11d. Welcome Drinks & Wedding Photographs
Wedding Planning > Wedding Planning Guide > Wedding Day Schedule
Your Wedding in South Wales - Welcome Drinks and Wedding Photographs after Ceremony
- This is our Wedding Planner 'After Ceremony Welcome Drinks & Wedding Photography' Page. For more wedding planning help, click on Wedding Planner Guide Index or scroll down to the bottom of this page.
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Welcome Drinks
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These are normally served after the Ceremony, in the Nicolini Reception Lounge.
The bride, upon exiting the theatre (recessional) and upon preliminary photographs being taken upon emerging into the courtyard, then crosses the courtyard and enters the castle by the front entrance.
Your guests then exit the theatre into the courtyard also and similarly re-enter the building through the main entrance, to be greeted by the waiting Bride and Groom for the Welcome Drinks. This marks the start of your reception.
The bride, upon exiting the theatre (recessional) and upon preliminary photographs being taken upon emerging into the courtyard, then crosses the courtyard and enters the castle by the front entrance.
Your guests then exit the theatre into the courtyard also and similarly re-enter the building through the main entrance, to be greeted by the waiting Bride and Groom for the Welcome Drinks. This marks the start of your reception.
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Photographs
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Before the Wedding Breakfast and after the welcome drinks, an amount of time may be devoted to the Photographer. This is his time to organise you and your guests to best effect in the courtyard and gardens. Photographers will often over-run, for they will want to get the best shots, so you need to be aware of the preferred start time for the Wedding Breakfast, which comes next. You may tell your Photographer you have allowed an hour, but actually you need to allow two hours.
Photographers and Videographers
and Guests with cameras – who does what?
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The Unplugged Wedding
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An unplugged wedding is where you discourage your wedding guests from taking photos, to ensure they are 'in the moment', not buried with their heads in their iphone / notepad / other mobile device, checking the latest image they snapped, before looking up ready to snap the next image of you. For in doing this, they are actually rather ignoring YOU, the bridal couple.
Tourists do this when at a new attraction, so absorbed in capturing the moment on their camera, they lose the moment; they're not 'in the now'.
There is a slow movement in favour of the unplugged wedding, so have a look here for more useful thoughts on this:
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Photographers and Videographers
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When employing the services of a photographer, videographer or DJ (or any other supplier), it is commonplace that either and/or all may want to take pictures of the Bride and Groom to show that they “supplied services” at your event.
What you, as the Wedding Couple need to do, is to ensure that you are aware of who may want to take photographs, especially if each party is unaware of the other’s intentions.
You don’t want 3 sets of suppliers on the Dance Floor of your first dance all jostling around you for the best position – so you need to ensure that each supplier communicates with each other and you are aware as to who is going to be doing what and when.
However, there can be issues between photographers over ‘copyright’ – who owns the rights to the pictures?
And are you happy for one or more suppliers to use your wedding images to promote their business?
If you employ more than one person photographing the wedding, both a photographer and a videographer, consider who has priority for what and at what time of day?
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Photographer / Videographer
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1. Advise your Photographer if and when you are employing a videographer and or DJ.
2. Ask both your Videographer and Photographer to work together co-operatively and professionally, indeed to work with any other supplier including your DJ. (This should go without saying!)
3. Check issues of copyright between videographer and photographer and or DJ and ensure they seek your written permission as to what images/footage can be used and where and for what purpose.
4. Consider establishing fixed times for videos having priority and photography (still shots) having priority.
5. A photographer clearly has priority after the Ceremony for the still shots and group shots. This is his time of the day, when ‘the Photographer is King’ and all must co-operate and obey his command, so he can get the best shots for you. He knows what he needs and he has to demand he gets what he needs (everyone in the picture!) in order to do his job well.
6. A videographer should have priority if videoing speeches and the evenings romantic ‘first dance’. The video should not be interfered with by any Supplier moving around within shot, nor by any staff getting in the way and inadvertently ‘photo-bombing’ the film.
7. The SWEEP package includes videography in the evening and videos of the First Dance as part of the fee you have paid, but do ensure that each supplier is aware of this and if you do not wish this, then let the relevant suppliers know.
8. Couples will vary in how long they employ a photographer for as a longer day adds to the cost. We suggest Couples do not need to employ a Wedding Photographer for the whole day, if having the SWEEP package, as the evening is videoed for you within the Evening Entertainment Package.
9. If you want more still shots well into the evening, then employing your photographer for the evening maybe necessary, up to and including the First Dance.
And finally, loathe as I am to drive you off this wonderful website of ours, this article is well worth reading (so exit out of this link to come back to this page once you've read the below!):
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Floral arrangements - Theatre
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Out of sight and in the background, you need someone to quickly and discreetly move your own floral arrangements from the Theatre to the Reception Room. Using the same display in both the Ceremony venue and the Reception venue saves you money on the floral arrangements. Delegate this in advance to one of your relatives or a member of the staff.
Alternatively, our recommended supplier, Centre of Attention based in Brecon, can hire you an excellent white floral display which go on pedestals or on tables in the Ceremony Room (used in Ceremony Room only). They are in white silk, but perfect for the Ceremony and no one would ever know they are not 'real' flowers.
The displays just look fabulously extravagant and with real flowers such a display would probably cost anywhere between £700 and £1,000!
Alternatively, our recommended supplier, Centre of Attention based in Brecon, can hire you an excellent white floral display which go on pedestals or on tables in the Ceremony Room (used in Ceremony Room only). They are in white silk, but perfect for the Ceremony and no one would ever know they are not 'real' flowers.
The displays just look fabulously extravagant and with real flowers such a display would probably cost anywhere between £700 and £1,000!
Enjoy a Homely Welcome and Friendly Service at Craig y Nos Castle