HOW LATE IS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER STAYING?

Some wedding photographers always stay until the end of your reception; their contract includes total coverage of your wedding celebration.


But many photographers stay only for a predetermined number of hours, depending on how many hours you've contracted for. That may mean they're scheduled to leave before your reception is scheduled to end. Sometimes, even before special moment such as the cake-cutting or bouquet toss take place.


Now, if you're aware of that and okay with that, so be it.


But sometimes what happens is that very early in the planning process, the wedding couple contract for X number of hours with their photographer, and much later in the planning process, when they finalize the reception schedule, they neglect to check whether the photographer's hours cover all the events they've scheduled.

It's easy to get mixed up about this, because your photographer's hours typically start BEFORE the event does, with pre-ceremony photos, and because you probably signed your deal with the photographer long before you worked out the timing of moments like your cake-cutting, bouquet toss, last dance, and so on.


My advice? Unless your budget forbids it, hire your photographer for the duration of the event. That avoids situations where someone has to choose between not having professional shots of some memorable moments or reshuffling the schedule on the fly to accommodate the photographer's departure time.

Another option is to schedule ALL the special moments early in the reception so as to take place within the photographer's slated time. But that to me seems like the tail wagging the dog.


Besides, at plenty of receptions all sorts of spontaneously fun -- and very photogenic -- things occur as the evening progresses. If your entertainment is going strong, you might miss having some great candid shots of your guests tearing it up on the dance floor if your photographer leaves before the end.

DANCING CONTINUOUSLY, OR WITH BREAKS?

Some wedding couples prefer scheduling ALL the special moments before general dancing starts. In this format, once the dance floor opens, there is nothing but uninterrupted dancing until the end of the evening.

Personally, I don't recommend that. I recommend scheduling ONE break roughly halfway through the dancing period -- typically after about one hour of dancing. During that break, we typically do the cake-cutting and bouquet toss. This break is also a suitable time for any additional toasts or thank-you remarks from the bride and groom. The idea is to have one, but not more than one, break in the dancing -- and group together a few special moments during that break.

On the other hand, I've DJ'd at some weddings where the schedule calls for multiple segments of general dancing -- such as a short dance set before dinner, or a dance set between the first and second courses or dinner -- followed by the standard, longer dancing period after dinner.

Personally, I don't recommend that either. It seems a bit herky-jerky to me. The guests are invited to take their seats and eat their salad, then they're told to get up and dance for a time, then asked to be seated again, and so on. I think the energy flow works best when guests are allowed enjoy their dinner in a leisurely fashion, perhaps with an occasional diversion such as toasts toward the end of the meal.

Also, a dance segment during the meal requires the DJ to raise the volume of the music for that time, which might not be appreciated by those guests who remain at their tables during that between-courses dance segment.

THE GRAND ENTRANCE - DON'T BLOCK THE VIEW

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that during a Grand Entrance, the people being introduced can immediately proceed to their seats or can remain standing on the dance floor, forming a sort-of "welcoming line" for the bride & groom's entrance.

If you choose the latter, and if you are doing your First Dance immediately after the Grand Entrance, make sure that the wedding party, while standing, is not blocking the guests' view of your First Dance.

For example, say your guests are seated to the left and right of the dance floor, with the head table or sweetheart table placed along the far edge of the dance floor (by far edge, I mean the edge further from the ballroom entrance). In that case, have the wedding party stand by that far edge -- not on the left or right edges of the dance floor. Again, this is just one example.

The key thing is, if the wedding party remains standing during your First Dance, position them so that everybody can watch your First Dance (rather than staring at the backs of the wedding party).

THE GRAND ENTRANCE - REMAIN STANDING OR SIT?

During a typical Grand Entrance, the DJ announces the wedding party and the married couple, as they enter main ballroom where guests are already seated.

There are lots of options concerning the Grand Entrance -- ways to personalize it -- and these will be discussed in other posts.

Here, I want to pinpoint something that sometimes isn't clarified until the last minute, and sometimes decided on the spot rather than considered beforehand.

It's simply this: After they are introduced, should each member of the wedding party proceed to his or her seat, or should they remain standing on the dance floor, forming a sort-of "welcoming line" for the bride & groom's entrance?

Either option is fine. But what's not so fine is to have your wedding party, as they're about to enter, confused and unsure as to just where to walk and whether they should stand or sit after they make their entrance. I've seen this many times -- that's why I mention it here!

So talk this over in advance with your DJ, your wedding planner, and/or your site coordinator and tell them your decision. That way, after getting everyone lined up, your DJ or planner/coordinator can clearly explain to the wedding party how to proceed during the Grand Entrance.

Slide Shows

Are you considering a photo presentation at your reception -- photographs tracing the lives of the bride and groom, compiled into a slideshow or montage on DVD or PowerPoint? Sometimes a musical soundtrack is added. A family members might put together a slideshow; some wedding photographers or hotel events staff offer them.

You can have the slideshow running on a continuous loop somewhere off to the side, for guests to view at their leisure. Or you can present it as a “show” front-and-center at a particular time while guests are seated.

Presenting it as a show gives you the emotional impact of an audience sighing or smiling as they view the photos. And you're sure all the guests see them.

But there are disadvantages. It adds yet another scheduled event to your reception, taking away guests’ time for simply enjoying themselves. And you risk the inconvenience and disruption of something going wrong. I don’t mean to give you something to worry about -- but I have seen all sorts of technical glitches impact these presentations! (The computer reboots, the program freezes, the DVD doesn't play, the monitor isn't set up properly, the projector isn't functioning ... )

Also, there are logistic issues.

-- Where do you place the screen or jumbo monitor in the ballroom so that all the tables have a good view?

-- Will the room need to be darkened?

-- Who will set up and operate the computer, DVD player, monitor, and/or projector? And will that person be there come "showtime" to troubleshoot?

-- Will you need to run the audio through the DJ’s sound system?

On the other hand, if you simply have the slideshow running off to the side somewhere on a monitor in a continuous loop, guests can view it at their leisure, and they can view it multiple times if they wish. And if there is a glitch, it doesn’t disrupt the main program.

CAKE-CUTTING TIME

Consider cutting and serving your wedding cake during a break in dancing, NOT right after dinner. Let’s say you have a 5:00 ceremony and a 6 to 10:00 reception (cocktails at 6:00, dinner at 7:00, dancing at 8:00). A good time for cake-cutting would be 9:00 – after about one hour of dancing.

Here's why.

What I call "energy flow" is a key to your reception's success. By the end of dinner, your guests have spent three hours watching your ceremony, standing around for cocktails, sitting down and eating. Now it’s time to get them up and moving -- to get that energy flowing!

If, instead, they continue to sit and eat cake, they might be less likely to get up and dance. After all that sitting and standing around, yet another serving of rich food is likely to make them feel drowsy, less energetic. (We all know that sleepy feeling after a huge meal.)

Also, it's considered rude to leave a wedding reception before cake-cutting, but permissible to leave anytime after. Cutting the cake roughly halfway through the dance period ensures all guests will stick around for at least the first hour of dancing -- even those who need to depart before the night is over (elderly relatives, parents of young children, guests with long drives home).

Of course, there may be reasons you or your caterer prefers to serve the cake immediately after dinner, and that's okay. But in my experience, a later cake-cutting works best.

Group Photos

Most wedding couples tell DJs "We're looking for someone who will keep the dance floor filled!" Favorable reviews of DJs often say "He kept the dance floor full all night long!"

Yet, sometimes during the dance period, the DJ is requested to interrupt the music and invite guests to leave the dance floor for group photographs. Things like: "Will all members of the extended Smith family please step outside on the patio for a group photo" or "All University of Virginia alumni, please meet in the corner of the ballroom for a group photo."

Those group photos are great. They'll give you wonderful pictures to look at in the years ahead. It's fun to see all those folks together in one shot.

But . . . keep in mind that every organized group photo during the dancing disrupts the dance floor. The spoken announcements interrupt the flow of the music. Most important, all those guests gathered for the group photo are guests unavailable for dancing.

Like so many things at your reception, it's all a matter of balance. I'm not saying dancing is more important than photos. It's just this: IF you want a full dance floor, schedule the group photos PRIOR to the start of dancing.

Group photos can be taken immediately before or after the ceremony, during the cocktail hour, or even immediately after the meal (and just prior to dancing). If it's not possible to get all the group shots by then, another option is to schedule the remaining group shots just before or just after the cake-cutting (since we're already taking a break from dancing for the cake).

I've DJ'd a couple of receptions recently where for prolonged periods during dancing, as many as one-third of the guests were off to the side posing for group photos. Needless to say, this significantly lowered what I call the "dance energy" for a portion of the allotted dance time.

Please believe me, I am not criticizing the photographers. Like the DJ, they're trying to do a great job, and like the DJ, they're responding to the planned or impromptu requests of the bride and groom and their friends and families. What I am doing is suggesting that there IS a trade-off here. Brides and grooms who highly prize a full dance floor need to consider this trade-off when thinking about the timing of group photos.