What time to list on invitation?

You put 12pm... Adults know how to properly arrive on time.

Our venue offers refreshments upon arrival, our ceremony is at 4:30, thus I put 4:30 on our invitations. I trust my guests to know when to arrive.

Why do people need to arrive 30 minutes early? Tell them the time it actually starts and be prepared to be a little flexible on the actual start time. Perhaps it starts 12:15 if you're waiting for some people who are critical. If you tell people 11:30, you might get people arriving at 11/11:15 if they are afraid of being late. If that happens , you have people arriving 45 minutes to an hour before the actual start time, which would be quite rude to your guests.

Adults know how to get places on time. If they choose to be late or something happens that makes them late, oh well. Don't penalize those who show up early or on time.

Put the time your ceremony will start. I'd hate to be a guest who arrives at 1:30pm for what I thought was a 2pm ceremony when it doesn't "actually" start until 2:30pm. Like others have mentioned, they should know to arrive before the ceremony time and if they don't, they'll have to wait until the procession is completed before they can take a seat.

I agree that the OP should put 12 pm, but to say that adults know how to properly arrive on time is quite the comedic statement. Most actually don't lol unfortunately...

But yes, 12 pm is what I'd advise as well. You can't "punish" the early birds for coming at the requested time or the earlier-than-stated time. You pretty much have to bite the bullet, in your case, and state 12 pm.

I'm habitually late. It's just in my nature. However, I've been early to every wedding I've ever attended. We listed the actual start time for ours in the hope that people would keep in mind that we actually plan on starting at that time.

Asians/aka my family are notoriously late, plus our wedding is on a Navy base and security might delay guests arriving to the venue on time...so we put 5pm on the actual invitation but clarified the ceremony will begin promptly at 5:30pm on our website.

Adults know when to arrive. Our invites say 4:30, because our ceremony starts at 4:30. If anyone is late, our DOC will keep them back in the waiting area so they do not disrupt the wedding by walking into the church late while we are exchanging vows.

If we constantly delay or wait for people to show up we are rewarding bad behavior. If the invitation says 12 pm, start at 12 pm. It is very rare that there is a legitimate emergency involving VIP's. In that case your other guests will be understanding if you have to make an announcement that there will be a short delay. There is no need to delay the start for anyone other than the VIP's. They can slip in quietly and take a seat in the back.

I've been wondering about this too. Our venue actually said "Generally, the ceremony begins about 1/2 hour after the invitation time which allows time for your guests to get comfortably seated"

They do provide a welcome drink, which I hope people will get to enjoy, and since its March, people will need time for the coat check, etc.

We're running a shuttle from the hotel block, and since 50 people showing up at once on the bus could be a little chaotic for drinks and coats, I think having it arrive with some cushion time is almost necessary.

Put the actual start time and start on time. Biggest pet peeve I see on so many BAM's is the comment that they started late, usually because the bride wasn't ready. Unless there are extenuating circumstances the ceremony should always start on time.

How is it comedic?? Obviously many others feel the same way. I'm an adult, as are all my guests. We know how to tell and properly manage our time.