Monthly Archives: March 2024

The Best Way To Get a Photo with All Your Wedding Guests: The Table Dash | A Wedding Photographer’s Guide

While you are meticulously planning all the details of your perfect wedding day (and guest list) there is a reception event you may want to consider, the table dash. This wedding trend will allow you to capture a fun photo with all of your wedding guests in less than five minutes.

The photo dash is curated between your DJ and me, usually after the grand entrance. During the length of one song, we sprint from table to table capturing a photo at each table. You get a photo with every wedding guest at your beautifully decorated tables but by the nature of doing it at a sprint, the photos are more fun, and candid and they take less time. An announcement has been made and everyone is already in their seats so you don’t have to worry about someone wandering off to the bar or the bathroom.

A Table Dash in Three Steps

  1. Choose the perfect song. You will want at least 3 minutes and 30 seconds. We have always been able to complete the dash inside of one song but if we didn’t finish we can always have the song start over.
  2. The DJ will make an announcement to have everyone take their seats. This insures that everyone is in their seats, no one is in the bathroom or at the bar.
  3. Your perfect song starts and we rush from table to table taking a photo with every guest at your wedding.

The result: You get a photo with all of your wedding guests and everyone has fun.

You can always go the traditional route of visiting every table during dinner. This does take significantly longer and there is no guarantee that everyone will be at the table for me to take a photo. If a friend or family member holds you up you might run out of time to visit every table. Additionally, there are generally people eating and dirty plates on the tables.

Ritz Charles Chapel and Garden Pavilion | Wedding Day

Sarah and Jack are absolutely lovely humans who were surrounded by adoring friends and family on their unseasonably warm February wedding day. The bride’s mom had been married in a blizzard almost 30 years ago leading her to by wedding insurance, probably insuring that her daughter’s wedding day would be gorgeous.

The bride and groom met at a party while attending Ball State and while on a cruise Jack asked Sarah to marry him with a Tiffany & Co ring. Months of planning led to this day at the elegant Ritz Charles in Carmel, Indiana.

The wedding party got ready at Hyatt Place. The hotel is so close to the venue that they share a parking lot. We started the day photographing the details while the bridal party laughed and chatted in matching pajamas while getting hair and makeup ready. The bride’s fragrance of choice for her wedding day was “I Do” by Anthropologie.

The groom’s details are important too. He pinned this photo of his late grandfather into his suit so that he would carry him with him on this very special day.

While the Ritz Charles offers multiple beautiful ballrooms for a wedding day celebration the couple chose the chapel for their ceremony and the stunning Garden Pavilion for their reception. The Garden Pavillion allows for so much natural light, it’s a photographer’s dream.

Sarah and Jack wanted to see each other before the ceremony so we had a first look on the patio outside of the pavillion. The photos tell the story better than any words I could write.

Because the couple chose to do a first look we had time to do the bridal party photos before the ceremony.

The ceremony was held in the chapel and the officiant was the bride’s cousin. During the nuptuials the couple chose to have a ring warming ceremony. The wedding rings were passed between the members of the wedding party, as they held them in their hands they imbue them with their love and blessings for the couple so that when the couple puts them on they will carry the positive energy of their loved ones with them.

After the ceremony we took a few photos with the couple.

We came into the garden pavillion for the first dance, cake cutting and dinner.

The parent dances.

Speeches by the maid of honor and the best man.

The couple chose to have an anniversary dance, this is a tradition where couples of all ages are brought to the dance floor. As music plays the DJ dismisses couples from the dance floor based on the length of time they have been married until only the couple married the longest remains dancing.

We left as the bride and groom celebrated on the dance floor before leaving for their honeymoon cruise the next day.

Sarah and Jack’s wedding day was made possible by this incredible vendor team: