All about cocktail hour

Let’s chat all about cocktail hour! Most weddings have something in between the ceremony and reception called the cocktail hour. While most guests know what this means (tehe…drinks and food), many wedding couples have no idea what happens for them during this process.

What does this mean for the couple?

Well, it kind of depends on how the first part of your day goes. If you schedule a lot of the photos to happen before the ceremony (hint: first look!), then it makes this process a bit different and easier. For example, if you did the traditional method, this would mean that you save all the photos for after the ceremony. This includes wedding party (bride and bridesmaids; groom and groomsmen; and all the wedding party together), as well as family photos. We highly suggest building a shot list to help your photographer know what photos they need to get, as well as to make sure you get all the pictures that you want with the people you want.

So, while your guests are off enjoying the cocktail hour and the kickoff to the party, the wedding couple is typically taking lots of pictures. However, if a couple does a first look, a lot of these photos can get done before the ceremony. This is becoming a new trend that is preferred by couples, and we completely understand the hype! Being able to enjoy all the cocktail hour (or at least part of it) is so much fun for the couple! They get to chat with their guests, spend more time enjoying the people around them, and truly feel like a guest at their own wedding (highly recommend!).

Fun cocktail hour pieces

To spruce up your cocktail hour, there are so many fun activities you can add on. The most common one that we see is lawn games. Another fun thing I’ve seen is a game called Guess the Guest. It’s essentially a trivia game that gets your guests mingling with each other and venturing out! If you want to make this even more fun – the table with the most correct answers gets served their dinner first!

When Daisy + Sun works with the couple to build their timeline, this is something we go over in great detail. We want to be sure that you get to actually enjoy your party!