Sunset Wedding Photos Shortened Cocktail Hour

This is something you need to speak with your photographer about if you already have one. If you don't have one yet you need to ask them about this and ask if they're comfortable taking evening photos. You should ask to see if they have any in their portfolio as well.

This is an extremely tight timeline in my opinion. You know that usually once the ceremony is over you don't just rush off to take pictures. Cocktail hour should be a hour, if you can't afford for an extra 1/2 hour of apps and booze you have other problems in your budget.

I was in a wedding and they had their ceremony at 5 and the bride and groom just dipped out of the reception to grab a couple sunset pictures. It's hard to time properly, so I think it worked well for them. They were probably gone about 20 minutes and it was at the end of dinner so they weren't really missed. If your photographer has the flexibility, then they can grab you at the optimal time.

A half hour isn't really long enough for cocktail hour especially if you are hoping to take all of your pictures during cocktail hour. I would recommend doing a first look, so that you can get the majority of your photos done before the ceremony. If you don't finish before the ceremony, you can take the remaining ones during cocktail hour. I probably wouldn't go shorter than 45 minutes for cocktail hour and that's honestly not long enough to get all of your formal pictures done unless you only want a few. Is there somewhere else where you can save money rather than cutting out cocktail hour?

Thanks for the responses so far!

One of the reasons I picked our photographer was because I was a big fan of her sunset photos. Upon speaking to her, she stated that she loves taking photos during "magic hour", which is the hour right before the scheduled sunset. She also stated that what she likes to do immediately after the recessional is whisk the couple away for photos so they have some "alone" time as a newly married couple. The ceremony and reception are in the same location, so there won't really be any travel for our guests.

Part of the rationale behind a shortened cocktail hour is so we would serve fewer appetizers since a buffet dinner would be coming up anyway. We'd still have open beer/wine bar.

Hope this clarifies things!

One more clarification:

We are planning on having a first look and taking formal pictures during the ceremony. If we go this route, we would definitely take all family and wedding party pictures before the ceremony. Post ceremony, the only pictures we plan on taking before the reception are the sunset photos.

Yea you need to do longer than a 1/2 hour for the cocktail hour. Once you get away from everyone after the ceremony and make it to your designed location, photos are taken, and you start heading back that is more than likely more than a 1/2 hour right there. I think you need to bite the bullet on this so to speak and pony up the money for the extra 1/2 hour. Everyone knows that dinner will be coming, it's like that at every wedding.

ETA: You get to enjoy the cocktail hour too if you happen to make it there on time. I don't think you're budgeting yourself enough time.

Shortening your cocktail hour by a half hour isn't going to save you any money and it won't be enough time for you guys to get photos. So what would your guests do when you're out getting photos because it almost definitely will take you longer than a half hour.

Here is a sample list of the appetizers at our wedding (per person):

Chex pretzel mix $2.00

pinwheel sandwiches (1 per person) $2.50

house fried chips and fresh salsa $2.50

hummus on toasted croutons $2.75

crudités with dip $3.00

veggie tofu kabob $3.50

antipasti $3.50

stuffed mushrooms with herbs and cheese (2 per person) $3.50

premium cheeses with cracker assortment $3.50

Swedish or BBQ meatballs (2 per person) $3.50

My fiance is livid at the costs and stated, "I can get a whole sandwich for $5 at subway". Unfortunately, no outside food is allowed. Fortunately, the buffet menu is much more reasonable, which is why we went with this venue.

For a wedding with about 70-80 attendees, what would be reasonable for a 1 hour cocktail hour? His budget is about $300.

Thank you for the help. This is certainly stressing me out.

Eep! We are located near the California/Oregon border. We are paying $29/person for a buffet dinner with prime rib and salmon, hence my fiance's sticker shock that appetizers could cost up to half that amount.

More background: My fiance is a very introverted stereotypical engineer. He is not sociable. He doesn't like taking tons of pictures. Our timeline is very tight, but I anticipate that we won't be taking very many pictures. If he had this way, we would go straight into the reception from the ceremony, with no pictures and no cocktail hour.

We will just be dipping out of dinner for our sunset photos. but seriously speak to your photographer, let them dictate the photo timeline based on what you want from photos and then schedule everything else around that. also better to have extra time allotted for everything than be running late.

His budget is unrealistic. You need to cut the guest list or save more money.

Sticker shock can be scary. luckily our venue includes the hor d'ouveres (seriously i will NEVER be able to spell this word) in the price. We get 3 passed appetizers plus the buffet AND the beer/wine bar for just under $100/person. We also never would have been able to afford our caterer if they didn't have a special deal with our venue as they are the only caterer allowed to be there.

Upon speaking to my fiance, he is now proposing that we skip cocktail hour completely and go straight into dinner. Then duck out for sunset photos. I can't help but think NOT having cocktail hour, even if we go straight into dinner from the ceremony, is a big faux pas.

When I met with the venue's on-site coordinator, she recommended getting fewer appetizers. For instance, if I were to have 70 attendees, she recommended getting appetizers good for 50 people. This is to prevent waste and uneaten food. I'm not sure how I feel about potentially running out of food, since I've been told that running out is tacky. My fiance's stance is "If they run out, they run out. Dinner is being served soon anyway."

Blargh.

Your fiance needs to adjust his expectations. Usually cocktail hours s for your guests to have something to do while you're taking photos. This means you will now need to adjust your schedule to take ALL photos BEFORE the ceremony, family, close friends, bridal party....ect

you can duck out for your sunset pictures by yourselves with the photographer during dinner if needed.

As it stands, we're planning to take all the photos except the sunset ones before the ceremony, so going straight into the reception is a possibility. I guess my concern is that it would be considered tacky because our guests may expect cocktail hour. It also doesn't give them time to get a drink before the reception starts.

Of course, my fiance says that people can just get their drink during dinner and if they're unhappy about a lack of happy hour, that's their own problem. As my fiance likes to say, "This is one of many reasons I HATE weddings." I'm starting to almost feel the same. :/

If there are no photos right after the ceremony than you do not need a cocktail hour.

Take a deep breath hold it and let it out slowly. Repeat as necessary. There are times you're going to want to quit, trust me, I've been there. Pick and choose your battles, this is one i'd give in on. Not having a cocktail hour is not tacky if you move directly on to the dinner and reception.

Again cocktail hour is there for your guests to have something to do while they wait for photos to be done. Now if he starts suggesting cash bars and self catering....DIE ON THAT HILL