When to Plan Ceremony in Late oct

Date twins!! 🤗 Not sure how helpful this is, but we are starting our ceremony earlier in the day because the weather can very easily be unpredictable in late October in PA. It may be a nice warm day out or it might be cold and snow (it snowed the same weekend last year, so fingers crossed 😬). So our ceremony will begin at 2 and the reception will be over at 8. That way we can still get daylight photos, golden hour photos, have dinner at a relatively normal time, and still get our sparkler send off pics done in the dark. Our ceremony will be outside and our reception is in a barn. If it happens to be cold, then we will be done right around the time that the cold nighttime air starts to kick in, so my guests won’t have to stick around in the cold or leave early because of it either. Good luck!!!

You're getting married on my birthday/bridal shower/bachelorette day!!! Congratulations!!

Hey Melissa!!

Would it be possible to have your ceremony finish at around 5:45 PM, this will allow your guests time to vacate the ceremony area, meet and greet with friends/family and then head into the hall at 6 PM? That would allow you and your wedding party to start taking photos at 5:55/6PM and still get some daylight before sunset? You would also get some beautiful shots at golden hour when the sun is beginning to set.

Hmmm where are you located? You can incorporate a cocktail hour outside to offset when they can go into the reception area. That way you could have the ceremony start at 4:30, have cocktail hour from 5 to 6 while you take pictures, then they go into the hall at 6 pm!

I'm from Indiana, our reception hall opens at 6pm for guests and from what I understand the bar will be opened at that time. It's all included in the meal package. Hoping the weather holds up.

How do you feel about doing the bulk of your photography before your ceremony? It would mean doing a first look, but then you could get literally just about all your photos done before the ceremony starts.

View Quoted Comment I've thought about it, but not sure. Only because I've smacked a ton of traditions already Haha so I kinda want to wait til after the ceremony