im just doing my invites, the ceremony starts at 1.30pm so is that what i put on the invitations or a little earlier? thank you

yes i was thinking the same thank you xx

We are going to put the ceremony time

I would say a tiny bit earlier say 10 mins, most people attending wedding knows to be prompt and if you put 30 mins before and they get there 30 mins before that they will have been sat around waiting for over a hour!

I put the actual time - I hope people will arrive before me. I hope they are sensible but my family are late to everything all the time, especially me so maybe that means we'll be on lol

Good idea

We put 'ceremony at 11am'...all guests had arrived by 10.30, some by 10. I did consider putting half an hour earlier, but this would have meant people having to wait for an hour plus, and as weddings are long days anyway, I didn't want that - plus the bar was open, and I knew some of our guests could do some serious damage given an hour and a half!

That said, all our guests are local to the venue, so there was less of a worry.

ive put the ceremony time, i reckon we might be running a tad late anyway as there is a wedding before me but its common sense to arrive early anyway and anyone who arrives late then tough poo poo lol x

shelleym16 that is a really good idea thank you x

Shelly thats a good idea!

Was going to say the same as Shelly, arrive at 1300 for 1330 start.

We went back and forth on this. We wanted to ensure everyone was seated in plenty of time, esp as I'll be walking, and need to be there 15 minutes before the ceremony myself to meet with the registrar (so, don't want to be bumping into guests as they arrive).

Our ceremony is at 1pm, and we were worried that if we put 1pm, some people might think that meant to be seated by 1pm, not that the ceremony was actually starting at 1pm, meaning that they would be late. So, we thought about putting 12.30pm; but then we were worried that other people might think that meant the ceremony was at 12.30pm, and so arrive at 12pm, meaning they would e sat waiting for an hour and possibly get annoyed.

So, in the end, while it probably isn't correct etiquette, we decided to spell it out to avoid confusion, and have put:

Mr and Mrs X
request the pleasure of the company of
.....
to celebrate the marriage of their daughter
x
to
y

At the Town Hall
On Saturday 2nd August 2014
at 12.30pm
for the ceremony at 1pm

That way, there is no confusion, everyone should be seated by 12.30pm, but people shouldn't be arriving mega-early.

Just put the ceremony time. People will know to arrive early x

I think i will put to arrive at 2.30 for ceremony at 3. We are having a violinist so hopefully people will be entertained xx