Is a 3 hour gap between ceremony and reception too long with skipping cocktail hour?

We also have a 3 hour gap and we are inviting our guests to come to the park where we are getting pictures done

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Even if you had a cocktail hour at 5pm, dinner service would last until 10pm max. Still an early enough exit even if you choose not to have an after party.

One good thing about a cocktail hour is that it'll give everyone a chance to mingle before they're stuck at their tables eating for the rest of the night. If you start dinner right at 5pm, a lot of people will miss out on the chance to hang out. And while they could do it during that 3 hour gap, I somehow doubt all 60ish people will gather at the same place during that time.

Is there any reason you can't just push the ceremony back a bit? Ours is set for 3:30, with cocktail hour starting right after and dinner at 6. People will find things to do if given no other choice, but no wedding guest enjoys having to wait around for that long to move on to the next event.

IMO it's too long, an hour I can see but 3 no...

Personally, I think the gap is too long. If your ceremony started later and the transition time was shorter and there was no cocktail hour, I wouldn't mind. But 3 hours to wait with no food or drinks is a bit much. Mine is an hour and a half and I still feel like that is too long for our guests.

Hi Birgit,

So I have to be honest, this is personally one of my "pet peeves" with some weddings, the gap in between (unless getting in your car and having to travel a good distance). For me, 3 hrs would be too long, granted I would find something to do and just make it back for 5pm but...sometimes it can kill the momentum of the wedding, for me. I personally love a cocktail hour as well, I think it's a nice transition into dinner. Since you probably don't want to push dinner any earlier than 5pm... I'd probably be inclined to push back ceremony so there is less waiting in between until dinner but that is just my opinion and at the end of the day, you do what you feel best about

The gap between doesn’t seem too long, but believe without a cocktail hour most guests would be inclined to leave (to freshen up/ grab a bite from anywhere they want) after greeting you, leaving the reunion and mingling for the wedding itself.
If the venue can’t agree to an earlier cocktail hour, I think you can just leave the guests to do as they wish for the 3 hours before dinner.

View quoted message We’d rather just have an earlier dinner & end the wedding a bit earlier honestly. Neither my fiancé nor I are big into parties & most of the guests are older & probably wouldn’t stay too long after dinner either. if we did a cocktail hour it would start at 5 anyway, unless I try to negotiate an earlier start with the venue for that.

Any particular reason why you're choosing to forego the cocktail hour when your reception venue is already giving you one?

It can get pretty cool in October and if it's somewhat chilly, three hours is a long time to roam around the gardens. The cafe in the gardens is fine if you wanna grab a cookie while walking through the park but certain nothing impressive enough to direct your guests to as a selling point. They can always hit up a bar or check out the stores at Shops at Don Mills if they need to find something to do in the meantime.