Question about picture taking

tnsa11

I have a question about taking pictures before the ceremony.  We are having the ceremony and reception in the same venue which is beautiful on the inside, but less fantastic on the outside.  We have decided to do the majority of our pictures before the ceremony at a nearby arboretum and the hotel shuttle will take everyone there and back.  This brought up two questions:

1) 3 members of our bridal party (all from OOT) will have their SOs with them.  The SOs do not really know anyone else at the wedding.  We are leaving for pictures around 2 and getting back around 4.  Should I invite the SOs to come to the arboretum with us so they aren't hanging around the hotel with nothing to do?  It will be a tight fit in the shuttle but I think we can manage.

2) I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one but I wanted to double-check.  Do we include the ushers in the pre-ceremony bridal party pictures at the arboretum?  What about grandparents?  We will have time during the cocktail hour to take more pictures but I was hoping to be able to keep it short so we could enjoy the yummy appetizers we picked out!

Thanks in advance, I know you all will give me great and honest advice!

karmellah

wouldnt it be a nice gesture to have each one of them take a photo with their SO's? Maybe frame it with a thank you card for standing up fo ryou. i dunno.

EllenG27

I would say yes to inviting the significant others of bridal party members. However, they may just want to stay in the hotel room. A wedding I was in, my fiance (boyfriend at the time) just stayed in the hotel room and did stuff on his own and met up with me at the wedding. Do any of these SOs have children? If so, they will probably want to just stay in the hotel (or home) until wedding time.
Yes to ushers in the group pictures. Yes to grandparents too, however, depending on their mobility (hope that doesn't sound too mean or anything), they may not want to get going too much earlier than the wedding time. Grandparents may want to do pictures in between the two events and that shouldn't take too much time.
HTH!

vicki0508

I would go ahead and invite the SO.  But, speaking from experience, it's way more boring to hang around while everyone takes pictures than to entertain myself at the hotel (Unless the SO's know each other or several members of the WP).

I think it's up to you if you want the ushers to come out to the separate location.  Personally, I'd just take pictures with them at the ceremony location during the cocktail hour. 

As for grandparents, I think it depends on if any of them are in poor health.  Will two hours outside, standing around be difficult for anyone?  Will they be able to easily board the shuttle?  Will you be taking lots of pictures with them, or only a few?

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

1) None of the SOs came with us for pictures, BUT all of the SOs except one were local. I would see what they prefer to do.

2) Sorry, we did not have ushers or grandparents, so I can't help with that.

elizabethjane25

it's a nice gesture to invite the SOs. there's a good chance that they will decline because it probably won't be fun for them to stand around watching pictures get taken. at least this way, it will be their choice. 

i do like the idea to take a picture of the two of them and include it in their thank you!