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A wedding day is comprised of a lot of different parts. There’s the getting ready part of the day, the ceremony, the time to take the formal photos, cocktail hour, and the reception. Of course, every wedding is different and all sorts of variations abound. Getting your timeline right is one of the biggest ways to make the most of your wedding photography investment.
Making a Plan
As with anything else in life, it really helps to have a plan going in rather than just winging it. It’s usually not enough to just know what time the ceremony starts. You’ll want to know what time all the girls are going to get together to start doing makeup, hair, nails, and all that other stuff girls take a long time doing. It would help to know how much time each girl needs to do their own thing, plus get you (the bride) into the dress and have a little time to spare so nobody’s going crazy while the limo is waiting outside and threatening to leave if the bride doesn’t come out within five minutes (it’s happened, I’ve been there).
You get the idea. There’s a little more to it than what time certain things start.
Clocks and Photography
Let’s shift the conversation to photography, because, well, we’re photographers. There are certain things you’ll want to decide beforehand which will affect the timeline of your day. You will definitely want to discuss these with your photographer, who by the way should be helping you with all of this confusion. There is the option of doing a first look. This is when the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony, and the moment is captured in photographs. It’s not for everyone, but those that choose to do this get the luxury of having a leisurely photo session before the ceremony happens, allowing things after the ceremony to not be quite so hectic.
If the ceremony and the reception are in different locations, you’ll want to plan out ahead of time if the bulk of the photos are going to be taken right after the ceremony at that location, or if the plan is to herd everybody over to the reception location and do it there. Either way, time needs to be allotted for it! Maybe you want to go somewhere completely different for photos. Awesome. You’ll need to know when and where that’s going to happen and how that fits into the flow of the rest of the day. Talk with your photographer, they’ve been through it before and should be able to help you come up with something reasonable.
Other Considerations
There are other things that play a role in your timeline. One big one is daylight. If you want to have outdoor photos but your wedding is in the fall and the ceremony starts at 5:00, then you’re going to be fighting the sunset when it comes time to take your photographs. You may consider moving your ceremony up an hour or doing a first look so you can take the photos beforehand. The worst thing is to not talk about it ahead of time, get to the wedding and realize it’s too dark and too late to do anything about it. You’ll also want to make a decision about how involved in cocktail hour you’re going to be. Some people really want to be there, while others don’t care and would prefer to dedicate that time to taking photographs. It’s up to you, but either way you have to decide and let your wedding photographer know.
Bottom Line
These are just some examples of considerations and decisions that you’ll have to make as you develop your timeline. The important things to remember are 1) it’s your wedding and it’s ultimately up to you how the day is structured, and 2) work together with your wedding photographer to create a timeline that is realistic and beneficial for you. This will allow you to maximize your investment in photography and get a collection of photos the way you envision them. Your photographer should be your guide through this process. Keep in touch with them and keep an open conversation going as you develop things. Working together will ensure that everyone is on the same page and everything goes smoothly when your wedding day shows up.
Series information
Next we’ll be talking about the getting ready photos. Should you have them done?
If you missed the intro to this series, you can catch it right here – How To Choose Your Rhode Island Wedding Photographer Series Introduction.
