Custom Wedding Day Timeline | Free Guide
Creating custom wedding day photography timelines for our couples has been one of the most beneficial services that we can give.
We base all of our timelines on three important things.
First, how many hours of coverage the couple has.
Second, when their ceremony and reception begin.
Third, whether or not they will have a first look. Once we know the details for each of those parts of their day we can then build their custom timeline.
We start with the ceremony time and work backwards in the day to make sure we have enough time for each piece of the day. We always give 30 minutes of downtime during music before their ceremony. Make sure that you back the time up if they’re traveling from the getting ready location. We give 30 minutes to get dressed and an additional 30 minutes after that for bridal portraits. Account time for the bridesmaid photos in their robes or pjs, the bridesmaids getting ready and an hour for detail photos before all of that.
Once we have detail photos, bridesmaids with robes, bridesmaids getting dressed, bride getting into her dress, bridal party photos, the bride with the bridesmaids and bridal portraits and bride alone in her getting ready space we add in what’s next. If there is no first look we will then put in travel time, pack up time and head to the church or to the ceremony location for that downtime of 30 minutes during music before the ceremony.
If the couple has a first look we then travel to the first look location and schedule 15 minutes for the first look itself. Add a little more time if they’re going to be reading vows to each other. Give 30 minutes for bride and groom portraits, 30 minutes for bridal party portraits and 30 minutes for family formals (if they would like them to be before the ceremony). Then often times depending on the venue and photo location, 15 minutes to freshen up and put the couple in their hiding location before the music.
Whether or not you had an extra chunk of time will depend a lot on where your location is. Be aware of where parking is and when a couple is going to be posing versus where their guests are going to be coming in. Because if they are coming in where their photos are you’ll need to get out of that area sooner.
Post ceremony timeline depends on if they have a first look or not. If they do have a first look, then maybe you’re doing some large group family formals directly after the ceremony. We typically go ahead and schedule 30 minutes for that regardless of how many photos they’ve done before because it’s just nice to have that cushion time. From there most of our couples will go to their cocktail hour.
During cocktail hour we will get untouched reception photos and possibly do a reception reveal, portraits of the couple in the reception space.
After cocktail hour is complete we will schedule their entrance, into cake cutting, into first dance, into toast and blessings and then dinner is served. Obviously some of our couples change that order depending on what their entertainment or DJ suggests and recommends. At that point we go along with whatever that recommendation and preference is.
Typically during the last 10 minutes of dinner service we will pull the couple for golden hour portraits depending on the time of year and when the sun is setting. Then we will do traditional dances and open dance. For open dance we typically stay for about 30 minutes.
If a couple did not do a first look, then following the ceremony they will have 30 minutes of family formals, any travel time to the photo location, 30 minutes for bride and groom portraits, 30 minutes with the bridal party, any travel time to the reception location, potentially a few minutes of photos at the reception location, quick detail photos of the reception space untouched and then we go into the same reception organization that we mentioned above.
A few other very important things to remember…
1. Make sure to give yourself the full 30 minutes of the bride getting into the dress.
2. Make sure to always give yourself extra drive time.
3. Make sure to give everybody time to clean things up if traveling from one place to another.
4. If possible, try to put in some wiggle room as well.
We also like to send couples reminders of the timeline. We send them a beautiful guide that showcases their timeline, their families formals, their vendor list and if there are any requested photos that they may have given. The timeline guide also includes our contact information, all of the locations with the addresses that they will be at on their day.
If you would like to grab a copy of that guide we have that for fellow wedding photographers to customize for their couples as well! We hope that this is helpful for you and if you would like to grab our free timeline guide to review multiple timeline scenarios and sample flushed out timelines you can find that freebie here!
Courtney and Robert Cannon are husband and wife wedding photographers located in Ohio service kind hearted wedding couples. They are the host of The Graceful Gathering, a style boutique conference for wedding photographers looking to impact couples for generations to come.
