Ceremony, Pictures then Reception.. or the other way around?

Typically, its considered rude to have such a long wait. Could you do some pictures before (bridal party, family), and do an hour of pics with your groom in between? While your guests enjoy a cocktail hour?

Don't do that. Do the photos first, or during a cocktail hour right after, but don't do a three hour gap.

Depends on what is popular in your area. For me, I would be pretty peeved about waiting 3 hours! Around here and a lot of other areas, it's a cocktail hour because it should be about one hour. I would say have your ceremony a bit later so that it will be done roughly one hour, or one hour plus travel time between ceremony and reception, before the actual reception begins. In order to get all the pics you want and still avoid seeing FH before the ceremony, get all your bridal party pictures and family pictures done beforehand - that way you still have that hour after the ceremony to take pictures with your new husband.

The previous ladies have it covered. Do not be rude to your guests and have them sit around for 3 hours. Your reception is to thank them

In my opinion as sweet and intimate as the "first look" is before the ceremony and getting pictures out of the way before the festivities commence is a wonderful thought. There is just something about waiting and being traditional that is so magical for me. That being said a 3 hour gap is a very long time in between ceremony and reception. Most people do an hour between as a "happy hour". What I would suggest would be to take as many pictures of the bridal parties beforehand and get as much out of the way as possible and the only pictures after the ceremony would be of you and your groom. That's what we are doing for our wedding to save time and the guests will get very impatient wanting to see you and talk to you again. But it is your wedding day so you have to do what you want best and everyone else will understand.

My sister and her husband had all the pictures taken that didn't require the two of them together before the ceremony and finished the rest after the ceremony. The photos after the ceremony only took about 30 minutes. I'm doing the same. My ceremony is at 3pm and will be 30-45 minutes. My cocktail hour will start at about 4:30 and dinner will be at about 5:30.

It shouldn't take three hours to take pictures. Take what pictures you can before the ceremony, and then take 45 mins to an hour after the ceremony to finish up. During that time your guests can travel to the reception venue (if separate location) and start mingling, and have appetizers and drinks ready for them when they get there/directly after the ceremony.

Other option - don't take thousands of pictures.

We had some photos for like 15 minutes before the ceremony with the bridesmaids. Then half an hour of photos after the ceremony while the guests enjoyed cocktails & some fruit platters. All you need is like 45 minutes of posing for photos at most.

Thanks for the reply everyone, this helps a lot. We have family (dad and grandparents) coming from europe (only see them every 3 or 4 years) and i know they want lots of pictures with everyone. It will be hard to take pics with everyone and still make it in a short period of time. Ceremony and Reception is at the same place (Golf Course in the valley). We will take pictures Golf Course but there are alot of nice places in town to go to as well, such as flower gardens .... etc. We have to think this through, I dont want to make my guest wait this long. Maybe a few before and after should be good.

I've been to a wedding where the ceremony was at 11am and reception at 5pm.. Thought it was going to be horrible, but we just went home and hung out by the pool.. changed outfits it was fine, but might not be so fun for out of town guests.

I wouldn't want to wait 3 hours in-between as a guest. We have a big wedding party so we are doing the first look and formal pictures before the ceremony. If we need to do more after the ceremony, it won't take long at all since we have the bulk done. Or you can take pictures seperately and then you and FH will take pictures during cocktail hour

Well we are having a gap so we can go take pictures downtown in St. Louis. Think the Arch, Busch Stadium home of the Cardinals, etc. Only a handful of guests are out of towners ( have not recieved RSVP yet) and there is plenty of ways to kill time between the ceremony and reception (mall, movie, even Cabela's or Bass Pro is in between them. Should not be an issue. Most of the weddings I went to in my life had a gap.

3 hours is too long of a wait. My ceremony at the church will end at 3:15/3:30 and our reception starts at 5. No way around that. That will give us plenty of time for pictures though.

We're taking bridal party and family (bride's family, groom's family) before the ceremony. Then we will take our wedding photos after the ceremony during the cocktail hour (at the same location).

This will take an hour. I do think it is incredibly rude to make your guests wait 3 hours, so you can go to some off-location to take pictures. If you REALLY want to take pictures at those off locations do your pictures the following day, a friend of mine actually did this. Talk to your photographer about that, it might cost you more.. but whatever you decide, DO NOT make your guests wait around 3 hours (especially since your ceremony and reception are at the same location). If they are at different locations, it is perfectly normal to have a gap.

If I was a guest waiting around 3 hours before the actual wedding started I would be pretty pissed (I wouldn't care about a cash bar, but waiting 3 hours would piss me off...)

I went to a wedding where the reception in the fall where there was a 2 hour gap. I was annoyed. Like @Mrs A&J said... try and get as many photos out of the way as you can before and then do your couple photos during the cocktail hour. Don't make your guests wait.

I bet a lot of them wouldn't show up to the ceremony.

It is normal in my area to have a gap but 3 hours is a large one. As others have said before me try taking the pictures with your parents and grandparents beforehand so the only pictures needed between are the ones of you and the groom together.

My ceremony ends 2 and a half to 3. hours before my reception starts. It was the only time we could get for the church. I want to make sure we have enough time to get pics done and be able to spend most of our cocktail hour with our guests. Plus in my family we are all used to waiting that long between Ceremony and reception.

That would be super rude for your guests, especially since everything is in the same place! You need to decide what's most important to you- lots of pictures, or waiting to see each other until after the ceremony. You should really consider doing a "first look" so you can get most of your pictures done before the wedding.