If you’ve recently found yourself engaged, you’re now planning a wedding. Among the many things to consider, your wedding day timeline is going to get brought up often throughout the planning process. If you’ve never done this, there are many things to consider and it can get overwhelming. But, we don’t want you to stress! Planning a wedding should be fun. Live in the moment and love life during this process with these easy tips.
Where to begin:
This may sound strange but when figuring your wedding photography timeline, we start backwards, at the Reception. What time is your dinner? You’ll need your photographer for all the main events of your reception as well as some fun candid dancing. Typically at least an hour to 90 minutes after dinner is over is necessary. Once we’ve figured out what time you need us until we can go back to the beginning and start as early as possible.
Whether you’re seeing each other first or not, we still need at least 90 minutes for getting ready and details, about 2 hours for portraits before or after your ceremony, at least 30 minutes for family formals with immediate family plus Grandparents, and another 30-45 minutes to hide you away before guests arrive to your ceremony.
All about the details
We shoot your getting ready type details (shoes, dress, rings) during that getting ready 90 minutes. We shoot your ceremony details when you’re hiding before guests arrive and we try to arrive to your reception during cocktail hour so we can shoot the reception room before guests enter while one of us is shooting your cocktail hour candids.
The Golden Hour
There is one time of the wedding day that changes with the seasons and that is sunset. We always want to photograph the bride and groom during some of that golden hour sunset light. I would choose light over location any day! So, unless it’s during the ceremony, which we never suggest any way, we try to steal you away during the last 30 minutes of light for just a bit. Sometimes we get 5 minutes and sometimes we get 30 minutes. Either way, it’s some of our favorite portraits. You get to enjoy some down time together while we capture those breathtaking portraits.
Although these times can be different for each wedding, these sample timelines can get you started with a general knowledge of how a wedding day looks at a venue wedding where the ceremony and reception take place at the same location and when the portraits are done before the ceremony and also a Catholic wedding where the ceremony is earlier in the day and portraits are completed after the ceremony.
A Sample Timeline for an 8-hour venue wedding (not much travel necessary)
1:30 p.m. – Getting ready
3 – First sight/reveal
3:15 – Wedding party and Bride/Groom portraits
4:45 – Family formal portraits
5:15 – Hide away for guests to arrive/shoot ceremony and reception details
6 – Ceremony
6:30 – Cocktail hour
7:30 – Dinner
8:15 – Cut cake and start toasts
8:30 – First Dances
8:45 – Dance floor opens
9:15 – Night portrait
9:30 – photographers finish
A Sample Timeline for a 10-hour Catholic wedding with a 1 p.m. ceremony
11 a.m. – Getting ready images
12:30 p.m. – arrive at ceremony location/shoot ceremony details
1 – Ceremony
2:15 – Family formals
3 – Wedding party and bride/groom portraits
5:30 – Arrive at reception – Cocktail hour/shoot reception details
6:30 – dinner
7:15 – Cut cake + toasts
7:30 – First dances
7:45 – dance floor opens
8:30 – Night portrait
9 – photographers finish
You don’t need us to the end of your reception unless you have a special send-off that you want captured. I always suggest we stay for 60-90 minutes from the end of dinner to capture all the main events, the candid dancing and a gorgeous night portrait.
If you’re going over your wedding day timeline, you may also like our Wedding Planning timeline with a free printable checklist to keep up with all the to do’s!
Call heather at 913-948-3918 or email heather@heatherbrulez.com to check our availability to photograph your wedding day.
