Have a Cocktail

Cocktail Hours are a great way to give your guests something to do while you are working on trying to do your portraits. I would day 99.9% of our couples choose to have a cocktail hour so I won’t sell you on why you should have one, but I will give you a few tips.

First, you want to make sure you have the cocktail hour in a completely separate room and closed off from the reception area. This will allow Chris to run in and out as the staff is finishing up the details, lighting candles, etc. He usually bounces back and forth between cocktail hour and the reception details. If you are having a cooler month wedding and are planning to have cocktail hour outside, you will never be able to stop people from going inside where it’s warmer.

Second, consider the space. I have seen the Morris Inn cocktail hour hold a lot of people, though there is no physical possibility of having more than a handful of cocktail hour shots. The threshold, I’ve seen, being 200+ in that tiny hallway.

Lastly, you might not be able to move about in a tighter cocktail hour location with your dress (especially bustled) so ask to see pictures of the cocktail hour from the venue to make sure it’s not too crowded if you are hoping to go to the cocktail hour for any length of time.