#3 When your ceremony is in a different location then your reception

For instance:  Your ceremony will be held at the Yosemite Chapel and then your reception will be at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Timing in Yosemite is very important for your wedding day. The schedules are strictly kept not only by the Hotels but also the Chapel. This means that you will not only need to schedule enough time for set up but also travel time, to and from each location.

Example 1: Ceremony at the Yosemite Chapel & Reception at the Ahwahnee.
If you are staying at the Ahwahnee Hotel or any of the other location in Yosemite Valley it will take you anywhere from 20-30+ minutes to get to the Chapel (We touched on this last post).
The Chapel has a very strict time schedule:  you have 30min before ceremony for set up. (Yep that’s all 30min to get everything set) You have 1hr & 30min from the start time of your ceremony to the time you need to be out and all items cleaned up.  The travel from the Chapel to the Ahwahnee isn’t too bad on average about 5-10min but again it all depends on traffic.

Example 2: Ceremony at the Chapel & Reception at the Wawona
The same rules apply to the Chapel however the travel time for this example is extremely different. The Wawona Hotel is just inside the south gate entrance not in the Yosemite Valley, like the other locations. From the Wawona to the Chapel it can take 1hr 20min- 2hrs depending on traffic and weather.  It will take a similar amount of time to get back to the Wawona from the Chapel.

You can see from the above examples having a well thought out wedding day schedule is key to having a stress free day!

Photography by Patrick Pike Studios