I am having my wedding on a friday evening. The church is at 5PM (ceremony only); we'll probably get out of there around 6PM. My cocktail hour starts at 7:30PM and the reception hall is about 45 minutes away from the church. This has been bothering me...honestly, is this too far a drive?? Most of my guests will be coming from NYC/Nassau County and Conneticut and my reception is off of exit 68 on the LIE.
Where is the church?? On Long Island or in NYC? If its in NYC than I dont think 1 1/2 hours is enough time on a FRiday night to get out to exit 68.
Lisa
Being that it`s on a Friday night might make traveling slightly difficult, but I don`t think the actual distance is too far. My friend got married on a Friday night at 5PM, and for those that really wanted to attend the ceremony, they left work early.
My reception will be 1 hr away from my church (on a Sat night) At first I thought it was too far of a drive, but I just thought about all the other weddings that I attended with the same distance! I think everyone is usually understanding with these types of things.
No, actually the church is in Deer Park and it's about 45 minutes away from the reception Hall.
Thanks for your response, you made me feel better!
To assure you have time, skip the receiving line at the church. Do something nice at the cocktail hour instead.
You would have more fun at the cocktail hour instead of standing in front of the church!
Your guests have to go only from exit 51 on the LIE to 68? That is not too bad. There should be more than enough time for them to make it comfortably. I have driven the LIE for years and even on a Friday evening you can make that distance in under an hour.
Our church and reception were about 40 minutes away. The wedding started at 4 and the reception was at 7. We had a full mass and a receiving line. There was plenty of time for people to get from one to the other. As a courtesy to our out of town guests (we had about 50), we booked a hotel close to the church and then had a shuttle run from the hotel to church.
We did miss part of our cocktail hour though. Because of the travel time, picture ran into the cocktail hour. That's one thing to keep in mind.
It is your wedding day, so don`t worry yourself with timing problems. Do whatever will make you happy and make your day memorable. I have a similar situation and I am not worried about it (drive between is about an hour drive, maybe more, and there is only 2 hours between end of ceremony and wedding). Even with time contrainsts, I am having a receiving line because I feel my wedding day would be incomplete without it. It will probably force me to miss some of the cocktail hour in order to have it, but I really don`t care because it is my wedding day!!!!!
