Wedding Reception Guide

want to Spend more time with your guests? “Yes, please!”

In my article about the Pros & Cons of having a First Look I touched on the time you save later in the day that can be used to spend more time with your guests. Whether you decide to have a first look or not, I’m always one for encouraging people to spend as much time with their guests as possible.
If you do that first look – Awesome, ceremony is done, you get to hang out with people straight away. Get yourself a bite to eat, a drink to down and we’ll round up the families for photos during the canapés. Another added bonus here is you’ll get to enjoy the music from the band/musicians you hired with that hard earned money.

On the flip, if you don’t do the first look things will go slightly differently because we’ll try and get family photos done straight away. If things have been planned well and time permits I then like to let the couple & bridal party chill with a drink and nibbles before we start taking photos together. 5-10 minutes for that is ample chill time. Making that time to chill makes a HUGE difference in keeping things relaxed and the vibe good. The following 45-50 minutes we’re doing these photos, should be a whole lot of fun. I don’t want things to feel like a chore. Time spent together should be awesome and good photos will stem from those good times. I’ll also do my absolute best to get everyone back to the canapés before the reception time. That doesn’t always happen, as timings can often blow out, but please know this is a big priority for me.

RECEPTION ENTRANCES

This could be an unpopular opinion – but if you’re looking for a way to lose 30 minutes of your reception then have a reception entrance! They’re a huge time killer and if I’m honest…a little weird too.

A lot of venues still push this ‘reception introduction’ – so most couples think it’s something that they just ‘have’ to do.  But at my wedding, I believed – “that if there is someone who is in this room who doesn’t know I am, that I have to be introduced to, then we have a problem here”.  So we just walked in casually with our guests from canapés to reception.

Let’s lay it all out here. You schedule your reception to start at 6:30 pm.  The coordinator will then push to have the bridal party and couple back in the ‘bridal suite’ by about 6:20 pm, while they usher all the guests inside.  This never goes to plan and will blow over the 10 minutes. I’ve been to a lot of weddings; I can tell you this always takes longer than expected.  Let’s say everyone is seated by about 6:40.  You’ll then get introduced after the MC’s opening spiel that hopefully won’t take too long.  By the time you and the bridal party are seated, that’s going to be closer to 6:50.  You’ve then just blitzed, on average, about 30 minutes of precious reception time away from your guests and yourself on your wedding day, all for the sake of being introduced to people who already know you haha.

Don’t do an introduction and just meander in casually with your guests, and you then take this 30 minutes back into your own hands.

Turn the coin around.  That is 100% my opinion.  If you want to do an introduction, because you have a particular song to play, or you want that rockstar moment because it’s your wedding day, then by all means.  DO IT!  It’s your wedding day!  Or skip the introductions for the whole bridal party, and just have an intro for the two of you. Make sure you just do what makes you happy

It’s industry standard for me to be fed at the reception and I do appreciate a meal and quick sit down.  I’m usually seated with other suppliers that attend the reception such as DJ, band, video guy etc. I do love meeting people though so if you’d like to place with on the end of a table with some of your guests I’d love that and will feel extra special. 🙂

That is also pretty important – and I love venues that get it (some just don’t unfortunately)  But I also sincerely appreciate it when I’m fed at the same time as the bridal party. I really don’t feel entitled to this, for me it just makes the most practical sense as it’s the only time of the day I don’t take photos. During meals; taking pictures when people are eating?  Yeah that’s a bit weird right?

So if I can be fed at the start, not 30 minutes after the bridal party, it makes sure I’m fed and watered and ready to photograph any events that occur while you guys are done, but the last people might still be eating.  That could be your first dance, speeches, kick-arse sunset photos etc. There’s nothing more annoying than being fed a significant amount of time after every guest, (which I’m not photographing because they’re eating) then by the time I get my main meal and have one bite, the next formality is announced, and I’ve got to get back up to photograph that.  My food is then taken away when I’m gone because the venue thought I didn’t want it.  (This still happens about two weddings out of ten, argh!)

Organising this with your venue or catering team in advance and trust me you’ll have a happy wedding photographer, and you’ll also get more photos because I’m not just sitting around waiting for a meal at this time.  Because as soon as you guys are up and about after your meals, so am I.

I don’t have any dietary requirements either.

MUSIC

At my own wedding, music was a huge priority for me. I’ve played the drums since I was 10 years old, studied music all through school and played in bands in some form since I can remember. I love music and it’s such an important part of a celebration. Especially a celebration of life and love. At a reception, music has the potential to make or break the vibe so choose wisely. Musicians are worth every cent in my opinion.
I’ve got a bunch of friends in the industry that you should check out on my recommended suppliers page. I know for a fact they won’t play love ballads all night. An epic band or DJ or both even, will get all your family and friends, including Grandma (the only person I TRULY love seeing dance) up on the d-floor tapping their toes.