Ladies - would like your advice...long & a bit confusing...

Ok, I really want to go to Planting Fields for photos. But my church is in Copiague which is about 45 mins (I think) away from the Arboretum. Then, my reception site is also approximately 45 mins away from the Arboretum. That's almost 2 hours of driving time!

My ceremony begins @ 2:30pm, ending around 3:15pm or so, and the cocktail hour begins at 6:30pm. We'd like to be there for at least half an hour of the CH. So I have a 3 hour gap between the ceremony and the reception... minus 2 hours (to be safe) commuting, that leaves only 1 hour for pics at the park and 1/2 hr for pics at the reception site. Does that sound doable? Is it really enough time for pics with a large BP?

My other option is to change my ceremony time to 1:30pm but I'd have to do it fairly soon. I rather not do the ceremony at 1:30pm because then I wouldn't be the last bride that day which means if I don't get there on time, I screw up someone else's wedding! Plus, then it's an even longer gap for my guests!! What to do?

(PS - I don't want to do all my photos at the reception site b/c their grounds are not that extensive)

ETA - I don't want to do my pics before the ceremony.

The same thing happened to me in which my ceremony was @ 3:30 and cocktail hour @6:00 and I wanted to go to Old Westbury Gardens for pictures. I figured out that if all went according to plan we can just make it. Key word: If
So I changed my cocktail hour from 6 to 7pm and now we should have plenty of time. Remember, the limo driver could get lost or hit traffic...you never know.. I would definitly change it by and hour.

If you like the Aboretum then you should....

Its your day....