Photos before ceremony

kcole5244 · May 2011

hi everyone! I have read many posts on this board, and have gotten a lot of really great info from previous posts on doing pre-ceremony photos, and I think that FI and I have decided that we will most likely be taking some, if not all, pics before the ceremony.

My question is, for those of you who did this, can you give me some info o your timing? How many hours before the ceremony did you start pictures? What formals did that include (everything? First look? Just you and the ladies in the party? Etc.) And how much time did you spend on additional formals after the ceremony? Do you wish you had more time before?

Thanks so much for your help. I'm really stressing about this for some reason.

[Deleted User] · May 2011

We did not do a first look, but we did do pictures before the ceremony. Our ceremony was at 1pm and our photographer started the pics around 11:30am or so. Basically, he did pics of me with all of my BM's, FG's, Mom's and Grandma's. He did the same for my husband. I do wish we would have told him to start closer to 11am but we couldn't get into the church until 11am (2 hours before the start of the ceremony) and I didn't want to put my dress on and then drive to church. Thankfully I already had my hair and make-up done, so I just had to put my dress on and do a few touch-ups.

kara811 · May 2011

Ditto Missy. We didn't do a "first look" but we did other formals before the ceremony. Our ceremony was at 11am and we started doing pictures at 9am. It was me first, then with my girls, parents, grandparents. Then it was H, his guys, his parents and siblings.

We didn't want to see each other until I walked down the aisle, so we did it this way. Then after the ceremony, we took pictures together and formals and candids with the WP and our families, it didn't take very long.

Muffin'sMom · May 2011

My daughter did the first look and 90% of the photos beforehand. She hired a photographer with a lot of experience, told him what she wanted, and he told her when they needed to be camera ready. It went very smoothly!

bridetobemo · May 2011

We're not doing a first look but like everyone else said we are doing individual formal photos before hand, me with the moms and all the ladies, and FI with the dads and all the men!

bellebride116 · May 2011

We did everything before the ceremony. It was great, we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening and not have to worry about pictures!

gundy21 · May 2011

We did nearly everything before the ceremony - SO glad we did! Pics started at 2:30, ceremony at 4:30. First look pictures were some of my favorites. The only pictures we didn't do before hand were extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins) and groups of friends. Got all those done during the cocktail hour. BTW - we had the ceremony and reception at the same location.

Dayna3773 · May 2011

12:00 Relaxing, cocktails, girls get ready, photog taking "getting ready" shots
2:00 Guys getting ready, photog taking their "getting ready" shots
2:30 First look
3:00 Family photos
3:30 Bridal Party pics
5:30 Come back to church, time cushion built in, relax, eat
6:30 Ceremony starts

The guys grumbled they had to get ready early, and there was downtime for the parents and grandparents after the family pictures. But it really did work well for us and the photographer. And we loved that hour or so before the ceremony that we could just sit down and veg. It was a relief to do pictures before hand, and with such a late ceremony time, there really was no other option. I didn't want to keep people waiting that long. We did 100% of pictures before hand. As the photog thought of more, he just found a way to take them at the reception.

brianabrad · May 2011

We are planning to do a first look and some wedding party pics before the ceremony. Our ceremony begins at 2:00 and I believe we are planning to have our first look at noon, followed by bride and groom portraits and wedding party pics. We will do family pics and pics in the church following the ceremony.

doeie04 · May 2011

Thanks for reminding me we need to have key family memebers arrive early for the pictures! I don't want to have a gap between the ceremony and reception.

[Deleted User] · May 2011

I love the idea of a first look. I think it is more personal than waiting until the ceremony to see each other for the first time when you have the pressure of everyone watching you.

stitchingchica · May 2011

I felt the the first look really gave us time to not only get all the photos out of the way, but help ease the nerves too. Walking down the aisle having had your groom see you already is still great! We did:
1:30 getting ready/dressed
1:45 first look
2:00 go out in the community w/bridal party for photos
3:30 immediate family photos at the church
5:00 ceremony

we did extended family photos at the reception after dinner when the band was setting up/tables taken down transition. Worked best timeline-wise but even that was a lot to take us away from guests- glad all the other photos were over with! By the time the ceremony comes, it really is just so much easier to have photos over and just enjoy your guests.

michelle7102 · May 2011

Our ceremony was at 2:30 so I had our photographer meet us at the church at 12:30 to get pictures of us getting ready. I had the groomsmen arrive at 1:30pm (of course they complained like crazy!). I am so glad the photographer arrived early because my groomsmen tried to leave right after the ceremony to start drinking.... boys will be boys!!! By taking pictures before the wedding we got to the reception early and got to enjoy the food and cocktail hour with our guests.

Photos before ceremony

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