I am new here...i NEED your help!

Hi all i am a new 08 bride YAY! i need your advice...i am planning an AM wedding ceremony at my church. (probably 10am)....the reception hall i want is only available at 12:30-5:30pm, and is a half an hour from the church (without traffic) on the date that i want. Is this not enough time in between church and coctail hour?? We want to take pictures between the ceremony and coctail hour. (outside church and at reception hall) I just dont want our guests to arrive at the coctail hour in the middle of us taking pictures (since CH is outside, we would be taking pics in the same place)...i am really freaking out about this. We can change our date and get a 1:30-6:30 time slot for reception but would end up spending about $4000 total more. any advice? if i really need to i will just change the date, but i was hoping to avoid that, and put the 4K to something else. We are thinking of just doing wedding ceremony and not a full service to save time, but would that make much of a difference?? PLEASE give me your opinions! Thanks!

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Posted by Ilovebriani

Hi all i am a new 08 bride YAY! i need your advice...i am planning an AM wedding ceremony at my church. (probably 10am)....the reception hall i want is only available at 12:30-5:30pm, and is a half an hour from the church (without traffic) on the date that i want. Is this not enough time in between church and coctail hour?? We want to take pictures between the ceremony and coctail hour. (outside church and at reception hall) I just dont want our guests to arrive at the coctail hour in the middle of us taking pictures (since CH is outside, we would be taking pics in the same place)...i am really freaking out about this. We can change our date and get a 1:30-6:30 time slot for reception but would end up spending about $4000 total more. any advice? if i really need to i will just change the date, but i was hoping to avoid that, and put the 4K to something else. We are thinking of just doing wedding ceremony and not a full service to save time, but would that make much of a difference?? PLEASE give me your opinions! Thanks!

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you might want to do just a wedding ceremony then instead of the full service...pictures after the ceremony can take quite some time...especially for everyone that waits to see their FH when first walking down the aisle instead of taking pictures together beforehand.

From what I've heard you should allow at least an hour and a half of actual shooting time. This doesn't include the time to get from one place to another, or the time to organize different groups of people that you want pics with.

FH & I have decided to see eachother before the ceremony, and will take most of our pics then. But we are having an evening wedding ... I'm not sure that would work out well for an early morning ceremony since you would probably have to start your hair & makeup at like 4 am!!!

If I were you I would probably change the date or time somehow.

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Posted by Ilovebriani

my FH seems to think there will be enough time, i mean...we will definately end up missing most of CH, but i just dont want to be seen taking pictures when everyone gets there ya know? anyone know how long pictures typically take? How long a typical full mass and just ceremony take? We also have the option of switching to 1-6, but there is another CH starting at 6 and they will be needing our RH at 7, so i feel like that will be really rushed. any other opinions?

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yeah but thats also bc most guys have no idea about these things, they don't know how long it takes to take pics. regular wedding is about 30 mins and full mass is an hour.

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Posted by PreshusSmurf

From what I've heard you should allow at least an hour and a half of actual shooting time. This doesn't include the time to get from one place to another, or the time to organize different groups of people that you want pics with.

FH & I have decided to see eachother before the ceremony, and will take most of our pics then. But we are having an evening wedding ... I'm not sure that would work out well for an early morning ceremony since you would probably have to start your hair & makeup at like 4 am!!!

If I were you I would probably change the date or time somehow.

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we're having an AM wedding and taking our pictures before the ceremony....

our photographer told us to be ready by 9:00, and our ceremony begins at 11:30.

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Posted by PreshusSmurf

From what I've heard you should allow at least an hour and a half of actual shooting time. This doesn't include the time to get from one place to another, or the time to organize different groups of people that you want pics with.

FH & I have decided to see eachother before the ceremony, and will take most of our pics then. But we are having an evening wedding ... I'm not sure that would work out well for an early morning ceremony since you would probably have to start your hair & makeup at like 4 am!!!

If I were you I would probably change the date or time somehow.

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yeah thats true, i heard alot of people take even longer than an hour and a half

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Posted by hayleyandsteve

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Posted by PreshusSmurf

From what I've heard you should allow at least an hour and a half of actual shooting time. This doesn't include the time to get from one place to another, or the time to organize different groups of people that you want pics with.

FH & I have decided to see eachother before the ceremony, and will take most of our pics then. But we are having an evening wedding ... I'm not sure that would work out well for an early morning ceremony since you would probably have to start your hair & makeup at like 4 am!!!

If I were you I would probably change the date or time somehow.

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we're having an AM wedding and taking our pictures before the ceremony....

our photographer told us to be ready by 9:00, and our ceremony begins at 11:30.

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Thats not bad at all, to be ready at 9am ...

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Posted by Ilovebriani

hayleyandsteve...what time are you having your CH and how far from ceremony

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btw i think your wedding date is wrong, well it is wrong bc that would mean you were already married.

oops...yup it's 2008

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Posted by Ilovebriani

oops...yup it's 2008

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lol its ok youre not the first...i saw a few people recently who had 2012

if you're mostly concerned about people seeing you taking pics when they get to the coctail hour, i don't think thats a big deal AT ALL, and i wouldn't stress on that.... everybody will have already seen you walk down the aisle at the ceremony. plus, they will be so busy enjoying the great food i think that if you don't mind missing some of coctail hour, you could do a shorter ceremony from 10-10:30, say your hellos from 10:30-11, and then be at the reception hall around 11:30. this will give you two hours ( an hour before coctail hour, PLUS coctail hour) to take pics, which i think would be plenty of time. good luck! as a former worry-wart bride, i can just say that it really does all work out

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Posted by ML110

if you're mostly concerned about people seeing you taking pics when they get to the coctail hour, i don't think thats a big deal AT ALL, and i wouldn't stress on that.... everybody will have already seen you walk down the aisle at the ceremony. plus, they will be so busy enjoying the great food i think that if you don't mind missing some of coctail hour, you could do a shorter ceremony from 10-10:30, say your hellos from 10:30-11, and then be at the reception hall around 11:30. this will give you two hours ( an hour before coctail hour, PLUS coctail hour) to take pics, which i think would be plenty of time. good luck! as a former worry-wart bride, i can just say that it really does all work out

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Thanks ML110

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Posted by Ilovebriani

possibly...do u think 9am might be too early though??

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I don't think 9am is too early. It would mean that you would have to wake up earlier and your vendors would need to move things up a bit. But if it's worth it to you, I'd say give it a shot. $4k is a bit of $$$ in my opinion.

you're not pushing it. that's was almost exactly my time frame (but my CH started at 1 instead of 1230)--AND i had a full mass

we started pictures immediately and it was fine. i missed 45 minutes of my CH but that was due to my photog, not the time frame. he just took forever with what he was doing.

my church was 10-10:45, receiving line 10:50-11:10, pics at the church 11:10-11:20, drive to WM 11:20-11:50, pics at WM from 12 until 1:45.

so if you have a ceremony, or DON'T do a receiving line, you should be fine. just make sure someone keeps you on track (my DOC had a strict timeline to follow for me)