Friday night fall wedding...need advice

Ok I have been going back and forth with my ceremony times for so long now. Here are my choices: should I have my ceremony at 330 on a friday because i can at least walk out of my church while the sun is setting and ppl can throw the pedals, etc. and take pics really quickly during sunset with the risk of not many ppl showing up OR
should i have it at 430 and come outside when its dark and have no outside pics with FH and I and bridal party etc...but with more ppl being able to make it??

Any ideas or suggestions?

PS: cocktail hour is at 730 regardless of ceremony time..

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I would go for the 3:30 ceremony. I think the sunset will make for GREAT pictures!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

i am in the same situation! We totally chose the 3:30 because of the picture op's. the people who love you will be there, and 330 isnt so so bad, people will leave work early and what not to see you, and then go home to get ready for the reception. i also want to take a bunch of pics between the ceremony and the reception and i didnt want to miss the CH

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

If I were you I'd go with 3:30 it's only an hour difference and who's important to you will be there.

I feel your pain. I was going through the same thing and finally came to the realization that all my outside pictures with FH are going to be in the dark. My church is at 6pm and that's the only time that was available. My FH thinks we should see each other before the ceremony to get some shots but I refuse to do that!!

Good luck

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I would go for a 3:30 ceremony... One of the reasons we chose a Sunday afternoon was we wanted to be able (God willing it doesn't rain) take tons of pics outside and to be able to see the beautiful fall foliage. Are you willing to take pics prior to the ceremony of the two of you and your BP? My friend did that a couple of years ago. She did most pics then because she wanted a nighttime wedding, but daytime pics with fall foliage...

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I'd say go with 3:30. I don't think the hour will make much of a difference. The people who really want to be at your ceremony will be there regardless of the time, and the people who plan to skip your ceremony will skip it regardless of the time. The people in the middle - whose decision to attend will depend on the time - will not amount to a huge number.

Sunset is such a beautiful time for pictures! If the church is giving you the option on the ceremony time, then go for whatever you want and don't worry about your guests. They will all be at your fabulous reception to celebrate with you, no matter what time the ceremony is!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I don't think an hour will make a difference for guests bc they will still have to leave work early. I would have it at 3:30 so you can get some good pictures!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I would definitely do the earlier time!!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

Is there any chance of taking pics from 3:30 at the church before the ceremony (if you don't want to see FH, you and the BP could do pics alone, and then he could take them with his....) and then you could have a few outdoor pics in the early evening....if not then I would probably have the ceremony at 3.30...the hour shouldn't make that much difference to people....don't stress.

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I say go with the 3:30 ceremony - its your day, you should do what you would make you most happy!

There is not much of a difference between the 2 times so I would go with what pleases you and your FH!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I'm getting married on the 23rd. And my ceremony is at 3pm... our CH is at 7... I know how you feel... I want daytime pics too!!!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

Go with the 3:30 ceremony...You want to be able to come outside & have the option to take pictures outside if the weather permits!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

My church was 3:30 on Nov. 7th and I will tell you that one hour will make a HUGE difference in the amount of light you will have afterwards for photos. If I could do it over, I would have had it at 3:00 - I had the option, but wasn't thinking of the losing light issue when I booked the church.

Another thing I would recommend is take ALL of your outdoor photos at the church if possible. We did not have a receiving line, in order to try to save time, so we could take a few photos outside of church and then try to get to the Swan Club ASAP to take some outdoor photos there. We got there between 5 and 5:30 and we had already lost most of the light. I sort of wish we had done all of the outside photos at the church, since the light was pretty good there.

So, I would say do 3:30, like the other people said, if people are going to take off from work for the ceremony, one hour won't make a difference. We had ours at 3:30 on Sunday and even then, some people didn't come to the church - you can't please everyone. Those closest to you will make it whenever you schedule it.

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

Our ceremony was at 3:00 on Friday Nov 5th:) It was originally 3:30 and I am so glad we changed it. We didn't get out until close to 4 after the receiving line and it was still light enough to take pics. 4:30 will be too late. Definitely pick 3:30. We took all of our outside pics at the church also. I highly recommend that. Most of our pics you can't even tell where we are. It looks like a park. All the photographer needs is a couple of trees and you look like you are at a park. You want to have some pics outside

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

OMG! I guess 330 is the way to go. LOL. For those who did have it at 330-what time does the sun start to set in the beginning of November??? If I don't have a receving line I can get out at 430 and have a half and hour to take pics outside

ETA: If we aren't doing the receiving line, do we go into the front of the church and wait for people to go outside and then we leave? How does that work?

Message edited 6/8/2005 2:10:52 PM.

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

3:30!! as it is usally weddings don't start on time plus recieving lines etc. Whoever wants to be there will be there - 4:30 isnt THAT much of a difference anyway so most the people who want to come will be taking off of work as it is.

I think starting at 4:30 is too late.
Plus this gives you better and more picture time!! something you can NEVER have enough of!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

If this works, this is at about 4:30 outside the church. I noticed in some of my photos that the lights outside the church were already on! Sorry, I don't have any scanned photos from later.

What we did upon exiting, was we went out the main aisle, then went around to the side door, and waited there for a few minutes. Then, when most of the guests were out of the church, we took a couple of photos on the altar with the priest and BP, and then walked out to take some photos on the steps, then down the steps.

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Message edited 6/8/2005 2:25:42 PM.

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

On your wedding day:
Sunset 4:47 p.m.
End civil twilight 5:16 p.m.
.
We thought about daylight issues and selected 3pm church. Imagine..our cocktail hour doesn't officially begin until 8:30pm and we couldn't move it up. Our sunset is 6:15pm.

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

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Posted by OctRo05

On your wedding day:
Sunset 4:47 p.m.
End civil twilight 5:16 p.m.
.
We thought about daylight issues and selected 3pm church. Imagine..our cocktail hour doesn't officially begin until 8:30pm and we couldn't move it up. Our sunset is 6:15pm.

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Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

Is a 730 CH too late for a 3 or 330 ceremony? and also does the time of the sunset mean that the sun is beginning to set at that time or its already dark? What is civil twlight??? Sorry for all the ques i am so clueless

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

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Posted by divabride

I would go for the 3:30 ceremony. I think the sunset will make for GREAT pictures!

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Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

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Posted by RVCBride

Is a 730 CH too late for a 3 or 330 ceremony? and also does the time of the sunset mean that the sun is beginning to set at that time or its already dark? What is civil twlight??? Sorry for all the ques i am so clueless

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Message edited 6/8/2005 2:53:23 PM.

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

go for the 3:30...you will be surprised how many people will show up....

Dont worry about it!

Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

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Posted by rosaria

go for the 3:30...you will be surprised how many people will show up....

Dont worry about it!

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Re: Friday night fall wedding...need advice

I wanted to tell you all that I just called all my vendors to change the times and my mistake was not speaking with bride # 2...aka my mother. She said that it's way too early and there is nothing for the OOT guests who are not staying over to do for that big of a gap. IS that supposed to change my whole ceremony time? I dont exactly want my mom going back home to entertain guests on my wedding day but I can't imagine not having those beautiful pics on my wedding day either for guests that I don't even really know that well. Maybe I should jsut change my CH now to 7 instead of 730. UGH This is the most frustrating part. Gown was a cinch, booked all my vendors the first time I met them. Ceremony and reception timing is the biggest pain!