Amount of time for a wedding/reception

I would ask the officiant how long it will be. if its only like 30 minutes. i would do the hour before cocktail hour (ex if cocktail is at 5 pm i would do the ceremony at 4 pm). that way you can go do photos after and people arent bored with no place to hang out before cocktail hour. they can eat and mingle while you do pictures

The timing for a wedding is short depending on the Officiant chosen given the options of readings, poems or songs added to the ceremony. Also allocate enough timing for pictures planned after the ceremony with guests in groups to be prepared. This way you can opt to start as early as 5pm with cocktail hour followed by reception to start.

Feel comfortable with the choice of Officiant and how you want have your ceremony done.

You can really just ask you officiant for whatever time amount you are looking for! Me and my DH told our officiant we wanted just a quick exchange of vows, 15 mintues or less - and I have a feeling he just had different options he normally performs based on what the couple is looking for. Like a quick ceremony, 30 min, 45 min, etc.

The time it took to walk down the aisle was about the same amount of time it took for us to exchange the whole "for rich or for poor" and ring exchange.

P.S. congrats on the engagement and welcome to the wedding wire community

Our ceremony is going to be nonreligious as well and we're trying for 45 mins (including processional and recessional). Then about 1.5 hr for cocktail reception and about 6 hrs for the reception (dinner, dancing, games, dances etc)

Your day sounds a bit like ours!
We're having the photos around 630, guests arriving around 730 with the ceremony at 8 (or 830, not set in stone yet!). Our ceremony will be quick and legal followed by the reception. We have the space until 1 am and I figure we will leave around 12/1230 either for home or to continue at a spot nearby. If we have apps we're thinking of having them in the time before the ceremony while we mingle with guests. I don't have a timeline for hair and makeup and all the before stuff yet. We have access to the building at 1 p.m. and I'd like to get everything as set up and ready as I can as early as I can.

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Currently we have the venue booked from 12pm to 10pm( I have kids and it's just a small amount of people), but we'll also have to find time during the day to do some decorating. I also am not doing a formal dinner, more of an Hors d'oeuvre style so that everyone can at least have some food and refreshments. I wanted a more casual/ relaxed atmosphere so it sounds like that should be enough time.

Sounds like yours will be similar to mine. Ours has both ceremony and reception and we have our timeline of ceremony start at 6 and it’ll all be done by 1. That includes ceremony, cocktail reception and dinner.

It really depends on what you’re looking for. A non religious ceremony can be anywhere from 15-20 minutes to longer, it all depends on what you want. You should discuss this with the officiant to get more clarity.


A reception is the same. Some couples want a short reception and do a “tea style” where there are light refreshments and snacks served after and that’s it.
More “traditional” receptions include dinner and dancing. Most wedding receptions I’ve been to like this go from 5/5:30 til 1am (and guests can leave anytime in between.
It all depends on what you want for your day.