AIBU to ask what time of day is the best time to get married?

[Dorisdaydream2]

Just that really! Asking for a friend

3-4pm, gives people time to travel in the morning, evening meal at a sensible time, evening do with nibbles then go. Can’t stand morning wedding/mid afternoon food/loads of hanging about weddings.

Yes it depends on what you want, how long you want all the guests to stick around for and how many meals you want to provide for them.

Personally we got married at a big country house venue where they do the whole package -
guests arrived at 11 for champagne and nibbles in the great hall, wedding at half 12,
photos in the grounds till 1,
food served at half 1,
cake and speeches and more champagne at 3.
Everyone bugger off please by 4/5 so we could go up and enjoy the four poster bed lovely honeymoon suite upstairs :)

Everyone said it was refreshing to be back home and with their feet up by 6 or 7 at the latest and loved their day.

Ours was 2pm (I think) 🤔 12 years ago.

Ours was all in the same venue though, if that makes any difference.

‘‘Twas the best wedding ever, obvs 😂

Good luck OP

It depends on what type of wedding. My niece got married at 5pm in church then we traveled to the reception and went straight to cocktails, dinner and dancing. It was nice, glamorous and sophisticated.

My daughter got married at 2pm and we walked from the church through a gate to where the barn and marquee were. We had loads of canapés and a free champagne bar, and live music, then wedding breakfast followed by band, disco and tacos later. It was nice, a country wedding, quite big.They had the dreaded evening guests.

Some people would prefer a morning wedding followed by lunch and that’s it.

We got married at 12pm but I think it might have been too early looking back. 2pm would've been better I think if we were to do it again.

We got married at 4pm. It was absolutely lovely. Plenty of time to get ready without any rush or fuss, and then a wedding which didn’t have that massive, dreary, hanging around in the middle bit which can make them fall very flat before the evening kicks off.

It makes it harder to have two tiers of guests because you eat later, but we didn’t have an a list and a b list anyway so didn’t matter to us!

Ours was:

2pm service at church
3pm coaches to the reception venue
3.30pm everyone arrived at reception, drinks served
4pm we arrived having done photos at the church, canapés came out
5pm food
6.30pm speeches (during pud, can’t have people bored!)
7pm tea and coffee
7.30pm live music started
11pm live music finished, recorded music until shut down at 12.30

Was a great day, I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Not too early, the worst wedding I've attended strated at 12, was such a looooong day.

We got married at 11:30. I like to eat meals on time and don't cope well with hunger! We had a 3 course meal at 1. Evening party at 6 with a buffet.

I hope your "friend" has a lovely day.
We married at 11.

Ours was 3 or 4pm. So guests could have lunch beforehand and then we just served one big dinner for everyone at 6 or 7. Not a fan of the two part system with the evening buffet.

Saturday 3pm. Traditional time for kick off.

[Tee hee @Dorisdaydream2 ]

I would always recommend feeding your guests at a normal eating time.

So if you want the party to go on into the evening, I'd recommend a ceremony at 4, with drinks/canapés/photographs/mingling until sitting down for dinner at 6:30 for 7.

Ceremony a bit earlier if people need to travel between ceremony and reception venue. Main meal earlier if you think people will be hungry.

But an afternoon start 3pm or later does give a clear signal that you need to have lunch beforehand

I much prefer a wedding at 2pm or after - plenty of time for bride to get ready, time for guests to travel, enough time for a sarnie beforehand and not too much of the standing around waiting. Been to a couple of 12 o'clock weddings and felt like it was an absolute age till I ate and so much time standing around. Love a 4ish wedding, feels like you get right into the party mood and eat at a normal time.

A lot of couples like the idea of an early wedding to make the most of the day, but for guests it can feel like a very long day, plus having to get up early to travel/get ready is less fun!

Best wedding I ever went to started at 4pm. Worst started at 10am. I can’t abide being herded around like cattle all day.

I would say around 2-2.30 in the afternoon.

We got married at 10.30, that way we didn’t waste the whole day

3.30pm.Photos done by 5.Reception 6 then disco til 1am.

We got married at 2. Canapes and drinks at 3:30 ish, sit down to wedding breakfast at 5 (which did seem early at the time), that was finished by 7, coffee and cake, then evening bit started by 8:30 until midnight. That was just enough dancing and people at the bar for everyone to be happy but not too completely sloshed.

3pm. By the time the ceremony, photos and drinks reception are done, it's time for dinner at 5pm. Then that takes about 2.5/3 hours, which is just in time for the evening reception to kick off around 730/8pm (with a buffet).

That's what we did and it worked perfectly.

Friends got married at 12, put on no lunch or entertainment, just a drinks reception, which they expected to last until food at 5pm. A couple of the guests went back to their room and had sex to relieve the boredom, and several of them got so drunk that we wound up spending the meal pouring black coffee down their throats to sober them up (it worked!). We were all so hungry as we'd had breakfast but no lunch as it was a hotel in the middle of nowhere with no food options!

I gave this a lot of thought! Our ceremony was at 3.30. We served coffee from 2.30 (it was a hotel wedding). Dinner was supposed to be 6pm, though I have a feeling we may have run slightly late.

I thought it was perfect!

The worst times for me would be 12-2. Makes it very tricky to have lunch at a proper time!

3pm then people have eaten lunch and don't have to wait hours for lunch! We had ours then and provided nibbles and drinks whilst photos were taken and we have a buffet at about 7pm. So many weddings seem to be at 12 and I've now made it a tradition to go to Mc Donald's in the way to the reception because it's always hours until eating and I'm starving by then. I also pack biscuits in my bag!

My friend got married at 9am! Bridal party woke up at 5am to get ready. Don’t do that!

We signed our wedding contract at 1pm (Jewish wedding). Guests arrived at 3pm for drinks and nibbles, wedding ceremony at 5pm. Dinner at 6pm then dancing until 10pm. It was a Sunday night so people didn't stay super-late.

I think I got married after lunch, quick ceremony, canapés and cocktails during pictures and then dinner and drinks.

I hate weddings where you end up leaving in the morning, church through lunch and then nothing until the wedding breakfast at 8pm