Having amazing portraits from your wedding day doesn’t just happen on accident, you’ve got to PLAN enough TIME for them! That’s why as you’re planning your wedding day timeline its SO important to allow enough time for what you want captured most. Here are 5 tips for creating a photography-friendly wedding day timeline.
- Details & Prep – 30-45 min
I love to capture the details of your big day – the shoes, and jewelry, and invitations and flowers, etc. Plan to leave about 30-45 minutes for this time because its also when I can capture some sweet getting ready shots of everyone! When you allow this extra time you won’t regret the amazing detail shots you’ll get back!
2. Bridal Prep – 30 min
Everyone should be dressed and ready for when the Bride is dawning her gown. This makes sure that we can capture everyone looking their best for bridal prep pictures. Having everyone but the bride dressed also keeps us on time and ready to capture some beautiful bridal portraits before the first look or ceremony. Allot about 30 minutes for bridal prep.
3. First Look & Bride and Groom Portraits – 30-40 min
This is one of the most special times of the day and you don’t want it to be rushed! When you can plan for your first look and bride and groom portraits to be 30-40 minutes it leaves you lots of breathing room to enjoy those moments seeing each other for the first time on your wedding day and not feeling pressured to move along too quickly!
4. Bridal Party – 30-40 minutes
One thing that’s sure to happen on any wedding day is the unexpected! So I always suggest leaving that extra buffer time to keep us on track. After bride and groom portraits are done, we’ll jump into bridal party portraits. Be sure to have the guys boutonnieres ALREADY pinned on! 30 minutes is the perfect amount of time before everyone is sequestered away for the ceremony.
5. Family Formals – 30 min
Family formals are often the least favorite part of the day, but they don’t have to be! When we plan ahead of time to create a list and make sure we have everyone present, we can fly through this important pictures! Family formals almost always take place after the ceremony when ALL of the family is gathered together so its best to save all the family formal portraits until this time. Typically we’ll need about 30 minutes to capture all of these. Before the wedding day I always send my bride and grooms a questionnaire where you can list out the shots that are most important.
