Brides Helping Brides ™ - Ladies with ceremony at hall....e.t.a I think I found a church!!

GettinHutched Posted: Sep 27, 2006 11:34 PM

Ladies with ceremony at hall....e.t.a I think I found a church!!

So, the gap between church and reception is just waaaay too unreasonably wide. We might consider ceremony at the hall.

My question is- what do you do about picture taking if you are ADAMANTLY against seeing your FH before the ceremony!!

CLM has ceremony a half hour before cocktail hour starts. UGH. So that means, lose the entire cocktail hour taking pics. Or is it possible to take them quickly and come back for a little bit? I don't wanna miss the boat arrival!

I do have a semi-smallish bridal party. 2 MOH, 2 best men, 3 FG, 1 Jr. Usher. What do you think? I know VEnetian Shores is right there so it's not like we have to go far for pics....is this doable without totally losing the cocktail hour?

THANKS!

ETA: I think we found a church for our date! We just have to meet with the Deacon and make it official!!!

Thank you all soooooo much for your support!!!

MJDoc12 Posted: Sep 27, 2006 11:54 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

i was in the same situation--and opted for just doing pics b4.

but to save time--consider something like doing pics with your BP b4 hand...like you do as many pics with your girls before, and then they take you away and your FH does pics with them....and vice versa. then that way all you really have left is your romantics, and a few family/group BP shots.

besides that--if you don't want to do pics b4, you are just gonna have to miss part of your CH and reception.

dgirl Posted: Sep 28, 2006 07:19 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

We are getting married at the hall and are not seeing each other before the ceremony.

We are looking into extending the cocktail hour to 1.5 hours so that we can be there for at least the end of it.

rojerono Posted: Sep 28, 2006 07:21 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I think that you will likely lose the majority of your CH if you choose to leave after the ceremony, only because you have to get in the car, drive, get out, get posed here, there, this way, that way...

libby2595 Posted: Sep 28, 2006 07:29 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

Posted by rojerono

I think that you will likely lose the majority of your CH if you choose to leave after the ceremony, only because you have to get in the car, drive, get out, get posed here, there, this way, that way...

i agree.... unless you plan on doing all/most of your pics before the ceremony, you WILL not be able to participate in the entire ch. another option, which i doubt ANYONE would do, it to not have posed pictures... just do candids at ch.

we're getting married and having reception in the same place... it's a small place, so ti might not be too bad. i'm having ch for about 1.5 hrs, and i'm going to give my photog a very small list of pics to take. yes, i want pics, but would rather share EVERY MINUTE with my family and friends.

jmho

hth

scappy123 Posted: Sep 28, 2006 09:52 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I know you dont want to see each other before, and I never thought i would change my mind, but we decided to do pics before.
I also want a more 'intimate moment' when FH sees me for the first time coming down the stairs of the inn at fox hollow.
And we dont want to miss the CH, that is always my favorite part of the wedding

Maybride07 Posted: Sep 28, 2006 09:55 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I am having my ceremony at the hall and this is what we are doing. We DEF do NOT want to see each other before the ceremony. Before the Ceremony I will be taking pics with Bridal Party and Family separately and he will be too. Then During the CH we will be taking the few group ones and Then just us. We are not going to attend the CH and I am fine with it.

Dee606 Posted: Sep 28, 2006 10:41 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I am trying to figure the same thing out for myself.
I am against seeing FH before the ceremony. My CH starts immediately after the ceremony. Last night I went to speak with a photographer & he basically told me that if I want to take pics during cocktail hour the pics will come out looking like they were rushed & he does not recommend taking them during a 1 hr CH. He said that the minimum number of hours that he would like for pics is 2.5 hrs. Why don't you try to find a different Church with a time closer to the start of CH?
good luck! I've lost sleep over this issue

Queensbebe Posted: Sep 28, 2006 11:14 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I am also having a hard time deciding on that...my FH wants to take pics b4...but there is something about the traditional walk down the aisle that i love...i dont know!!!

Dee606 Posted: Sep 28, 2006 11:26 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

Posted by Queensbebe

I am also having a hard time deciding on that...my FH wants to take pics b4...but there is something about the traditional walk down the aisle that i love...i dont know!!!

Mine wants pics before also. But I totally agree with you. It is important to me that I have that traditional aspect. I also want that excited feeling of waiting for the doors to open & everyone seeing me for the first time-

Keep us updated on what you all decide.

Soon2BeMrs Posted: Sep 28, 2006 11:47 PM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

i am taking as many pictures as possible before withouth FH and I seeing each other and then the rest will be during CH...i dont want to be at CH hour we will make our grand entrance once the reception starts

GettinHutched Posted: Sep 29, 2006 07:16 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I'm still in the process of finding a church- I hope I find one! I would just hate to be rushed to take pics. I spoke to a photographer who works very quickly- he said since my BP is rather small, we could do that within a half hour or so. The combined family pics can come during reception when everyone's having salad...he had great suggestions but I still want to be able to take our time to take awesome pics!

Thanks everyone!

rojerono Posted: Sep 29, 2006 07:38 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I am getting married at the hall and my CH is immediately afterwards. I am telling my photographer that I only want a handful of portraits done, I would really prefer to have my wedding done in a primarily photojournalistic approach. I am no model. I hate being 'posed' anyway!

Tracyann1976 Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:09 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

You could do BP pictures before. I am sure there is a way to figure it out. We have half an hour in between. Taking pictures before.

sr081906 Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:14 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

DH and I did not see each other before the wedding.

I had no gaps between the ceremony and CH.
Because my hair and MU ran late, I had to miss my CH to take the 'together' pics. We did take the individual pics prior to the wedding. 1/2 hour may not be enough.

The question is... what do you do with you guests for 1 hour.

ChrisnAmy Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:18 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

We struggled with not seeing each other before...but we decided it will be so much easier to have them all done before...and we can party!

103005FallBride Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:24 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

We had our ceremony at the hall and did NOT see each other beforehand.

We extended our CH to 1.5 hrs.

DH & family + Groomsmen arrived at 8:30 to start taking their shots. I then arrived at 9:15 with my BP + Family to take our shots. We planned on using only some of the CH to take together pics and full family shots, but honestly...in the long run we ended up using the full 1.5 hrs. We could have cared less... It was more important to us to take quality shots than be bombarded at CH and not be able to eat the food anyway.

CaMacho Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:24 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

We had our ceremony & recep at CLM. At first I was so against taking pics before the ceremony! But as time went on I realized that pics are going to be the only thing you have (and video) to look at after the wedding is over! I didn't want to be limited to 1/2 hour to take pics together!!!!! Plus, we definitely wanted the boat arrival and to go to our CHour.

So we decided to do pics before our ceremony. We had 3 hours before and 3 different locations for pics! We got SO many amazing shots and I couldn't imagine only having 1/2 hour worth of pics... IMO. Some girls do it and their pics are gorgeous too, but it's totally your call.

Our photographer set my DH up with his back turned behind the mansion at OWG and all our wedding party standing set back from him. When I came around the corner EVERYONE lost it! DH and I cried like I never expected... it was the best feeling and seeing eachother early really calmed us both down for the rest of the day. My photographer caught every shot of us seeing eachother for the first time and those pics are my absolute favorites!

It is totally up to you though. Nobody can tell you what is right or wrong for you, but just wanted to give you my experience!

The last 4 weddings we were at were all at the hall and they all saw eachother before. It really doesn't take anything away from when you walk down the aisle... it is just as emotional.

Sorry so long... didn't realize.

soon2bcopswife Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:25 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

I agree with your photographer that it will definitely look rushed. I took pictures for over 3 hours. We got a lot of great pics.

We saw eachother before hand and it was nice because we had an intimate moment. It's not intimate when there are 150 people watching you.

D's Girl Posted: Sep 29, 2006 08:31 AM

Re: Ladies with ceremony at hall....

We are seeing each other before the ceremony for pictures.

I want to enjoy every minute of our day and we want to attend the CH.

My DOC will set up a special moment when FH and I see each other for the first time and I think it will be so much more intimate.