The Time Of The Christening Is very Important
With all of the different areas and considerations needed such as the choosing of godparents, the church you would like the christening to take place in, the christening clothes and who to invite, the time of the christening service may not seem that important. Well carry on reading .
Before we go too far on this subject, you may not have any choice in what time the christening service takes place. In alot of churches christenings are part of the traditional Sunday service and this will obviously be at the time of this normal church service . This can be between 9.30am and 11.15am depending on the church and could even be a late afternoon service. Even if you are able to arrange a christening service as a private service for friends and family, the vicar may have set times that he or she performs these services to fit around other duties.
So why is the time of the christening important? First let us consider the guests coming to the service . Depending on how near your family live to you a 9.30am service on a Sunday morning may mean some rather early starts. If the christening starts at 9.30 then truly everybody should be gathered at the church by around 9.10 and this means a 7.00am start for people living around two hours away , or an overnight stay at a motel . When still considering travelling times a late afternoon christening may also not be that great If the service takes place within a 5.00pm service you will not be over to after 6.00pm. If guests are travelling back to your house for a christening party it will either be a short drink or a late night on a Sunday which is not ideal if guests have young children of school age. Or if they have a job that requires an early start the next morning!
Another consideration should be you and your own child. Again, an early service of 10.00am or before will give you and friends that are helping to get food ready for a celebration only a short time to get ready. It may also impact on your family if you have a baby that takes time to get ready in the mornings and could end up being quite a rush on what is meant to be a special day for all the family.
The ideal time would seem to be a christening that commences around 11.30am. This will allow passable time for the family and friends to travel to the church and you enough time to prepare your house or venue for any celebration that is to follow. This will also mean that the service will end at 12.30-1.00pm which is the ideal time for some food and a drink giving everybody the chance to catch up, you time to open those christening gifts and people living a distance away the opportunity to leave at a sensible time without feeling they have missed out on pictures with the little one or any other part of the day’s festivities.
So a suggestion when looking for a church to have the christening in would be to find a morning service that starts between 11-11.30am, or a church that will offer a private christening at this time. This will hopefully make for the perfect day.
