Did you make it to your cocktail hour?

This is why we did a first look so we just had to do a few family photos after the ceremony and then we got to be in the majority of our cocktail hour! If you aren’t doing a first look I would recommend doing most of the wedding party pictures before the ceremony.

We are planning to do a first look so we can get through as many pictures as possible before the ceremony, and then we can attend cocktail hour with our guests.

We definitely did not get to attend cocktail and we still did a first look. My family is like herding cats. The rest of my family did though. After family photos we did additional couples photos and photos of random groups (college friends, full extended family, etc)

That’s a big reason we did first look photos too. We escorted our guests from the ceremony to reception. We grabbed a drink, did a quick mingle round then dashed out to change. We returned before cocktail hour was over.

I didn’t aha we just went straight to our reception venue to make sure everything was alright since mine was diy

I’ve been to weddings where none of the family or bridal party attended cocktail hour. They, along with the couple, were taking photos the whole time.
That’s why we’re doing all of our photos before the ceremony. We’ll step out for a few shots during golden hour, but we want everyone to enjoy the whole thing and not miss out because of pictures. We also want to be able to enjoy our cocktail hour (along with all of the good appetizers) with everyone.

We plan to do a first look for this exact reason. FH and I want to get the majority of our photos out of the way and only do a few quicks pics with family. Additionally, we don’t have bridesmaids/groomsmen. So we don’t have to worry with all the extra time those pictures take up. We want to join in on the majority of our cocktail hour and enjoy everything that we planned/paid for and also spend as much time with our guests as possible. Plus, we have some fun entertainment occurring during cocktail hour that we don’t want to miss.

We did - but we shouldn't have, only because it nearly ruined our introduction for the reception!

No, but really, we finished photos fairly quickly, so there was time... but our venue provided appetizers for the BP up in the ready room, and we had to sign our license, I had to change my shoes... really, the time between photos and reception were a few minutes for us to catch our breath and realize we were married!

Missing your cocktail hour isn't a big deal. It's meant to entertain your guest while you have some family/alone time.

I Think As Long As You Have Your Photos Planned Out, It Should Be Fine. Our Venue Will Have A Staff Member With A Cart Of Apps And Drinks To Push Around For Us While Taking Photos.

When I've been in the Bridal party, we have yet to make it. Pictures always took longer than expected. Once we got there at the tale end, but we did have to drive 45 minutes to get to reception location.

We plan to do all pictures/first looks before the ceremony so that we can join our guests for cocktail hour. Therefore we are not having to try to thank people for coming while music is blasting

About 80% of our guests are my family xD So we're probably just going to take a few pictures and then herd everyone to the reception and do the majority of photos there so there is SOMEONE present haha.

We did a first look, but we still did photos after the ceremony. Our after ceremony photos included full bridal party photos, family photos, and extra photos of the two of us. Our family and bridal party went to cocktail hour after we finished our photos with them. We took the additional photos of us during that time. Then our coordinator had all of the guests go into the ballroom except for our bridal party and parents. We gave a small speech to our parents and bridal party at this time to really thank them for being there and helping us as much as possible then we had our grand entrance. Since we didn't get to attend cocktail hour, our coordinator put aside food from the cocktail hour for us to enjoy. The best man also brought my husband a glass of the signature drink prior to the grand entrance. I didn't try it since I don't drink.