Taking Pictures before Ceremony?

I am about to book my hall, and the banquet manager there suggested that we take pictures BEFORE the ceremony (9:30 AM for an 11AM ceremony at the place). Any opinions on this?

I am not too superstitious, but I'm worried that it will ruin 'the effect' of me walking down the aisle if the families and (most important) my FI have seen me already. But, on the other hand, I would get to actually be at my cocktail hour, instead of tied up taking pictures the whole time.

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I have lived with my FH for almost two years...we are so taking pics pre-ceremony. I want to be able to spend time with my family and friends after the ceremony. I don't want to miss a minute!

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I also live with FH. BUT ever since i was a little girl ive been dreaming about the moment that i see him and the other end of the aisle. i just cant take the pics before. (we are even signing the ketubah seperately!!!) - he is jewish and i am catholic. we are not getting married in my church like i have always wanted to do, so not seeing him before is REALLY important to me

Jenn

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i got a lot of $h!t about that from my family telling me it is bad luck,etc...well, we did it anyway. we took our pics at the vanderbilt museum and it made such a difference. we stayed apart the night before, so the first time he saw me was then. the videographer and photographer caught the moment and it helped us both relax a lot when it came time for the ceremony to take place. we had been together for two hours before the ceremony took place and our families and bp helped us stay calm. i'm all for it.

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we toook ll our pics before hand and all I can say is it was the best decision EVER!! We wree at all of our cocktail hour and had an absolute BLAST all night long!

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I think you have to go with what makes you most comfortable. My best friend got married at the place where her reception was, and she too had a special moment where her groom saw her for the first time, captured only by the photographer. She loved it!! (She wasn't calmed by the experience :) my friend is not calm -- but she got what was important to her -- attendance at the cocktail hour.) My FH's cousin also got married at the place, and this tradition was important to the bride, so they took pics after. But, the photographer was so efficient, they enjoyed about half the cocktail hour. So, think about what would make YOU most happy, and go for it!

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so if you see each other before hand, and have time to say hello to people at the cocktail hour. Do/Did you still to a big entrance for the reception?

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One of the reception halls we visited it but for me it wasn't an option. It all depends on how you feel about it. I want the first time my FI sees me on our wedding day to be when I'm walking down the aisle.
But if it's not a big deal for you then go for it.

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Posted by cocoa

the videographer and photographer caught the moment and it helped us both relax a lot when it came time for the ceremony to take place. we had been together for two hours before the ceremony took place and our families and bp helped us stay calm. i'm all for it.

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that is exatly what my phtographer said...cant wait!

btu here is my ?? so did alot of your pics have no wedding rings? was it noticeable?

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good point = I hadn't even thought of that.

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Is anyone having to squeeze their pics into their cocktail hour? I really don't want to see my FH husband until the church, but because our church is at the same place as the reception, the only time we'll have to take pictures together is during the coctail hour. Am i being ridiculous?

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not doing it...

we plan to take 15 minutes worth of posed pics at the church immediately after the ceremony and then jet off to the cocktail hour. i want our photos to be 99.9% photojournalistic so we will keep the flow of the day and he will snap whatever is taking place!

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Posted by dukey

so if you see each other before hand, and have time to say hello to people at the cocktail hour. Do/Did you still to a big entrance for the reception?

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we don't plan on doing a big entrance after mingling with our guests at the cocktail hour, for me personally i find it a bit awkward...

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will you be announced....how are you going to do the entrance?

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i forgot to add that we will miss a part of our cocktail hour b/c our ceremony and reception are in the same place. but i dont mind b/c we are (the BP) will get our own CH set up in the bridal suite....the BP will only be out of the CH for about 15 min... my FH... then DH, and i will be alone for a few minutes! i wont mind that at all

jenn

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Posted by dukey

will you be announced....how are you going to do the entrance?

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we are still kicking around ideas, perhaps something will be said prior to sitting down for dinner and in conjunction with the champagne toast given by the best man. but as far as walking into music with the entire entourage - nope, not happening (we also are only having ~100 guests)...

ETA: we are also doing a receiving line at the church...

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We took our pics before the ceremony. I'm glad we did. We were able to spend time with everyone during the cocktail hour and we didn't have to worry about being pulled for pics!

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We have been going back and forth on this too. I think that I am going to take whatever pictures we can w/o FH before hand and the rest at the CH. I think that we are going to do mostly photojournalistic so this should work out.

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Posted by september2004

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Posted by dukey

will you be announced....how are you going to do the entrance?

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we are still kicking around ideas, perhaps something will be said prior to sitting down for dinner and in conjunction with the champagne toast given by the best man. but as far as walking into music with the entire entourage - nope, not happening (we also are only having ~100 guests)...

ETA: we are also doing a receiving line at the church...

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thats funny because we told our mc the same thing. we want no introductions and we didn't even have a receiving line since we got married at the same place as our ceremony. we took our pictures beforehand and then greeted a little more than 1/2 our guests at the cocktail hour. however, the mc said that it would look awkward to have nothing mentioned at the beginning of the reception(we weren't doing a first dance either) and people would be expecting something. so after the cocktail hour we walked into the reception room with our guests and after eveyone was seated the mc said that we would like to welcome everyone here and introduced our singer (gene a guy who does sinatra intermittently throughout) and asked everyone to please come to the dance floor. it was perfect. the best man speech was shortly after that.

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We took pictures before the ceremony. At first we were hesitant about it, but it turned out to be a great decision. We got to enjoy our entire wedding because the pictures were done. I think it also helped reduce some of the nervousness.