but sometimes you are free to choose what works best for you and fits in with your plans.

The advantages to a morning wedding ceremony

Marry in the morning and this allows you the whole entire rest of the afternoon and evening, surely this might mean a super early start for the wedding couple and their wedding party to get ready and organised, but who sleeps the night before their wedding day anyway? 

Marrying in the morning ensures that you truly max out on celebration time, giving you more time to party the night away! This could however mean that you would need to spend more on catering and entertainment. Alternately, it could save you money as your venue may have scaled back morning specific wedding packages available. A brunch style wedding breakfast is likely to cost less than a formal dinner wedding breakfast. If you are heading off on your honeymoon the same day as you wedding, then an early wedding ceremony means that you definitely will have the time to celebrate, but still get to leave early enough to head off on honeymoon. 

A morning wedding ceremony would perhaps suit a wedding couple who already have children, as the mealtimes and finish time will be less disruptive to the family routine.

Morning wedding ceremony pros:

• You have the entire rest of the day to celebrate, or 
• An early finish allowing you to head off on honeymoon 
• Great for couples with children who'd like to end celebrations earlier 

Morning wedding ceremony cons:

• An early start could mean tired guests (and wedding couple!) 
• Could be more expensive due to more catering required 
• Venue may have more restrictions (less staff) 
  

Wedition Hot Tip: Set up a coffee bar to welcome guests and to give them a pick-me-up upon arrival. Plan a realistic getting ready schedule to allow you to be at the wedding ceremony on time.

Afternoon wedding ceremony pros and cons

Getting married in the afternoon is certainly the most popular choice for couples and there’s good reason for this, an afternoon ceremony allows the wedding couple plenty of time to get ready in the morning and get themselves to the venue, there’s also still time to make the most of celebrating with family and friends. However, there is a downside to having a ceremony around 12pm - 1pm - it will be too early for guests to have had their lunch. This could mean that stomachs may start rumbling during the ceremony! When the drinks and canapés come around after the marriage, guests may potentially be drinking on an empty stomach and therefore get tipsy more quickly, or guests may speed eat the canapés if they feel they can’t quite wait until the wedding breakfast!

Afternoon wedding ceremony pros

• Relaxed morning to get ready 
• Plenty of time to celebrate afterward 

Afternoon wedding ceremony cons

• Guests could start feeling hungry during the ceremony 
• Guests may get more tipsy 

Wedition Hot Tip: Consider some arrival drinks and snacks for the guests, encourage them to come an hour before the ceremony time, giving the groom a chance to mingle with them prior to the ceremony! You could have jugs of mocktails available with popcorn or a fruit platter to stop guests feeling too peckish during the ceremony.

Why you might opt for an evening wedding ceremony

Marrying in the evening is surely the most romantic option? Guests arriving to a sunset backdrop, marrying under a dark night and star filled sky, having had the whole day to look forward to the evening celebrations, what a memorable wedding it will be! Having a later start time could mean that you could save money on the catering by having bowl food and canapés rather than a formal sit down dinner. You may however find that due to the later start time, not as many of your guests will be able to attend, Aunty Dora’s bedtime might be 8pm! An evening wedding can swing the other way though in terms of cost, an evening wedding will perhaps appear more fancy, especially if it is black tie, you’ll perhaps want to splash out on a cocktail hour, four course formal dinner and end the evening with a bang by putting on a firework or laser display. Of course you’ll surely want a live band too?

Evening wedding ceremony pros 

• Most romantic time of day 
• May cost less as you can skip the wedding feast 

Evening wedding ceremony cons 

• Less people may attend 
• Nighttime photos are tough 

Wedition Hot Tip: Pick your photographer wisely for an evening wedding as nighttime shots are tricky to do, choose an experienced photographer and ask to see their previous nighttime shots to get a feel of their style. Use warm lights for better photography, candles, lanterns and fairy lights will really set the tone for romance.

Real Wedition Weddings: S&A had an evening wedding at Hotel ZaZa, Houston, USA. Their dinner menu was on the back cover of their Wediton which saved them printing out extra stationery. Their evening wedding had lots of warm lighting and candles to set the scene. S&A had a whole host of fun ideas and entertainment which included belly dancers, sword dancers, a cigar rolling station and live painting!

Sharing your wedding timeline with your guests

No matter what time of day you are getting married, you’ll want your guests to know your schedule and the order of the day. Rather than print out loose pieces of paper which will only get thrown away at the end of the day, you can incorporate this information inside a personalised wedding magazine, a phenomenal keepsake which your guests will love receiving! An ideal place for all you wedding stationery essentials (think readings and wedding menu as well as your order of service!) you can also share your love story, from how you met to the proposal. Introduce the wedding party and include a fun Mr and Mrs style quiz, Wedition is styled with your wedding colours in mind to truly compliment your wedding day.

Real Wedirion Weddings: C&M had an afternoon wedding ceremony at The Elvetham in Hampshire and they chose to include their printed stationery inside their Wedition, the wedding menu and the schedule of the day, this was a truly cost effective option for them as it saved paying to print out extra stationery and it also meant nothing was wasted... Wedition's are kept as treasured keepsakes whereas loose stationery items such as menus get thrown away.

Get in touch!

If you’d like to share your wedding story with Liz then please do get in touch: liz@wedition.co.uk