Where did/will you take your cocktail hour photos?

Picture-taking can take a lot of time, so I suggest staying on site if you can. If you have a good photographer, they can usually get creative with what they have to work with. I didn’t think we would be able to take nice photos at our reception venue, but our wonderful photographers found this meadow-like area behind the building and took some of the most beautiful photos there!


I was in a wedding not too long after mine where the bride wanted to go off site for photos in between the ceremony and reception. There was a large gap in between the two, but it was still a very stressful endeavor and we didn’t really get to eat a decent lunch and rest up in between. All sites were very far from each other, so it was also a lot of driving that day, adding to the stress….

Our ceremony and reception were in the same location (a historic home) and we took photos at the front of the property, while cocktail hour was in the house. We also took some in the upstairs area/on the stairs (an area that was off-limits to guests). I also recommend not going off site if you don't have to.

We also had our ceremony and reception in the same location. We knew one hour probably wouldn’t be enough time to go offsite, so we did all offsite photos with our wedding party prior to the ceremony. Then did just did on-site photos during cocktail hour.

We want to enjoy as much of cocktail hour as ee can. The plan is to do majority of pictures prior to ceremony. Then a few photos at the start of cocktail hour.


But it may change by the time we have the wedding.

As others have said, I would definitely consider doing a first look! That way you can relax and take time to get your photos done where you want, and then come back and freshen up before the ceremony. You can also bring in the family and bridal party so you can get those pics taken care of in advance, too.

Our ceremony and reception was at the same place. We were able to take photos outside in front of the venue during cocktail hour. It was a beautiful venue inside and outside that we were able to take them outside. I didn't want to travel in between ceremony and reception bc of time. You may want to do your photos before the ceremony to give you time.

Our ceremony and reception were in two different locations, so we had to travel regardless, but I picked a spot right by our reception venue. We put together a timeline with generous timeframes for pictures, travel time, and even added a cushion, and we still got to the reception venue later than planned. There was a bit of a cushion since guests had to travel from the ceremony to the reception, but I probably would have stayed close by if everything was at the same spot.