How much time for photos between church and reception?

730 is a bit late but if you're confident that it won't deter your guests tgen go for it. I would think at least one hour is needed for photos.

There should not be a gap between of more than 30 minutes for travel time from one location to the next. Any longer than that and you will have people not show up. Try to take as many photos before the ceremony as you can. Friday weddings are very common with high attendance rates and no reason for you to be rushed.


You're either going to have to keep the church and get a different reception venue that allows an earlier start time (4pm ceremony is normal and shouldn't last longer than 30 mins plus travel) or marry at the dream reception venue and forgo the church.

With plenty of advance notice(save the dates and invites) guests can easily make it to a late afternoon Friday event

Doing a first look should make photos after your ceremony go quicker. I would ask your photographer how much time she/he will need. It’s typically 1 hour.
A 7:30 cocktail how is pretty late. That puts your guests not eating until at least 8:30, which is a very late dinner!

I think you are going to feel rushed, also as a side note as a guest who may have to work partially on that Friday it may seem like a lot to wait that long between the ceremony and reception. Lets say your church does 4 pm and ceremony is over by 5 if it takes me 30 minutes to drive to the venue I'd have to wait around or 2 hours for cocktail hour to start. For you that is taking pictures, etc. the time slot may seem perfect but its something to consider. Lets say it starts at 5 and its all done by 6ish (this is just an estimate, my ceremony was about 20 minutes but that didn't include when we walked in or out, all in all maybe 40 minutes, not in a church). So done by 6ish, guests drive over to venue, 45 minutes to one hour to kill not as bad but again something to think about and maybe have something there to entertain them meanwhile. If the ceremony starts at 5 I'd imagine you'd be rushing terribly because people linger to take photos and chat and by the time you realize it a big chunk of time has passed. Also if you run past the 7:30 cocktail hour time because of your photos what will happen? My cocktail hour started at 6:30 and I was nervous that people would eat and immediately leave because by the time dinner was over it was about 9 pm. They didn't leave early which was a worry because my wedding was on a Sunday but also many stayed til past 11. I hope this help, food for thought!

730 is late start for the cocktail hour- that means guests don’t eat until 830ish. If I was a guest, eating that late, I’d be hangry!

Are you planning on having the photos taken at the church? I can tell you my brother and his wife didn't do any photos ahead of time so cocktail went way longer than it should have and their photographer pulled them from the reception to take photos so they didn't get to enjoy their reception. Also, photos are normally taken during cocktail hour so I don't know why would would wait to start cocktail hour. My advice is to have cocktail hour start a half hour after the ceremony is scheduled to conclude. Then decide if you want photos at the church or the reception venue. My advice would be at the reception venue so that when you are done with photos you can immediately start the reception. I would also recommend taking as many photos prior to the ceremony. For example, you with just your bridesmaids and your fiance with just his groomsmen. That way after the ceremony you will only need full group photos rather than all of your photos. I would also take as many family photos ahead of time as possible. So if you want one of just you with your parents that can easily be done in advance. This will cut down on time spent after the ceremony.

I would get AS MANY photos done before the ceremony as possible if you are not doing a first look - you and your girls, you and your family, your FH and his groomsmen, and him and his family. That is a huge chunk of pictures that can be knocked out. If you have two photographers, then you'll be even greater on time.

This is just an example:
4:00 - Ceremony (assuming an hour long ceremony if it's at church)
5-5:15 - guests linger and get in cars to leave to drive to venue
5:45 - guests show up at venue and giving wiggle room for maybe traffic
6:00 - cocktail hour starts

And if you start pictures with your immediate families/wedding party right away at 5:00 at the church while people are driving to head to cocktail hour, you might even catch the last half or more of your cocktail hour without needing pictures, because you already knocked them out.

Have you thought of maybe doing your wedding on a three day weekend, such as Presidents Day or a President's Birthday holiday? Your wedding could be on a Monday, but at least it's a three day weekend.

Otherwise, you could do cocktail hour at 7:30 pm, but that's a bit late imo, and you also have to be careful in choosing a reception area that isn't too far from the ceremony, otherwise people just won't go to your reception.

Another thing I recommend is doing a first look as soon as possible, and try to get a huge chunk of photos done before your ceremony, that way you'll get a few day time shots as well. What I'm doing is getting my first look and my bridal party shots done in the same time frame, so I can get as many pictures as I want.

I don’t think 730 is late. However, it seems like there will be some “dead time” after the ceremony. If your ceremony at the church begins at 5pm and lasts an hour, guests will arrive at the reception location around 6:30 (after the drive). So what will your guests do for an hour while waiting for the 7:30 cocktail hour to begin? Hopefully you didn’t select the 4pm start time because that would be an even larger gap. To me, having a gap in the evening is more of an issue than a 7:30 PM cocktail hour.


As for the length of your photos, your specific photographer will know the best. But in general, t’s going to depend on different factors. How many people are in your wedding party? How many family members will be taking photos? Do you plan to only take photos in the church or also take pics at an offsite location? Are you and your FH doing “first look” photos? Do you plan on taking pictures outside before it gets dark? Etc.

Hi Carmela,

I know you expressed the desire to get married at the church, but I wonder about having your wedding at the venue??? To spend the money you will be spending, you might want to be there as long as possible to enjoy it. If you got married at the venue at 4, pictures could be done by 5:30 or so. People can go right into the cocktail hour while pictures are taken. Then dinner would follow and you would make your grand entrance while the guest are seated.

Just a thought for you. I have done many weddings and the time goes by so quickly, enjoy every moment!! Have the best day ever!! Most importantly........Be as present as possible!!

Terri Brown

I think it depends on your overall plan for photos. Do you plan on taking some bridal party photos before your ceremony? Or do you plan on having a first look where you could get a majority of your couple photos done early? My husband and I had a first look before our wedding and that's where we took the majority of the photos of just the two of us. We also took photos with our bridal party then too. I took my photos with my bridesmaids and he took the photos with his groomsmen before the ceremony. I took photos with my grandparents and my husband took photos with his parents before the ceremony as well. We opted not to have a cocktail hour so after the ceremony we took the remainder of our photos with our entire wedding party together and our families. This worked out perfectly for us because we got our remaining photos done after the ceremony in the time it took our wedding guests to move from the outside ceremony site to the indoor reception area and find their seats.