As you are planning your dream wedding you are embarking upon an exhilarating journey filled with anticipation, excitement, and a touch of nerves. You’ll realize quickly that it is a difficult process, and so we created this guide to help. In it, we will provide perspective and questions for a bride AND for the photographer(s) to consider. We will share the main elements and include photos from a wedding with each section broken down!
(10-15 Minute Read)
Our Wedding Timeline Guide
7 Main Questions When Planning Your Own Wedding:
To First Look or To Not First Look
Understanding whether you'll have a first look session or take all photos post-ceremony impacts the timeline significantly. It influences the schedule for getting ready, pre-ceremony photos, and the availability of natural light for photography.
Is everything onsite, or are there multiple locations that we need to account for travel time to/from?
Knowing if all events are at one venue or if there are multiple locations helps plan for transportation logistics, travel time between venues, and ensuring ample time for photography at each location.
If there are multiple locations, how far away is each? How is traffic typically at that time of day?
Understanding the distance between venues and the expected traffic conditions is crucial for accurate timing. It helps prevent delays and ensures you allocate enough time for travel between locations.
If you are not getting ready onsite, how early are you allowed to arrive at your venue?
Knowing the earliest arrival time at your venue is important for coordinating getting ready activities, setting up equipment, and ensuring a smooth transition into the wedding day festivities.
What time of year is your wedding, and when does the sun set that day?
Considering the season and sunset time is vital for planning outdoor photography, especially golden hour and sunset sessions. It helps optimize natural lighting and creates stunning visuals.
Does your venue require time for a rehearsal before the ceremony on the day-of?
Knowing if a rehearsal is required adds to the timeline as it impacts the schedule for getting ready, pre-ceremony activities, and overall organization of the wedding day. It ensures that everyone is prepared and aware of their roles during the ceremony.
What time is your ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception — and how long is each?
This question is crucial for establishing the overall timeline of your wedding day. Knowing the start times and durations of each segment helps in planning photography sessions, coordinating with vendors, and ensuring a seamless flow of events.
Next, we will show all of this come to fruition from using the entirety of an 8 hour wedding we had photographed!
(It’s important to stress that every wedding is different, the order and items listed can and will change for your unique wedding!)
Bride and Groom Getting Ready
Hair and make up will be taken care of a few hours before photos of details and the bride and groom begin. But, your photographer(s) will be arriving around the time when makeup and hair ends for the bride. A big impact to this is deciding on keeping the bride and groom getting ready in the same location, or, in different locations. If the getting ready is being done in separate locations, there is generally 2 photographers, one capturing details of the bride and the other capturing details of the groom. At this particular wedding, both the bride and groom were getting ready in different locations at the same venue.
Allotted Time: 1-1.5 hours
Bridesmaid Reveal
As the bride finishes getting ready and puts on her dress, it’s her time to show it off to her bridesmaids! This is a very important moment captured for candid joy and happy tears with the bride and some of the closest people in her life.
Allotted Time: 15-20 minutes
First Looks
One of the biggest decisions to made when planning your wedding is deciding on having first looks or not. As photographers, we love capturing first looks as they are very intimate and emotional moments. However, a first look is generally considered “non-traditional” as many believe a first look should only be for the ceremony. This moment is a very big decision. At this wedding however, there was no first look with the bride and the groom.
Allotted Time: 30-45 minutes
Wedding Party & Family Portraits
As everyone finishes getting ready, it becomes time for the bride, her family, and her bridesmaids to have a moment before the ceremony begins. The same for the groom and the groomsmen. This is a time to maybe have some alcohol, relax and enjoy time with the people important to you before officially becoming wed with your best friend.
Allotted Time: 30 minutes-1 hour
The Ceremony
This is your moment. The ceremony for each wedding will vary widely depending on tradition or religion. Regardless, this is the time for you and your loved one to have the emotional exchange of vows and rings in front of family and friends and officially become one and the same. Many times, the ceremony may be in a different location from the getting ready suite so it’s important to ensure the required time to get to the ceremony if this is the case when creating your timeline.
Allotted Time: 15 minutes-1 hour
Post Ceremony Family Photos
As soon as the ceremony ends, some moments with the family of both the bride and groom can be important as you have officially joined each others families.
Allotted Time: 15-20 minutes
Bride and Groom Portraits
This moment is extremely important as it is the time you and your best friend take some time to really bask in the fact at everything that just happened! This is also when cocktail hour may begin for your guests in order to have some down time before reception. It’s best to prioritize this time around sunset as this is the most beautiful time to take photos with the best lighting possible. Your photographer will work very hard to emphasize the right time depending on the date and location of the wedding.
Allotted Time: 45 minutes-1 hour
Reception Begins & First Dance
When the portrait session ends, you guys will have a grand entrance into the reception area and the celebration begins! Before dinner, there is a generally a brief first dance to kick off the celebration and allow the bride and groom to dance together. This may also be the time for the parents to have their own dances with you as well, but the parent dances may also begin after dinner ends depending on your own wedding timeline.
Allotted Time: 10-15 minutes
Dinner & Toasts
This is the time for the most important vendor (jk!) to shine as dinner begins for everyone. This is also really great for both the wedding guests and vendors to relax and enjoy the evening as the calm before the dancing storm. As dinner starts to end, the maid of honor and best man or other important members may take around 10-15 minutes offer their toasts.
Allotted Time: 1 hour
Everybody Dances!
Now it’s time for everyone to dance the entire night away! During this time you can also add some important traditions to this moment, whether it’s cake cutting or bouquet toss, emphasize what is important to you! This is your moment to enjoy all the music with loved ones.
Allotted Time: ~2 hours
An Amazing Exit
The night starts to wrap up, but you want to create an exit from the venue that is extremely memorable. It’s time to organize the guests and line them up for either a sparkler, bubble, or a variety of different exits. Although this is the end of your wedding day, it’s the beginning of something new!
Allotted Time: 15-30 minutes
In the end, it’s important to prioritize what matters the most to you and your partner. Give yourselves the necessary budget for free time in your timeline to be safe and/or give some much needed down time. The day moves quick when you are having the time of your life with your partner, so it can be important have moments to realize what is happening!
We hope that this provides a great baseline of expectations around your timeline. Every wedding is very different so take the time to envision how you would want your big day to go. Having a wedding planner can also be of huge help when creating this with you, and your photographer will also have a significant impact. For every wedding we do, we personally provide complementary photography timelines, custom to your unique day.