Ceremony Timing and Pictures - Advice

cbeiner

I am planning a small, immediate family only (30-40 people) ceremony for early next year, January or February. The ceremony will take place at a B&B and then we will have a cocktail hour, sit down dinner, and cake afterward. (We are going to have a large party for other family and friends on a different day).This is my second marriage and his first. For some reason I think I am being more traditional this time and do not want him to see me before the ceremony. I would love to start the ceremony around 5 or 6 or so, but obvioulsy in the winter that is right at or after sunset. Basically, I am worried about pictures. With it being winter though not sure really how many we would get to do outside anyway. The inside of the B&B is beautiful so inside pictures would not be a problem.I guess my question is: Is there anyone out there that had their ceremony at that time so all of the pictures were taken after dark? Was it a problem? How did the pictures turn out? Etc?

KappaUCF20

This is really something you should discuss with your photographer.  If you're going to be taking pictures outside with little or no light, then you have to look at your photog's portfolio and make sure they have experience taking pics in low-light situations (some photographers totally suck at that... lol.  It can be really tricky).    We got married in January at 5:30, and our photographer highly recommended that we take most of our pictures beforehand.  Fortunately we planned to do that anyway because we didn't care about breaking tradition.  But by 6:00, there was barely any light left and that was in Florida (usually the farther north you are, the earlier it gets dark).  You can use this website to figure out when the sun sets, when civil twilight ends, etc.: [url]http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php[/url]Honestly, seeing each other before the ceremony is not that big of a deal.  My DH and I agreed that it was the best thing we could have done!  I guess if you don't mind taking all of your pictures indoors, then it wouldn't really be an issue but, personally, I think outdoor pictures are beautiful.  If you go to the winter weddings board, you'll find many pictures of brides who did photos in the snow, etc.

KappaUCF20

Honestly, seeing each other before the ceremony is not that big of a deal.I feel the need to clarify this, sorry lol.  By not being a big deal, I meant that doing our pictures before didn't take away any of the excitement or anticipation we felt when I walked down the aisle. 

emsrdh03

We got married in December and all out outdoor pics together were after dark. They all turned out great! See married bio if you want to see them. My DH got some daylight shots with his GM and I had a few bridals before the ceremony. We did not want to see each other before....that was super important to us. One of the best moments all day was walking down the aisle and seeing each other the first time. I wouldn't have done it any other way. That moment was way more important to us than having a few pictures outside in the daylight.

KappaUCF20

Yeah, I guess everyone has different priorities.  By taking our pics before, we got some amazingly beautiful shots that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise.  We're absolutely thrilled with how our photos turned out, and we were happy to break tradition to get them... lol.  I guess it depends on what's more important to you.  My DH still got jitters as I was coming down the aisle though .