Grace + Gavin
Robert Carr Chapel – TCU
If your church has specific time slots to choose from, you may wonder which one is best for your ceremony. Things you’ll want to take into account are 1. Are you doing a first look? 2. Do you plan on serving your guests dinner at the reception? 3. What time of year are you getting married and is natural light important to your ceremony?
Grace and Gavin were married at Robert Carr Chapel at TCU. Robert Carr is a great example of church time slots and how to navigate them. Robert Carr has 3 times that you can choose for your ceremony – morning, early afternoon and evening. Most of the time the evening time is going to be the best bet but think about the points above. Are you going to do a first look? If so, and if you want to make sure your first look is at the church you’ll want to schedule your ceremony start time with enough time to get all of the photos you want done beforehand plus 30 minutes for guests to arrive. Another option is doing your first look at another location until you gain access to your church. Remember, we always want to be respectful of the other weddings happening before and after yours. This is why it’s important to time things just right.
Why would it matter if you plan on serving dinner at your reception? How does that effect your ceremony time? Well, if you choose a very late time slot with a late ceremony your guests may not be getting dinner until 9:00 at night so you might want to make sure you have plenty of hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour to hold your guests over until dinner. If you choose the earliest time, you may have a gap between your ceremony and reception. In this case, you may want to let your guests know they will have a break before your reception and dinner begins. You could also choose to have more of a lunch reception with appetizers and cocktails and end the day early.
And third, what time of year do you plan on getting married? Remember that the sun sets around 5:30 in the winter so if you choose a later time to have your ceremony, there’s a good chance you will not have any natural light coming through the windows during the service. Just something to think about.
One trick to making sure you have absolutely everything you want is to ask your church if you can buy out 2 time slots. This way you have an earlier access time to your church and plenty of time and breathing room to get all of the photos you are wanting.
Whatever you choose, just make sure you discuss with your photographer on what the best plan is for your ceremony time slot!
-Amanda
Wedding Day Partners:
Campos Media
