Use our timeline guide as a jumping off point.
Not sure where to start?
Photography timeline guide
Recommended start and end times:
Getting ready photos: 1 – 1 1/2 hours. We usually start when you’re about 60-70% ready. This time allows us to capture details, finishing touches and getting ready moments.
Reception: 1 hour after formal dances allows us to capture dancing guests, additional group photos and a personalized night portrait [if you’re up for it!].
Recommended portrait times:
– Couple photos: 1 – 1 1/2 hours
– First look: 15 – 20 minutes
– Wedding party: 30 minutes (if over 10 people, add another 20 minutes)
– Family portraits: 30 minutes (if more than a dozen formals or large family photos [over 10 people], add 15 minutes)
***Don’t forget to include travel times if you’re going to multiple locations. It’s always better to plan a little extra time in case things are running late!***
Timeline Recommendations
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film
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paper
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flowers
timeline notes
In both timelines, we make sure that you are ready and waiting at least 30 minutes before you walk down the aisle. This prevents rushing from photos to the ceremony, gives you a chance to relax and catch your breath, and ensures that you’ll be tucked away while guests are arriving.
The timeline will not always go exactly as planned. No matter how hard we try, there is always something that will go a little askew. You can’t plan for these kinds of kinks, but you can be sure to create a timeline than can allow your day to remain mostly stress free. This means adding an extra five minutes to each task for padding, planning and accounting for plenty of time for travel from one location to another, and so on. That way, when inevitably, something knocks the day slightly off course, that time can be made up elsewhere.
First looks help create a timeline that is a little more relaxed than your average wedding day. By moving all or most of your photos to before the ceremony, the time between your ceremony and reception becomes much more flexible! Couples can actually enjoy cocktail hour with their guests—yay!
An important detail for these days is to make sure to schedule hair and makeup a little earlier than you might think, since pictures are happening earlier in the day, everything should be shifted up by about 1 1/2 hours.
This style of timeline also makes sure that we will be able to document all of your reception details before guests get to them. Couples spend months and months choosing details for their event and that hard work should be documented! By moving photos to before the ceremony, we are able to capture those details as well as photograph your guests at the cocktail hour, something a traditional timeline doesn’t really allow for.
+ 1 hour : Getting Ready
+ 15 minutes : Dress/Suit on!
+ 15 minutes : First look
+ 1 1/2 hours : Couple portraits
+ 30 minutes : Wedding party photos
+ 30 minutes : Family portraits
+ 30 minutes : Ready & waiting
(relax before ceremony)
T : Get married!
+ 30 minutes : Shoot details
+ 30 minutes : Shoot cocktail hour
+ Reception timeline
(Dinner, toasts, first dances, etc.)
*** 15-20 minutes to eat vendor meal (Try to schedule when guests are eating so we don’t miss anything!) ***
+ 1 hour after first dances
First look timeline
First looks aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay! You can still build a great timeline even if you don’t plan to see your partner before the ceremony. You should know, however, that you will need to leave at least an hour and a half between the end of your ceremony to the start of your reception in order to fit everything in.
Since we’re with the couple after the ceremony, we can’t document reception details during this time. There are two solutions to this: 1) carve out a chunk of time before your ceremony that we can shoot reception details. Sometimes, because of multiple locations, this isn’t so much of an option, which is when we recommend, 2) make sure that your cocktail hour is in a separate location from your main reception, and don’t let guests enter until the room has been photographed.
+ 1 hour : Getting Ready
+ 15 minutes : Dress/Suit on!
+ 30 minutes : Shoot details at venue
(if possible)
+ 30 minutes : Ready & waiting
(relax before ceremony)
T : Get married!
+ 30 minutes : Family portraits
+ 30 minutes : Wedding party photos
+ 1 hour : Couple portraits
+ 30 minutes : Shoot details
(if not done before)
+ Reception timeline
(Dinner, toasts, first dances, etc.)
*** 15-20 minutes to eat vendor meal (Try to schedule when guests are eating so we don’t miss anything!) ***
+ 1 hour after first dances
