We are trying to figure out whether to do a first look or not... We had originally hoped to Not do a first look, however, there are a lot of problems time-wise that we are running into. Personally, I wouldn't mind doing the first look as time-wise it seems to make the most sense and I would probably feel much more relaxed being able to see him before the ceremony. FI on the otherhand seems completely against the idea still. Our photographer (who is Amazing!) has said if we are not wanting to do a first look we should plan on 1.5-2 hours after the ceremony for family photos, bridal party photos and our private photos. The problem is we don't really feel that a two hour cocktail hour is nice for our guests! (Are we wrong here??) We were hoping to only have a 1 (1.5hr max) hour cocktail hour, as this is what is included in our package.
Both my FI and myself have parents who are split and both sets are remarried and our wedding party is siblings only (my two sisters and brother and his brother and sister), so this also does not allow us to do the majority of family photos before the ceremony. The ceremony and reception are all at the same venue so there isn't any travel time for guests (or us) inbetween the two. We will have a lot of food and drinks during cocktail hour and there will be plenty of indoor and outdoor seating for guests, but I do still feel that 2hours is too long for people to wait.
Thoughts or suggestions?? Has anyone else been in this situation and what did you do? If we somehow manage to fit everything in 1.5 hours is that still too long of a cocktail hour?