Planning Out Your Timeline

At some point during our interactions, and during your wedding planning process you will be asked to start constructing a timeline, whether its being done by you, or your wedding planner I hope this article will give you some insight as to how much time is necessary in order to get all of the important photos of your wedding day!

Ideal time needed: 30 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Morning

Location Photos are Usually taken: Hotel Room or House

Having 30 minutes to shoot the details first thing in the morning can give me the flexibility to go about the hotel room to place items and hang the dress up. Sometimes the rooms in hotel are not the prettiest, and having to hang dress outside in a different location at the hotel may be necessary. So having that extra time to do that can make the process go smoothly.

Ideal time needed: 60 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Morning to Early Afternoon

Location Photos are Usually taken: Hotel Room or Home

During this time photos are taken of hair and makeup being done, as well as candid images of bridal party and family present during the preparation phase of the wedding. While it may not take an hour for you to get dress or tux on, some of the most emotional and exciting times of the day happen here so we don't want to cut it short!

Ideal time needed: 30 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Morning to Early Afternoon

Location Photos are Usually taken: Hotel Room/Lobby, Outdoors or at Home

Window lighting is in my opinion the most flattering and best type of light, and if we are getting ready in a hotel with a nice big window, you can bet the farm we are going to take advantage of the fact that you just got your hair and makeup done and are in a room with window light. This time of the day is one of the few times where I can get portraits of the Bride and Groom so we definitely try and do as much as we can before the day gets to busy. Typically if we have a second shooter, they will go with groom to do portraits, and I stay with the bride.

Ideal time needed: 60 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Morning to Early Afternoon

Location Photos are Usually taken: Empty hotel lobby space, outdoor garden area, shaded areas preferred.

This is an exciting time where the Bride and Groom get to see each other privately (with me there of course, so maybe not so private?) for the first time! The actual photos to from the first look will only take about 15 minutes, however, we utilize the remaining 45 minutes to get couples portraits since this may be the only time of day to get those images. If the timeline doesn't allow us to do this, then we should plan 45 minutes to an 1 hour later in the day to do the couple session.

Ideal time needed: 45-60 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Morning to Afternoon

Location Photos are Usually taken: Hotel, Garden, Venue, Church

This is one of my favorite times of the day. I typically like to have a lot of fun during this time with the bridal parties and with the families. Typically we get the basic "posed" shots of the bridal party. After those shots are done we move on to the more fun and silly poses which I love doing! If time allows us we try and get a photo with each individual person in your bridal party as well.

Ideal time needed: 30-50 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Morning to Early Afternoon

Location Photos are Usually taken: Empty hotel lobby space, outdoor garden area, church, shaded areas preferred.

These are some of the most basic but arguably the most important photos of the day as well. It is important to plan for 3-5 minutes per group. So if we have 10 different groups of combinations, we can expect to spend anywhere from 30-50 minutes doing family photos.

Ideal time needed: 30 minutes per location.

Time of day this usually happens: Afternoon (sometimes in the morning)

Location Photos are Usually taken: Church and/or Venue

The most important thing is to try and schedule a time for the second shooter or I to get pictures of the ceremony site, and venue. The tricky part about this is to schedule a time between everything setup and before the guests have arrived.

Ideal time needed: 45-60 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Afternoon. immediately after ceremony, during reception

Location Photos are Usually taken: Hotels, garden areas, church, venue location.

Again, lets plan on 3 minutes per group that wants to take a photo with you. This can definitely take up to an hour depending on the guest count at your wedding. Some couples want to take photos with every single person at the wedding, while some create a list for me (VIP list) that spells out exactly who they want photos with.

If we have a helper (MOH, or best man) or a on site coordinator, this session can go extremely smooth, and quick if we are organized about it.

Ideal time needed: 60 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Late Afternoon

Location Photos are Usually taken: Reception Venue

The best time natural light is available is 30-45 minutes before sundown. This is where we can get those great sunset shots, with golden lighting, and sun flares in front of a nice scenic background. If your getting married in a more Urban area than the time doesn't really matter when we do couple session. however, if you picked out your venue because of the scenery then it is highly recommended to do the photos during sunset hour (golden hour).

Ideal time needed: 20-30 minutes

Time of day this usually happens: Night

Location Photos are Usually taken: Reception Venue, Areas where there are fireworks, sparklers, string lights.

Majority of the times I ask my couples to sneak out during the reception after dancing a bit. This is the time of day were we can get some different night shots.

Reception Venue First look

Ideal time needed: 10-15 minutes.

If you want to capture your reaction to you and fiancé seeing the venue for the first time make sure we budget some time for that!

Table shots with Guest

If you wish to get shots either posed, or candid shots with you and the guest going from table to table. Keep in mind that something like that would take roughly 3-5 minutes per table. If you have 20 tables at your reception, that could be anywhere from 60-100 minutes of photography time.

Summary:

I hope this helps you establish a photography friendly timeline. All of these titles are suggestions only, however, if we budget the necessary time for your wedding; even if we run late (which 99% of weddings do not run on time) we will still have a safe amount of time to get the images necessary of your wedding.

Have we done any of these parts of the day with 1/2 or even 1/4 of the time? Absolutely! Is it a stressful experience for the couples, and photographer? Absolutely! But if we plan ahead for these things we can have a less rushed wedding day, and focus more on living the moment instead of worrying about the clock.