Daytime wedding ceremony; night reception

[DancingPete]

I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on what to wear to an afternoon wedding ceremony with a night reception. If the dress code only calls for a suit then it's not a problem but if it's black tie then it seems silly to wear a tuxedo at 3:30 in the afternoon to church. Also, what about for those actually in the wedding party? Assuming morning wear is out of the question, is a dinner jacket appropriate for the ceremony? I'm not asking for advice for a specific event but I've been to a few weddings in the past month and it seems the trend in the wedding party these days is just a regular suit or maybe a non distinct tuxedo (notch lapels, etc) with a white vest and white necktie. I personally don't like it but wonder what I would do differently. A tuxedo doesn't seem right for such an early start, changing is impractical, and I don't like an ambiguous look like I just described. I'm just interested in some thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bigbjorn]

Unless attire was specified as semi-formal, I'd wear a lounge suit. If the attire was specified as semi-formal, I think I'd opt for a morning coat with a change of clothes for a dinner suit (impractical, I agree, especially if you have to sneak away to change during the cocktail hour). My wedding started at 6:00pm, so we were absolved of these types of sartorial challenges.

 

[DancingPete]

Your ceremony itself started at 6:00? That seems to present its own logistical challenges as far as pushing the reception later and needing it to be closer to the place of the ceremony. I think a late ceremony is a fine idea that does take care of the clothing issue but only if you can make it work.