Photos

Pologirl903

Is anyone doing photos after the wedding? We are getting married in a catholic church and our wedding is at 1:00 on sat afternoon.  We have to be out of there by 3:30.  So after our wedding I wanted to do our church wedding photos, family pics.  Then I wanted to do our wedding party pics after that at a couple of spots, the beach, the golf course (our reception site).  So we have from say prob 2-5 to take pics including family church ones and wedding party ones and just of us.  Is that to much time to take photos?  I was going to get a limo so that the wedding party could all ride together wherever we stop for photos.  We are not doing any photos before the wedding except the typical getting ready photos. 

QueerFemme

? I'm a little confused.  Are you not having a reception after the ceremony?  

kellycatalo

yes, this is what i am doing. we are doing getting ready pics from 12-1 (just the girls). our ceremony is at 2, and we can stay in the church until 330 for formal/family pictures. then we will be taking the limo (bridal party only) to a forest preserve to take pictures til 530. then we will be at the reception hall for cocktail hour at 6.

bridalmomma

Where/what are your guests going to be doing during the 3 hours you will be taking pictures?

BMcLeodTeam

We are doing photos after the wedding. Our ceremony and reception are both on site at the resort, so there is little travel between locations.

Our timeline
3:30-4 - Ceremony
4-5:30 - Cocktail hour
5:30 doors open for Reception location
6 - Wedding party/Bride & Groom make their entrance at the reception and dinner starts.

This means we have from 4-6 to take photos and then get to the reception

mamameech

I would think that doing photos after the ceremony is the norm... I know a lot of couples don't want to see each other before the ceremony so it would be hard to do photos beforehand (unless you have mad photoshop skills lol).

Our photographer is with us all day so there will be photos of the getting ready process and all that jazz. Our ceremony is at 4pm, and we arrive at the reception at 7pm so we'll have a couple hours which is plenty. Our guests will be able to go for a short tour of the city (we are providing a bus/tour) and then have cocktails from 6-7 to avoid any wait times.

QueerFemme

I think more than an hour, or 90 minutes tops, between the end of the ceremony and the beginning of the reception is too long.  Except maybe in Mamameech's situation, where you are providing some sort of entertainment (bus tour).  

OP - if your wedding is at 1, and the reception doesn't begin until 5, you are asking your guests to wait 3+ hours between ceremony & reception, and that is a really long time.  I would think most guests are ready to wrap it up and go home within 3 hours after the ceremony. I would try to shorten your photos to an hour or 90 minutes.  If your bridal party is up for it, maybe they could get dressed again on Sunday morning after the wedding and go out to the other locations to take photos?

Trins

We are doing our pictures from 3:30-5:30. During that time, bar will be open and we will have snacks, guests can walk along the paths of the lake beside our venue, they can go check in if they didn't have time to before, lots of stuff to keep them busy.

Pologirl903

We are having a reception.  Our cocktail hour starts at 5 and our dinner starts at 6.  Our wedding is at 1 the only time the church had since its a catholic church so there is going to be some downtime for our guests.  Not much I can do about that. 

apahl01

We're doing most of our pictures before the ceremony and then getting last minute ones with other family members afterward. We want that first glance picture before we see each other in the church. We didn't want too much time in between the ceremony and dinner. Our ceremony is at 3 with social hour at 4 and dinner at 530.

jacquiroxx

bridalmomma.... IDK about the OP, but in my area it's extremely common- especially for Catholic ceremonies- for there to be a very long gap between the ceremony and cocktail hours.  We are all just used to going back home/to hotel rooms and freshening up before the cocktail hour.