When creating the perfect wedding day timeline for my clients at our initial consultation, I bring with me this rough guideline that I have created to establish and visually show clients just how much time it takes for me and my team to photograph each facet of their wedding day. I have received wonderful feedback since I started implementing this into my meetings so I decided to create a blogpost about it so it would be readily available on my website for my clients and their friends and family to see.

Anyone who has been to a wedding or event can tell you that when you have an event that includes pretty much 4 people or more, you need to have a timeline established and you need someone keeping everyone on time and in the right location at the right time. I see this all the time, even with groupings that are already together for a group portrait, one of them is still drinking a beer because they can’t wait 30 seconds for the picture to be taken and on the other side of the same group, someone stepped a few feet away to smoke a cigar, just outside of the frame. It is imperative that everyone is on the same page so you can get through your portraits quickly and everyone can be free to enjoy the rest of the party. I purposely allow for 30 minutes for family portraits and 30 minutes for bridal party portraits because I know I only need half of that time to photograph the pictures that I will need to present to you in your final photo gallery but I would prefer to have a few more minutes incase we have to play catch up or someone has gone missing.

With that being said, below are my requirements/suggestions for your wedding day timeline to ensure a smooth and stress-free wedding day. We all know that something or someone will be behind schedule whether it’s the florist or the hair & makeup artist, something or someone will hold you up but it is your photographer’s (AKA ~ Wedding Planner, if you didn’t formally hire one) responsibility to make up for the lost time and to get the timeline back on track.

Hiring a professional wedding photographer who has several years of experience doing just that will be the best investment that you make. On top of the many other reasons to hire someone that is well versed in the wedding industry, your timeline can make or break the flow of the day. Friends and family are excited to come to your wedding and we understand that they are not always excited about having their pictures taken so we try to make the formal portrait time as simple and painless as possible so all of your guests can enjoy themselves as soon as I get what I need to deliver to you.

As you can see, the timeline includes: a first look, bridal party and bridal portraits before the ceremony. If you decide that a “first look” is not for you, all we would do is shift the timeline up and add those designated times back in after the ceremony takes place. I recommend taking pictures with your families immediately following the ceremony, then taking your bridal party pictures and then the bridal portraits of just the two of you incase it does run into cocktail hour but depending on the time of year and the time of your ceremony, I may advise you otherwise because your bridal portraits take precedence.

Please contact me via my contact form under the “Inquire” tab on the above main menu of my site if you would like more information about my wedding photography collections. If you would like to stay in touch, please subscribe to my newsletter by submitting your email address on my homepage. xo