Wedding Day Timeline

gloucesterbride2010

I am totally struggling with the timeline of the wedding.  I am getting married in October, with the sun setting at 5:40p.  My sister in law is a photographer (but is not photographing the wedding), said that the earlier the better as far as getting pictures taken.  So if we had the wedding at 1p and then took pictures after, what time would the reception start?  Any help with day of timelines would be awesome!!

MeaghanandMichael

The reception starts right after the ceremony. Allow time for the receiving line and for travel. You may have to miss a little bit of cocktail hour while you take pictures, but it is much better than forcing your guests into an awkward gap in which they wait around for you.

Take as many family/bridesmaid/self pictures before the ceremony to allow more time to get the pictures you like between the ceremony and reception.

tidetravel

Generally, people use the cocktail hour to take pictures.  Guests go for the food/drinks and the wedding party and couple do their formals. 

A lot of people also do pictures before the wedding ceremony.

squirrly

Do your photos before the ceremony.  Your photographer can help you plan that out, if you have one booked yet.

iamjoesgurl

We got married in Lake George, NY in October.  Our ceremony was at 3:30 and the cocktail hour was right after so probably about 4:30.  That was when we had all of our outdoor pictures done and they turned out great.  (We had taken a lot of pictures before the ceremony, but none of DH and I together.)

Our ceremony and reception were together (different buildings, same grounds) so there was no travel time.  I think if you planned to finish pictures by 5:15, you can probably back into a time.  You just need to factor in the time you think it will take for everything from the start of your ceremony to the end of pictures.  For example:

Ceremony - 3:00 - 3:30
Receiving Line - 3:30 - 4:00
Travel time to picture location - 4:00 - 4:30
Pictures 4:30 - 5:15 

brimcleod

My photographer actually told me that the time right at sunrise and the time right before sunset are the best for pictures...

vgmartinez

Our ceremony is at 1 p.m. and is a full mass so it'll go until about 2:30 including receiving line. Reception will start at 4:30. There is a 20 minute drive between the two locations. We are having a GASP...gap. We will do pictures before and after the ceremony.