What most couples miss
This is the most overlooked moment in a wedding day
Some moments you can plan for, most of them you can’t. Wedding days are full of scripted and unscripted moments. As a photographer that enjoys photographing the more candid and unscripted moments, there is one part of the day where you can kind of bank on those awesome unscripted moments to pour in. That moment immediately follows the ceremony. Typically, you transition straight into signing the marriage license but if you rush this, you are turning down a tsunami of love that’s waiting for you on the other end of the aisle. All of the emotional congratulations that follow immediately after the ceremony are often some of the most beautiful and genuine moments in an entire wedding day.
Why does this get cut short or skipped entirely?
Cocktail hours are famously hectic. You’re guests are getting acquainted over drinks while you are sprinting through family, wedding party, and newly wed portraits. There is a lot that gets done in a short span of time and while it makes sense to try and optimize that time for those important portraits, I highly recommend taking a few minutes (Or ideally, including about 10 minutes in your timeline) to have a moment of celebration with those closest to you. So many of my favorite images have come from this short little burst of congratulations.
So how do you make this work?
The larger your wedding is, the more intricate your timeline is likely to be. More people means bigger scale, and bigger scale means less flexibility. Regardless of how big your wedding is, or how crazy you think your timeline might be, these are the vendors you need to coordinate with ensure that don’t miss out on this.
Planner/Coordinator Just let them know what you are hoping to experience here. If you think you need the full 60 minutes for portraits, just make your cocktail hour 70 minutes.
Officiant Most professional officiants always seem to be in a rush to leave. While I find that annoying, it is what it is. If you take off to sign your marriage license, that moment is gone. Everyone will have been turned around and directed to cocktail hour. If it is an issue for your officiant that they will be leaving 10 minutes later, just get a different officiant.
Catering Catering companies live and die by their schedule. If they are told that food is being served at 6:00pm, they aren’t going to be happy with serving you cold food at 6:30pm. I know this one sounds a bit obvious, but if your cocktail hour runs late, you may end up eating a lukewarm steak on your wedding day.
I know this must feel like a weird topic to devote an entire article to but trust me. Some of your fondest memories can come from this silly sliver of time. Your wedding day should be about moments like this. Don’t cut them short for the sake of a slightly cleaner timeline.
