What Ceremony Time Should I…?

Posted by Zuriana on June 30, 2009

Often couples who order personalized wedding invitations from us, or hire Zuriana’s Elegant Occasions to plan and coordinate their wedding ask ”should we list our ceremony time 30 minutes earlier than the actual ceremony time?”  Our guests usually run late, we don’t want them to miss the ceremony…

The answer is ‘no’ you should not indicate that your ceremony is earlier than your actual ceremony start time.  This is not fair to guests that do show up on time.  This can ultimately cost you more money in the long run because you have to hire your vendors for longer periods of time.  Sometimes vendors extend their time by the hour, not the half hour.  Would you want to pay extra for your photographer, ceremony venue, reception venue, videographer, DJ, band, transportation, etc. because you indicated your ceremony was actually 1/2 an hour earlier?

I was recently asked this question and here’s what I said:  “let your guests know that we start on time, if they’re late they’ll miss the ceremony, and I won’t allow them to cut through the processional…it will ruin your pictures”.