Like the other posters say, three hours is excessive. I had a friend who did that at here wedding a few years back. The ceremony was at one church and then the reception was at a hall in another location scheduled to start a couple of hours after the wedding. No one had anywhere to go so most of the guests wound up sitting on the hall’s steps waiting for the reception to start. Not the ideal way to treat your guests. (and entirely unintentional on my friend’s part, she just didn’t think it through)
I think disappearing for about an hour is OK as long as you have a place for the guests to be with food and drink. But if you really want ornate, time consuming photos, I think it’s up to you to schedule them for a time when you’re not making hundreds of people who have flown across the country to see you wait.
Actually, I should have made myself clearer. When I said 'the reception started about 3 hours after the wedding" what I meant was the wedding started at 2 and the reception started at 5 or some such. The actual amount of time between the end of the wedding and the start of the reception was more like an hour and a half or so.
If it were up to me, I’d have the reception in the parish hall, immediately after the wedding, but my church doesn’t do that, oddly enough. That’s why I need a separate reception site, but I don’t see the point in going to a third site for photos.
You know, I honestly hadn’t given much thought about where I’ll be getting dressed on the day itself. We’ve been distracted by more pressing matters recently, so I’m only just starting to think about the logistics while he deals with other things. I think I need a lot more information on this.
Interestingly enough, this is quite common in Orthodox Jewish weddings. Many people have the custom of the bride and groom not seeing each other for up to a week before the wedding. As a result, pictures of the couple together cannot be taken before the wedding.
Very often, the photographers will do the “his side” and “her side” pictures before the wedding and, after the ritual seclusion of the couple, do the “together” pictures while the first course is being served.
If it’s not important for you, then there’s no need to do a third location. As a photographer, I like going to another location in order to give the pictures variety and because the ceremony and reception locations aren’t always the most exciting. Plus most of my clients want nice portraits in a nice place in addition to the documentary-type coverage for the rest of the day. They usually have a location in mind. No, it’s not necessary. It’s up to the client in the end. I’d say about 75% of my weddings have a third location, 25% don’t and we do something on the ceremony or reception grounds.
I’ve been to so many weddings where the guests stand around, not even able to eat, until the bride and groom are done with the damned pictures. Personally, when/if I get married, we’re taking all the pictures we can get before the ceremony. Care if he sees me in my dress? Screw that noise. We’ll be all looking our best, we’ll be fresh, we’ll take all the pictures we can. (If Grandma and Aunt Pearl aren’t there before the ceremony, we’ll grab them after.)
If there’s a truly compelling reason not to go right to the reception, like the “both sets of parents had photos in same botanic garden and hours are set in stone” thing upthread, make sure your guests are eating. Most people have been taught not to eat before the wedding couple gets there; if you want them to eat make sure everybody knows it.
I once waited four hours. The freaking bar wasn’t even open. We almost left, and we had come a long way to be there.
My daugter’s wedding was at 11:00 am (Catholic). The wedding party went to another site afterwards for wedding pictures, which turned out beautiful by the way. The guests, 3/4 of whom were from out of town, went to the hotel where the reception was held and all of the out of town guests were staying. We had a hospitality suite set up at the hotel with drinks and snacks. We also had small toys and coloring books and crayons for the little kids. Some of the older folks took a nap. The reception started at 5 and went on till 10. I don’t think anyone left early and we had no complaints.
I’ve been to several weddings in eastern Ohio where the wedding was at 1:00 or so, and the reception didn’t start until 5:00. I hate this schedule passionately. I was even a bridesmaid in one. After the ceremony we spent about an hour or more taking pictures, then went to the empty reception hall and ate dinner all by ourselves. When the guests arrived, the bride and groom went around visiting people while they ate. The whole thing was completely awkward. If you’re a guest that lives nearby, you can go home for the few hours before the reception, or if you’re out of town and have a hotel room you can go take a nap or something (?), but if you’re not local and not out of town (as was my case) you basically hang around Barnes and Noble in your wedding finery sipping coffee and watching your watch. Blech.
If you take pictures after the ceremony, keep it short and have something for your guests to nosh on. I went to one where they didn’t even have a place for people to sit, and the bride and groom went back to their room and “took a nap” for an hour after pictures and before the reception. (some say they certainly weren’t napping - I don’t care what they were doing, they left everyone hanging for two hours and I hate them both.) Gap between end of ceremony and reception opening was two hours, wherein we were left standing around the hotel lobby.
I’ve been to a wedding where the guests had hors d’oeuvres while the photos were taken, sort of a pre-reception with snacks hearty enough to help us stave off the hunger, but not so much that we wouldn’t be hungry for dinner. Is that a possibility? If not, and what you really want is pictures of yourselves in your Wedding clothes, then why not have it done before the ceremony as others have said? If it is important to have the pictures taken after the ceremony, say with the license and minister though, you might have to think of some way to keep the guests entertained while the photos are shot. Maybe have most of them done before, and a few set shots after? That might work?