What to do between ceremony and reception?

comexwhatxmay

Hello! I'm relatively new to the discussion boards, so I wasn't really sure where to put this...

Anyway, my ceremony venue and reception venue are about a half hour away from each other. The reception venue won't let guests in the door until about 15 minutes before cocktail hour starts. My photographer's told me that if I want to get a lot of fun bridal party pictures (which I want), I need to budget at least an hour between the ceremony and reception (and then we need to drive that half hour to the reception)! What do I do with my guests during that photo taking time? Where do I store them?

Any ideas would be appreciated. (:

Maggie0829

comexwhatxmay said:

Hello! I'm relatively new to the discussion boards, so I wasn't really sure where to put this...

Anyway, my ceremony venue and reception venue are about a half hour away from each other. The reception venue won't let guests in the door until about 15 minutes before cocktail hour starts. My photographer's told me that if I want to get a lot of fun bridal party pictures (which I want), I need to budget at least an hour between the ceremony and reception (and then we need to drive that half hour to the reception)! What do I do with my guests during that photo taking time? Where do I store them?

Any ideas would be appreciated. (:

Your cocktail hour should start the moment your first guest gets to your reception venue.  So if your ceremony ends at 4 and it takes 30 minutes to get to your reception venue then your cocktail hour should start at 4:30 and last no more then 90 minutes.  The cocktail hour is meant to allow you and your wedding party time to take pictures and give the guests some time to eat, drink and mingle. Your pictures should not take precedence over your guests so you need to make sure that you are done and at your reception location ready to be announced no later then 90 minutes after your cocktail hour begins, so that would mean 6pm if we continue with the time frame I started.  But just know that 90 minutes for cocktail hour is pushing it so I would urge you to not make your guests wait longer then 60 minutes before getting your reception really started.

KatWAG

This is what your cocktail hour is for. And I would suggest getting as many pictures out of the way before the cermeony so you dont keep your guests waiting so long.

singinchick13

Guests are not props or pieces of furniture, you do not 'store' them anywhere. You need to make sure that cocktail hour starts as soon as your guests arrive so that they are HOSTED (not stored) during your photos. Listen to PP's about the timeline, and please don't leave anybody stranded trying to kill time. 

STARMOON44

You miss the cocktail hour if you want an hour of picture taking. This is normal.

MyNameIsNot

Your guests will be enjoying cocktail hour while you have an hour of photos.

If you want to attend your cocktail hour, you'll have to do pictures before the ceremony.  

RebeccaB88

You do what the other ladies have suggested.

And if this is really what your photographer thinks, then you need a new photographer. Any experienced one worth his/her fee can get all the pictures you need done in 30, 45 minutes tops. Especially if you take a lot of pictures before the wedding.  If you don't want to see each other before the ceremony, then you take everything you can take that does not have you both in it before. Then after you have 30 minutes of couple and group pictures and then you go to your reception.  Piece of cake.

Jen4948

KatWAG said:

This is what your cocktail hour is for. And I would suggest getting as many pictures out of the way before the cermeony so you dont keep your guests waiting so long.

This exactly.  If you want to use this venue as your reception venue, I think you need to minimize the time between your ceremony and reception even if that's not what you want. 

Making your guests wait somewhere else for a long period of time with nowhere to go and no hospitality because you want to spend that time taking photos and the venue won't let them in is inconsiderate of their needs.  Your guests' needs have to take priority over your desire for a lot of photos during that time.  I'd work with your photographer to schedule as many photos as possible before the ceremony and only take those that are absolutely necessary between the ceremony and reception.