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Hi - our wedding is a very similar setup to yours - evening ceremony and reception both in the same location. Initially, I was very against seeing the groom until the ceremony; however, it just makes more sense for us to take pictures beforehand. Our wedding will take place just across from Central Park, and we'd like to take our time taking pictures there. If we decided to take pictures between the ceremony and reception, we'd only have an hour to do so - during the cocktail hour. And frankly, my cocktail hour sounds really yummy and I don't want to miss it! 
We will still be doing the "first look" though - and my photographer will capture that.
My dad has expressed to me how much he hates the tradition of doing photos during cocktail hour. I'm going to try to do as many as possible before hand without the groom and I together. I just don't want him seeing me first! So i'll take pics with my ladies, my family, his groomsmen, etc, beforehand. Besides, we are limiting the photos after the ceremony to 30 minutes, so we should be okay.
I think it's all about what is most important to the bride and groom. For me, I want the moment I walk down the aisle to be the first time that we see each other on that day. I also am not a fan of lots of posed pictures. Our photog is more of a photo journalist...i want most of our photographs to be of the actual wedding/reception and not so much of us posed in different places. We'll have a cocktail hour between ceremony and reception for the posed pics with family and each other and that's it. I know other couples that had photo sessions before ceremony, immediately following ceremony, and a few days later for "trash the dress" session. I don't think there is any "right" way. Good luck!!
We're going to do a first look too. I hate waiting at other people's wedding while they do pictures, so i didn't want to do that to my guests. Plus, we're doing the same thing - ceremony and reception same location. I think that in some cases, you still get that look from your groom when you come down the aisle - yeah they've seen you, but they're taking it in that you're coming down the aisle to marry them at this moment.
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I had to talk my boy into photos before the wedding. It makes sense because we are having an outdoor ceremony, and I'll probably get dropped off by a golf cart, so there is no way short of blindfolding him that he wouldn't see me before I officially walked down the aisle. I like the first look because it gives you more control over how he first sees you and you get a private moment before you become the center of attention.
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We are doing picture before the ceremony. But not together. Its me and the girls. Him and the guys. Some with family members. But the together pictures will be after the ceremony.
We will have a private first look that our photographers will be coordinating. We'll spend about a half an hour taking portraits of just the 2 of us. And then about an hour for family/bridal party portraits. We plan on attending cocktail hour.
We like how easy it would have been to do them before, but my FI really doesn't want to see me until I walk out. I didn't want to do that so I get over my emotionalness! But, he wins, he's kind of right.
We are doing group shots, basically anything that doesn't include my fiance AND I (so like, me and my girls, me and my parents, etc etc) before the ceremony, then the ceremony, then some big group shots (just a few, i want the photojournalistic ones, not the traditional formals) and then just pictures of us for about 45 min.
We are doing all our "formal" pics between the ceremony and reception. We really want that first look to be coming down the aisle! But we don't want alot of formals anyway, and the picture spot is on the way between the ceremony and reception. I think we will just end up missing 30-45 minutes, so probably cocktail hour.
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Am so torn. Not sure I love the idea of the "first look" as I too wanted the first time groom saw me to be walking down the isle. BUT I really wanted to mingle with fam and guests during cocktail hour... still trying to decide. 
We are doing the formal pictures before the ceremony. It makes more sense logistically for us, and we want to be able to enjoy our cocktail hour and reception with our friends and family. However, our photographer has arranged a "first look" for us, where he will clear the sanctuary of the church and my FI will see me in my bridal gear for the first time. I like the idea of having a special moment for just the 2 of us on our wedding day!
I really like the idea of my fiance not seeing me until I walk down the aisle.....BUT, it makes more sense to do it before hand since we're doing an evening wedding/reception, too. Plus I've been told that it helps because your hair and makeup and everything still looks fresh. I think we are going to do something special with his "first look", though, maybe even having him see me coming up the stairs like I will for the ceremony, except with just him instead of everyone. I think either way it'll be special :-)
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Oh, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who is torn about this! I totally want that "first look" surprise picture, but I don't want to keep our family waiting for us at the reception hall for 2 hours while we take all of our pictures! I never thougtht of just asking my photog if we could do a private first look... I kind of like that idea. Plus, we could get some really good shots of FI and I BEFORE I screw up my makeup with tears. Oh yea, I KNOW I'll be crying during the ceremony... look out mascara!
Photos before are awesome! It allows you to actually have a private moment seeing each other for the first time, get your formals out of the way, and then go enjoy yourself! We always recommend it!
Heather
We did our photos before the ceremony too, and it worked out well for us. We had a similar timeline to yours, with a reception starting immediately following the cermeony at the same location. I actually found that I was less anxious because I didn't have to wait until that evening to see my husband! We had our photographer there for "First Look" photos, but they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Oh well, I still think it worked well for us.
We're doing this... I want to enjoy my cocktail hour with my guests!
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I'm just curious as to how many of you out there will be doing photos before the ceremony. We just booked our photographer and she always asks to be able to do them before - and when we told her we'd already decided this a long time ago, she was thrilled!
I know a lot of couples don't want to ruin that "moment' when the groom sees his bride down the aisle for the first time...but we do NOT want to be that couple making our guests wait at the recpetion for us before we show up...
And - logistically - it just makes sense as our tentatitive timeline is 5:00 ceremony 5:30 reception - and the cermoney/reception are in the same building...we have the building all day from 10 am to 12:30 the next morning so 10 am get ready 1:30 - 4:30 pics around downtown indy - 5:00 ceremony - immediately after reception.
We will be doing the "surprise" of seeing each other for the first time (already talked to the photog about this...) but I'm just really curious how many others out there are doing or have done this and just what you're feelings are on it.