I know I may be in the minority here, but I was hoping there might be someone doing something similar or someone who has any input.
We're getting married at 11:30 and having a lunch reception. I'm trying to get a timeline together for our photographer and I'm having some issues deciding when to do photos.
Here are my options:
1) Take a few photos before ceremony of bride, bridesmaids, flower girl, MOB, SFOB. Take a few more photos in between ceremony/reception (mostly those that require the kids to stand still) in the 30 minute transition. Take remainder of photos (group shots, groomsmen, B/G alone, any family shots) after eating and visiting with our guests at the reception.
2) The same as above, except do the remainder of photos while guests eat their meals.
I prefer option 1 so that we can spend time with the guests, but my photographer raised some legit concerns about people not being "fresh" or looking their best 3 hours after the ceremony.
A few notes: We aren't really having a cocktail hour. The ceremony will end, and there will be veggies/fruit trays set up until the meal is served. We're planning on only about 30 minutes, just enough time for the guests to move from the ceremony building to the reception building (same property), assuming that they'll meet others along their way that they want to catch up with. The meal should be served by 12:30 (30 minutes post ceremony).
We aren't having the traditional reception. There is no grand entrance, no garter toss, no bouquet toss, no first dance (or any dancing for that matter).
The biggest question is: Is anyone else foregoing a gap between ceremony/reception, a cocktail hour, and is having an earlier wedding? If so, when are you doing your photos? If the wedding was later, I would suck it up and do all photos beforehand, but there just won't be enough time that morning unless I'm up (and everyone else is too!) at 4 AM.
