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Champion June 2019

How long do people stay after the cake cutting / how long should photographers stay?

Gen, on November 14, 2018 at 1:03 PM Posted in Wedding Reception 0 7

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So we recently decided to shorten our reception by a bit, we’re going to be doing our grand entrance/first dance at 1:30, then lunch will be served after that. Then at 3:30 the bar closes, we cut the cake, and serve cake and coffee/tea.

I’m wondering how long we should expect people to stay after this. Our coordinator wrote down that 5pm would be our official “end time” but I can’t imagine people would stay more than an hour after cake cutting?

The reason I care is because we have our photographers for 5 hours. I’m debating if we should have them come at 11:30 for a half hour worth of getting ready photos (ceremony starts at 12 and we aren’t doing a first look), and then leave at 4:30 when most guests will probably leave anyway? OR if we get the photographers to stay until 5, maybe we could grab a few more posed photos with me and FH after the reception?

I guess this is a 2 part question hahaha.
(1) how long did your guests stay after the cake was cut/how long do you expect them to stay after that?
(2) would you rather a half hour of getting ready photos, or a half hour of post-reception photos?

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7 Comments

Latest activity by Gen, on November 14, 2018 at 5:07 PM

Legend July 2019
MrsD · on November 14, 2018 at 1:10 PM
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I've never been to a daytime wedding, but every evening wedding I've been to most guests stayed until the end (so 1-2 hours after cake cutting) if there was dancing. If it was a dry wedding, people left around 30 minutes after. I think it depends if you have stuff like a photo booth, yard games, etc. after cake cutting. I'd rather get getting ready photos.
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Super August 2018
Marta · on November 14, 2018 at 1:15 PM
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I would have your photographer half an hour before for getting ready photos. Between 4:30-5 not much will be going on. My photographer left around 9 and my wedding ended at 11. She made sure to get pics of all the important stuff and then ppl dancing and she was out. There’s only so much pictures you can get/want of seeing ppl mingle. I don’t your photographer will be missed the last half hour.
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Champion June 2019
Gen · on November 14, 2018 at 1:19 PM
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Yeah it’s so hard to say, we are having wine and beer but we’re closing the bar when cake is served (will start serving coffee and tea then) so although it’s not a dry wedding, the alcohol will be done by that time. We have a small dance floor but not sure how many people will use it, and I’m trying to figure out games and stuff that we can have.

I’m thinking it would be really nice to have 4:30-5 as another time for posed photos, but only if guests actually leave at 4:30 so we could go outside again. If guests stay until 5 and we stay at the reception until then, then i feel like that last half hour of photos wouldn’t be anything special.
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Legend July 2019
MrsD · on November 14, 2018 at 1:20 PM
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I think planning photos then is fine! Even if guests are there, you can take photos since they will be intermingling with other guests.
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Champion June 2019
Gen · on November 14, 2018 at 1:24 PM
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Very true. I feel like it could be a good idea to get some more photos after the reception when there’s less pressure to hurry up and get back to the party, and also later in the day could provide different lighting outside than when we take our original pictures at 12:30
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Expert November 2019
Mrs! · on November 14, 2018 at 5:04 PM
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If you can budget an extra half hour I would just so you don’t miss any magical moments
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Champion June 2019
Gen · on November 14, 2018 at 5:07 PM
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Yeah that may be possible, not sure if they’ll extend by just a half hour, but I do know they’ll do an extra hour for $279 which isn’t terrible. They said we can add to the package anytime up until 1 month before the big day so I’ll see how our budget is doing by then and if we can afford another couple hundred! May be worth it to not worry about missing anything
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