It has come that time when you are sitting down making invitations to send out to your guest but you’re just not sure what time to tell your guests the ceremony starts at. Here are some things to consider when setting the time:
Venue
All venues have rules to how long you are able to be on premise. If by chance you only have 6 hours available and partying with your love ones till 10 is a must, than you will likely look at starting your ceremony between 4 and 5 o’clock.
Sunset
When asked for help selecting a ceremony time, typically we start out by googling what time the sun will set on a couples wedding day. Seasonality will affect what time the sun will set. If it is important to have your ceremony outside when it is light outside in January then you probably you might be looking at a 3 or 4 o’clock ceremony time, whereas if it was the middle of summer 6 or 7 o’clock ceremony time.
First Look
The second thing that we consider when helping to set a ceremony time would be to ask if you are planning on having a first look. If you do not plan to have a first look we recommend that you set your ceremony time 2 hours before sunset. In the event that you choose to have a first look then you could do as late as 1 hour prior to sunset.
Other Considerations
There are many couples that choose to go with alternative times to accommodate personal preferences. One might like the idea of a romantic sunrise or having a bunch wedding with their guests. Another example would be saying your I Do’s as the ball drops.
Logistics are always another consideration…things that you might also want into account would be is your ceremony at a different location than you reception? Do you have to flip your space between the ceremony and reception? Lighting of your ceremony location.
