Cocktail hour usually precedes the wedding dinner and starts 1 hour prior to reception. The main target is the guests. Use your judgment when to start. You don’t want to videotape empty lobby, but you will need some space to walk around too.
Look around for every set: guest book, engagement photo, fruit salads, chocolate fountain, jazz band, chef making flames while cooking shrimp, open bar, etc. There is nothing unnecessary around: every single set was thought through by the married couple. O.K., by the bride. So don’t miss a thing, and your effort will be appreciated.
While shooting the guest book, don’t shoot just the book, wait for the guests signing the book, and shoot the guests. While shooting an engagement photo, shoot as well the guests looking at the photo, their reaction. While shooting the bar… you know what to shoot.
As for the guests themselves, you may limit yourself to videotaping the people mingling, buying drinks, picking food (don’t show them eating though), greeting parents, etc. Or you may walk around asking people for some short message: a joke, a greeting or a short story. It depends on what the couple wants, as well as how much responsive the guests are, so try your best.
Cocktail hour may be the best (or the only) time for you to get ready for filming at the dinner, so use your time wisely. You don’t need the whole hour to get a glimpse of a cocktail party. Really.
