To think weddings should finish earlier?

[ThomasRichard]

I know it’s being a party pooper but seriously, everyone’s had enough by 10pm and is clock-watching to work out the earliest they can leave without being rude. I always stay to celebrate with the bridge & groom but am so ready to call it a night. Who genuinely wants to be up til midnight dancing awkwardly with the bride’s drunk uncle?

Things are usually only kicking off at 11.30pm! You clearly aren’t Irish.

I left my own wedding at 10.30pm so am not a late night partier. We left a birthday party last night at 11pm and weren't the first ones to go. I think finishing late means those who want to party can and those who want to go home can do so

Even my kids are still up at 10:00 when we go to a wedding.
And we're not Irish.

You'd have loved my wedding Op. Ceremony at 6pm ( Pagan hand fasting before anyone jumps in with 'you can't get married at that time') followed by a medieval feast. All done and dusted by 11.30pm.

Best wedding I've ever been to

I think they should start later! I actually don't like weddings, it's a long day, the evenings part is good So I'd rather extend that but being a day guest is a pain. I hate those hours of waiting around while the bridal party get pics taken etc. It's too big a gap usually at least 2 hours.

I don't know about finish earlier, but they could definitely be shorter.

Went to one recently which was lovely, but there were big gaps over over 90 mins between anything happening. We really tried to avoid that with ours - I think a big culprit of these longeurs is photographs (it was in thie case of this wedding). If the couple/immediate family wants to do this seriously, you end up with this huge gaps. Our photographer had strict rule about keeping it to 15 minutes so it didn't dominate the day, and that was fine with us.

I think you need to move from one thing to another and if spaces have to be changed over always have food and drink, and maybe something else happening for guests. Having some dancing before and after the meal can work well, but yes 10-11-hour epics are a bit much.

lol you wouldn't last on polish wedding then, usually finishing about 5am (but starts about 4 - 5 pm).

That was my first thought @angelikacpickles Sure they only get going around 8. The travel etc before them can be long and drawn out tho.

Agreed, they're too long here.

I'm American and my friend's weddings back home are always one of two ways, pretty much: early afternoon wedding, followed by an afternoon reception that ends around 7pm (and generally anyone who wants to keep socialising can do so in a bar that's been agreed, but that's informal), or early evening wedding with the reception ending around 11 or 12. All in all, about 7 hours for the guests to be there, if you want a reception that goes late into the evening you start later in the day.

I was really shocked to move here and start going to weddings with my husband's family, that would start at noon and have an all afternoon wedding breakfast and then an evening reception with a whole wave of new guests (don't even get me started on this lol, I know it's custom here but in the states it would be massively insulting)--I have yet to attend a wedding that is less than a 12 hour ordeal. Also, his family likes to get married at this one pub in the middle of nowhere, and we all are put onto minibuses there and back, so no option to leave when we're done for the evening. The first one I went to we had to meet the minibus at 10am and weren't dropped off until 1.30am. Way too long IMO.

The only Irish wedding I’ve been to finished at midnight so clearly I missed out on the full Irish experience. My idea of a good wedding schedule is a 10am wedding, a nice lunch, speeches, cake and dancing, all done and dusted by 5. Maybe I could start my own business planning weddings for people who appreciate a proper night’s sleep

Depends on age!

We were among the first of friends to get married, were in our late 20s. Almost no guests had kids (couple of tiny babies). Parents/family friends etc were healthy baby boomers in their 50s and 60s up for a laugh, dance floor was full and it all went on cheerfully until nearly 1am.

More recently we've been to weddings of couples in their 30s, v different. Almost everyone has young kids and is knackered by 10.30. Most of the kids have been too little to stay up late & enjoy it so childcare is needed which can be a costly hassle for some. Older relatives a bit more frail which brings challenges.

Moral of the story... get married before you hit 30, it's much more fun!

Some people's idea of a good wedding sounds like a senior citizens party! Cake & dancing in the afternoon

YABVU. Let the party people have fun and the party poopers can go home. No drama required.