time between ceremony/reception

KellyS01

Our ceremony/receiving line should be done about 4:30 and we were thinking of having our cocktail hour start at 5:45-6:00ish and we will get there around 6:45 from pictures.  Our reception venue is about 25 minutes from the church.  Is this too long to ask people to wait between the two?  The reception venue is near the local mall and numerous coffee shops and most people are from the area so I don't really think it is a big deal, but I wanted to check others opinions.

TIA!

Muffin'sMom

I hate the big gaps.  I have dressed up and come to your event.  I do not want to go to the mall to kill time while you are driving around.  If I go home...there is the chance I will get comfortable and stay home.  If you want to spend that much time taking pictures, do it ahead of time.

3Design

I had a big gap in my wedding but I wanted people to go home becasue I wanted my reception to be small. So if you don't want to get ride of people think about pushing it back 30min. Ask your photographer if they can get your pictures done in that time. If the photographer can't think about taking some of the formal pictures before the wedding so you don't have to take as many in the gap.

fallbride1109

Take as many formals before the ceremony as you can.  If you want separate B&G photos, steal away during the reception to take some.  Don't make your guests try and find something to do for 45 minutes.

jemmini6

In Response to Re: time between ceremony/reception:
[QUOTE]I had a big gap in my wedding but I wanted people to go home becasue I wanted my reception to be small. So if you don't want to get ride of people think about pushing it back 30min. Ask your photographer if they can get your pictures done in that time. If the photographer can't think about taking some of the formal pictures before the wedding so you don't have to take as many in the gap.
Posted by 3Design[/QUOTE]


Really?  You invited people to your ceremony and reception, but you made a big gap in hopes that people would get bored and just go home?  That's incredibly rude and I can't believe people even think that thought process is okay.  I hope they all took their gifts with them too because I certainly wouldn't be giving you a gift if you did that to me.

OP- yes, it's rude to have that much of a gap.  You need to provide something for your guests the entire time between your ceremony and reception (less travel time obviously).  Anything less is really selfish.  It you want that many pictures, you need to do them before the ceremony.

yourweddingphotographer

The best advice I can give a potential Bride and Groom is to be ready early the day of your wedding in order to have time to get those very special pictures you are looking for. The earlier you are ready, the more time you have to get formals done before the ceremony as well as some individual pictures of the bride and groom, pictures of the bride and her party as well as the groom and his party before the wedding ceremony so that after the ceremony, all we need is the formal pictures with the bride and groom together

yourweddingphotographer

If you are worried about having guests wait too long to eat, break tradition and go ahead and have them start eating before you arrive (not just appetizers, everything)! Trust me, they will love you for it, you will not feel pressured, and the party will get started much earlier in the evening
If you have a large extended family that you would like photographed during formals make a short list so that no one is left out during the fast paced formals time. Keep in mind, the shorter the list the better because that will give your photographer more time to photograph the most important couple make sure you always schedule enough time in between the ceremony and reception to travel to a few amazing spots for intimate photos of just you and your new husband... That's the wonderful stuff you'll always remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rbabyrolle

I don't mind the gap/break.  I have been to a few church ceremonies where the times are not set by the bride but by the church but the couples still wanted a formal dinner.  I don't mind going out on the town and exploring for a little while.  Truthfully most people wear things to weddings that that is a little more dressed up then their normal.  Hanging out for a while is not going to kill them.  Maybe you can give your guest those suggestion such as the mall or the coffee places.  Some where for them that is comfy but still interesting.