Cocktail hour

It is completely fine to join your own cocktail hour. You can talk with your photographer about how to squeeze all of your photos in.

You can absolutely be part of cocktail hour! One way you could do this is by doing a first look before the ceremony and taking as many family/wedding party photos before the ceremony. That way, you can take any remaining photos after the ceremony, but still have enough time to go celebrate with your guests at cocktail hour before the reception starts. My fiance and I are doing exactly that plan - first look and all pictures ahead of time, with one of the reasons being that we want to attend cocktail hour.

Definitely talk to your photographer about how to arrange the timeline to ensure you can attend cocktail hour.

Yes of course, we wouldn't want to miss our cocktail hour either. That's why we're doing a first look and getting our photos out of the way before the ceremony--so that we can attend cocktail hour. We're having a black tie wedding and we're going all out for our cocktail hour with 12 different passed hors d'oeuvres. No way are we willing to miss that

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I love the idea of getting pictures taken before the ceremony, but is anyone afraid to see their SO before the ceremony and not having that reaction of see them for the first time walking down the aisle?

View Quoted Comment Personally, I'm not afraid of that. I feel like the walk down the aisle will be emotional regardless of whether he saw me ahead of time or not. One thing that some people do is do the first look wearing their attire, but they leave off any accessories, and they add those back on for the walk down the aisle. That gives a little bit of a surprise factor for both the first look and the walk down the aisle. My fiance and I both are more likely to show our true emotions if it's just him and I alone, so that's also partly why we decided on the first look.


That's a personal choice though - if you don't want to do a first look, you can still take many of the pictures ahead of time (just you with your wedding party members, just your SO with their wedding party members, just the entire wedding party, etc), and then you can take the ones of you two together after the ceremony. I recommend talking to your photographer to get an idea of timing, and also let them know you'd prefer to attend cocktail hour. They should be able to help come up with a plan that works best for you.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! All great ideas

View Quoted Comment We are not doing a first look for exactly that reason. We are, however, taking individual photos and photos with our respective families and wedding parties prior to the ceremony. Then only spending 20-30 mins after the ceremony for posed photos of us together. That way, we still get to see each other the first time when I am walking down the aisle, AND we still get to enjoy half of our cocktail hour. Honestly, I find stiff, posed photos to be very flat and boring, so we don’t want to dedicate a ton of time to them. And our photographer told us she will get literally hundreds of photos in 30 minutes!

We did first look and some family photos before the wedding and then a few after the ceremony so we could join the cocktail hour. We knew that would be fun and casual and give us time to mingle with our guests early on.

We’re going to take a half hour break alone because we know we’ll need a breather then will go enjoy cocktail hour.

We definitely want to spend cocktail hour with our guests instead of taking an hours worth of video footage

So many people (couples and guests alike) say that cocktail hour is the the best food of the night, not the main meal. In addition to not being able to spend enough time with guests. One of the main reasons photographers do all pictures before the ceremony. Guests came near and far to spend time with the couple.

For that reason, it makes sense that the bride and groom would attend the cocktail hour, plus be able to eat the food they picked out.

On a similar note, since so many say the cocktail hour is miles better than the main dinner, why not extend it instead of serving a dinner that is being served out of obligation? Cocktail hour food is very filling when you bring in the heavy appetizers and stations instead of cheese and fruit, and those same folks who say "cocktail hour is tasiest" also say "wedding food" from standard caterers is lackluster at best.

My friend, who is now one of my bridesmaids, and her husband stepped into cocktail hour for a bit between family photos and introductions. It was nice to actually have the chance to speak to them. They also didn't do the formal reception line. That doesn't really seem to be a thing anymore, which is why I think you're seeing the couple themselves in the cocktail hour.

You can most definitely join if you would like! Usually the bride and groom utilize that time to take pictures with the wedding party and close family. So, as long as you have time to do so then go for it!