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Receiving Line - will it take too long?

coco0019coco0019 member
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in Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions
Hello all!  I need some advice!

Our ceremony and reception is at the same place.  Our ceremony will end around 5:30 and reception will start at 7:00 so we get an hour and a half for cocktails. We will probably have around 185-200 guests.

We don't want to see each other before the ceremony so we will have to take some pictures between 5:30 and 7:00.  However I really want to do a receiving line.  People are telling me that it will eat up too much time to do one, and it would encroach on our picture-taking time before the reception at 7 pm.  How long do you all think it will take to do a receiving line for about 200 guests?  I was thinking about 30 mins total hopefully! :-/ Is that unrealistic?  Should I have our coordinator move people along?

Thanks!!
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Re: Receiving Line - will it take too long?

  • Bay21Bay21
    100 Comments
    I agree with RetreatedBride; if you feel that it will take up too much time go around during the reception :)
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  • fpaemp2011fpaemp2011 member
    1000 Comments Fourth Anniversary 25 Love Its First Answer
    edited March 2012
    We had 260 guests and did a receiving line out of the church.  It was us and our parents in the line, and took a little under 30 minutes for everyone to go through.  We did visit tables at the reception, but about 25 of our guests had said they would not be able to attend the reception.  Since I was moving halfway across the country and DH had been out there for several months before the wedding, we really wanted to see everyone. 
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  • Bett2012Bett2012 member
    100 Comments Second Anniversary
    We're doing table visits and a receiving line.

    Talk to your photographer. I was somewhat concerned about sucking up too much time with a receiving line and not having time for pictures too, but he was glad that we were doing a receiving line.  His philosophy is to capture our day in pictures, not AS much emphasis on staged pictures, but more on us interacting with guests and that kind of thing, so he said he loves when people have receiving lines because he can capture alot of the day's emotion in that 30 minutes when you are able to see everyone.

    I was so relieved!
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  • whitney37354whitney37354 member
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Comments 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited March 2012
    Do the receiving line with just the two of you before you have your pictures.  Guests can then go to cocktail hour while you finish up the pictures.  We don't do cocktail hours around here, so I don't know about an hour & a half wait for dinner after the ceremony.  If that happened here, there would probably be no one left to eat dinner.  Weddings are not all night affairs around here, I guess.
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  • LaMaFaLaMaFa member
    100 Comments
    If you want to be more sure of getting to all your pictures and doing the recieving line in the hour and a half, you could do the photos with your respective attendants prior to the ceremony (that's what my FI and I are doing, but we'll only have a bit over an hour for cocktails). You could also try to some individual shots with your parents beforehand as well- just your set, so to speak- and that could also help leave enough time for the pictures and recieving line (and give you more time to do make-up touch-ups/fixes).
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