I’d love to walk you through a real-life wedding I shot in 2020 for Emily & Evan. This timeline can be adjusted according to whenever your ceremony and reception take place.
Beautiful portrait of Emily right after she put her dress on!
Bridesmaids’ first looks are my favorite!
Emily & her girls chilling before the ceremony.
11:00am
My second shooter and I arrive for getting ready photos of bride & bridesmaids. During this time we also shoot decor photos, dress photos, ring shots, reception pics, etc. The “getting ready” period is flexible depending on how ready everyone is when the photographers arrive. I highly recommend all of the bridesmaids having their hair and makeup completely finished by the time we arrive. This allows us to get casual photos if you have matching outfits, etc. Makeup and hair consistently take longer than estimated, so keep that in mind as you plan your wedding day. If the groom & groomsmen are getting ready on site as well, one of us will go to take getting ready photos for them as well.
12:00-12:15pm [around 1 hour after photographers’ arrival]
At this time, we can get started on formal pre-ceremony photos. For Emily & Evan’s wedding, these started roughly 1-1.5 hours after we arrived. This was a super relaxed and ideal timeline. However, we can start on the formal photos closer to 30-45 minutes after photographers’ arrival, it just depends on how soon everyone is ready to do. If you are not doing a first look, my second shooter and I will divide and conquer these formal photos at separate locations so that they are done efficiently and the bride and groom don’t see each other before the ceremony. I would budget about 30-45 minutes total for these photos, just so that no one feels rushed or nervous due to the pre-ceremony photos.
1:00-1:15pm [15-30 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony]
I do my absolute best to finish pre-ceremony photos no later than 15 minutes prior to the music starting for the ceremony. This gives everyone a good chunk of time to breathe and regroup before the ceremony. My second shooter and I will get in place and be all ready to go for the ceremony’s start.
Evan when he first saw Emily walking down the aisle!
The first kiss!
My lovely second shooter, Abby, captured this amazing angle of Emily walking down the aisle!
1:30pm [set ceremony start time on the invitation]
This part of the wedding day flows pretty seamlessly without any photographic scheduling ;) Be sure to let me know ahead of time if there are specific shots that you want during your ceremony. As you can see even from the three above photos, my second shooter and I get lots of different angles and shots during the ceremony. In my experience of 35+ weddings, the vast majority of ceremonies are set to take about 30 minutes from start to finish, but the dismissal of friends/regrouping after the ceremony brings that time up to 50 minutes. For this reason, I recommend planning to start family photos about 50 minutes after the ceremony start time. Be sure to have someone make all of your family members who will be in photos aware ahead of time that they need to stay after the ceremony for pictures. Nothing wastes time more than trying to chase down Uncle John who didn’t know he was supposed to stay behind, haha.
2:20pm [50 minutes after ceremony start time]
This is the part of the wedding day that I lovingly refer to as, “crunch time.” Haha. Your guests have been released to go to the reception in most cases, and your family has stayed at the site of the ceremony to take formal family photos. Nobody loves this experience, so I totally understand wanting to get it over with quickly so that you & your loved ones can get to the reception as soon as possible. However, as with every other stage in your wedding day, I want you to be able to relax and not feel rushed. This is why budgeting time is so important. This is why I highly recommend budgeting 30-40 minutes total for family photos. Nine times out of ten, we will take way less time than that, and you will be able to relax and get into your reception early. It’s so important to overestimate, though, and that way we have extra time rather than the other way around. The stress of wedding days almost always occurs between the ceremony and reception. I want to eliminate this for you by being as efficient as I can possibly be. This is why the list of family photos including the names of family members is so important as well. My second shooter and I will take care of directing everyone, with the help of a wedding coordinator if present, so that you can relax and not worry about rounding up family member.
We usually try to take care of grandparents first and then large, extended family photos, working our way down to the immediate family (which usually correlates with the wedding party, who will have to stay longer anyways). Our process is as quick and painless as we can make it, but we always need the cooperation of the family members and having the right amount of time budgeted is so important.
2:50-3:00pm [30-40 minutes after ceremony ends]
At this point, we’ve finished all the family photos and family members have been released to go to the reception. We still have to wrap up a few formal wedding party photos with everyone all together, but since we took care of the groomsmen & bridesmaid photos before the ceremony, a lot of time has been cut off. Thus, I recommend setting aside about 20 minutes for wedding party photos. After we finish, we can release the wedding party to wait for the reception to begin.
3:20pm [allowing 20 minutes for wedding party photos]
One of my favorite parts of the whole day! This is the time for you & your new spouse to get peaceful, beautiful portraits. Emily & Evan were the dearest and we were able to keep a super relaxed pace since they had budgeted enough time between the ceremony and reception for photos. We took about 20 minutes from start to finish for couple portraits, but Emily had budgeted 50 minutes for this portion of the photos. Thus, we were able to get into the reception about 20 minutes early, with way more time for deep breaths and moments of peace than rushing from one thing to the next. I highly recommend budgeting about 40 minutes for the couples portraits. If you weren’t doing math along the way (I don’t blame you ;), here is the breakdown:
Family photos - 40 minutes
Wedding party photos - 20 minutes
Couple portraits - 40 minutes
Total budgeted time after the end of the ceremony = 1 hour 40 minutes. In my experience, we usually run ahead of schedule by about 30 minutes, but every wedding is different, and it’s always good to overestimate.
4:00-4:30pm [allowing around 40 minutes for couples portraits]
Emily & Evan’s reception began at around 4:20pm and they started their dinner around 4:35pm (a whopping 25 minutes ahead of schedule!!!!). This was 100% because Emily over-budgeted portrait time and everyone was able to enter the reception relaxed rather than rushed. This also allowed Emily and Evan to take more time talking to guests at the reception, rather than rushing into their formalities.
5:00pm-6:10pm
Formalities such as speeches, toasts, garter & bouquet toss, first dances, cake cutting, and serving dessert took place at Emily & Evan’s wedding. This part of the day is pretty well laid out from the start, and we pretty much just photograph it as it happens.
6:30pm-8:00pm
Formalities are over and dance floor is open till the end of the reception! Emily & Evan wrapped up their reception at around 8:00pm, which is when my second shooter and I left according to the 9 hour package this couple booked.