ceremony same place as venue????

Would it be possible to do your photos BEFORE the ceremony? That is what we are doing with are all in one venue.

We're doing ceremony and reception at same venue. Doing a first look so all the pictures can be done before the ceremony. That way we don't have to miss any of the reception.

A lot of people do everything at one venue so it's absolutely possible. A first look would probably be the best way to do this or you will most likely need to miss your cocktail hour. 30 minutes isn't even a lot of time so could you make the cocktail hour a full hour? If your only motivation for getting married in a church is to have more time for photos, I really don't think a church wedding is necessary.

We are doing our ceremony and reception at the same place so we can cut out traveling. If you do the church you will have a gap from 3-630? We are doing a first look to cut down on the photo time during cocktail hour. Our wedding is earlier than yours. Its 1130-5.

We do this every week, and usually, the couples do first looks. You have time to let that thought sink in between now and your wedding date, but it makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways.

This is a better plan,honestly, because no one loves that gap.

Depending on the expertise of your photographer, it can take an hour or way more.

From the people I know 30-45 minutes is enough for photos. It depends on what your looking for. If you want thousands of pre determined shots than it may not work. If you are more laid back with the photo aspect youll be fine.

Traditionally the wedding party misses the cocktail hour to do pictures then has a gran enterence in to the reception. Our venue is coming to set up a cocktail hour for us in the bridal suite and dedicate a server so we have drinks.

Our ceremony and reception are being held in the same location. No first look and will likely miss most of cocktail hour for photos. We will do some photos before the ceremony separately, but I don't see any other way to get in our photos without cutting into the cocktail hour.

We are thinking of cocktail hour as the built in buffer to occupy guests while we head out for photos.

As a guest i really prefer the one location wedding, having to drive from the ceremony to the reception is kind of annoying but i understand people want to get married in the church.

if i had had a really large family and wedding party my photographer would have suggested doing a first look, but we didnt do it 1 because i didnt want it and 2 because our wedding party was small 3 GM and 2 BMs and DH and myself. we got our photos done in about an hour i think our cocktail hour may have been more like an hour and 15 or 20 mins since our ceremony was fast. so we did get 15 20mins at the cocktail hour but we missed some of the food.

We had our ceremony at our venue. Our guests went inside for cocktail hour while we did all of our photos. I don't think the bride and groom are supposed to attend cocktail hour. It's more of an hour of appetizers and drinks to occupy the guests while you and your DH are getting pictures done.

We did ceremony and reception at same venue and had almost an identical timeline to what you mentoned - 6:30 wedding right into cocktail hour with an end time of 1am (guests were partying!).

We also did a first look and got all wedding party photos out of way before cocktail hour to have lots of time to spend with guests. Once the wedding started, I didn't step away at all for photos the entire night and got the chance to enjoy everything.

We did the first look before the ceremony, but wanted to get some additional golden hour and sunset shots after. So we sent a runner to grab us some snacks/drinks, took about 15 min to do extra pics, and joined everyone for the remainder of cocktail hour (ours was an hour). I think it worked out perfectly.

Even without doing a first look, you could get a fair amount of pictures done before the ceremony. You and bridesmaids, you and parents, groom and groomsmen, etc. Also, if you don't care about every aunt, uncle, and cousin getting their own individual "us with the bride and groom" shot, you could ask your photographer to do one big group shot right after the ceremony. Also, if you wanted to enjoy some of your cocktail hour, you could go right into the cocktail hour immediately following the ceremony (you and your husband could even do a quick round of hellos) for about 10-15 minutes; that should still give you plenty of time to do photos before making your grand entrance into the reception.

I guess I don't know why your planning on attending cocktail hour. I have never been to a wedding where the bridal party was at the cocktail hour because that is when your supposed to be taking pictures. I had so much fun during the time in between because I was able to just chill and take fun pictures with our bridal party without worrying about the other guest. I heard our cocktail hour was great but I never planned on attending.

If you set on attending I think a half hour is going to be pushing it depending how many pictures you want.

We had our ceremony and reception at the same place. We did it first look (my favorite part of the day) and our BP photos all before. I'm so glad we did this. It was so easy for our guests and all our vendors. I didn't want to miss cocktail hour either. But I was more concerned about my BP missing it. I unfortunately missed most of cocktail hour even though we only did family photos. My mom and MOHs couldn't get my bustle up and it took 40 minutes. I was not happy but at least everyone else got to enjoy it!

ETA: Gaps stink. I would try and stay away from that. And if you don't do a first look and plan on doing the same location you will probably miss cocktail hour, if not more. I would have about 1-1.5 hours for pics.

Do it at one venue. No one likes a gap you create between the ceremony and reception if you hold it at the church and in many circles, it's considered very rude.

For photos, either have a first look (you and your husband see each other prior to the ceremony at some private location for photos -- some find this very exciting) or you can get all the wedding party photos done before the ceremony and not see your husband and then after the ceremony, the only photos to get are you and your husband, so you only miss part of the cocktail hour.

I have always seen the point of the cocktail hour as time for the photos to be taken so the couple, BP, and family don't miss dinner. So to me it almost seems odd when they are there for it, at least for the whole thing. Most weddings around here the couple just catches the tail end of CH after the pictures are done.

I have never heard of a first look before! I'm do clueless with certain new wedding traditions! I might be interested in doing the first look I can't believe I didn't think of that! And I really want my BP to enjoy the entire reception including cocktail hour. Thank you guys so much for advice. I didn't realise how many people hate the gaps!! I def want to make my guests happy and all in one location sounds best. My venue has plenty of beautiful landscape for photo ops. How do people usually do the first look??

We had ours all in one- and did a first look. If you're on the fence, here is a thread that might help:

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/for-those-considering-first-look-married-ladies-post-your-faves/adcfc77b79d8e0e3.html

@lauren I would absolutely use some of the grounds to set up a beautiful first look. We did ours around 4 p.m for our 6:30 ceremony. After we hugged and boo-hoo'd and took some photos the bridal party joined us and we got all group shots out of way before guests began arriving at 6.

I am so excited about this first look option, I honestly had no idea about it and its such a great idea!!!!!! thank you guys so much!