Wedding days fly by for all of us…
…and after the cake has been eaten and the flowers have wilted, one of the only remaining tangible parts of your wedding day is your collection of photographs. I assist every couple that I work with on planning an ideal wedding day photography timeline to ensure that the images we create together are as creative, fun, and beautiful as they can possibly be. After nine years of photographing weddings I find myself consistently making the same timeline recommendations over and over, regardless of where the wedding will be, what each couple’s style and personal vibe is, and how big or small the wedding may be. I’ve boiled down what I most commonly recommend to my top five favorite photography timeline tips. Follow these suggestions to help create the perfect wedding day photography timeline.
Photography timeline tip #1 - Carve out 15-20 minutes for sunset photos.
The best light of the day is just after sunrise and just before sunset. Since sunrise photos are generally out of the question on most wedding days, sunset photos are the way to go. I recommend sunset portraits for a host of reasons, just one of which being that the light at that time of day is very flattering and golden in tone compared to the middle of the day. It’s so romantic! Additionally, carving out a few minutes of time for sunset photos gives you a chance to take a short break from your reception to spend rare private time with your spouse at your wedding and the portraits that I take of my couples at sunset almost always wind up being some of the favorite images from the entire wedding day. Having a chance to eat dinner and enjoy a drink or two does wonders for letting couples relax and wind down from the anticipation of the ceremony and wedding day and that relaxed vibe is easy to see in sunset portraits.
Photography timeline tip #2 - Be sure to provide your photographer with a family group shot list ahead of time - but don’t overdo it!
Formal family portraits are an important part of any wedding day timeline. Regardless of how big or small your immediate family is, providing a list of specific groups you’d like photographed to your photographer will greatly help speed up the process of getting through all of those posed shots (and will also help to keep stress levels as low as possible). When creating a family group shot list I recommend focusing on the immediate family - parents, grandparents and siblings that are able to attend. I generally suggest foregoing portraits with extended family members unless there is a special relationship - perhaps your Great Aunt Joyce and you have a very unique bond - that is important to acknowledge. Consider doing very large, extended family portraits after the ceremony. Keep in mind that the longer your family portrait list is the more of a chance there is for you to get tired or stressed during this part of the day. Each group, especially larger groupings, can take 2-3 minutes just to call over, organize and then photograph; so it’s pretty easy to fill up a full half hour with posed family portraits with just 10-15 groupings of relatives. When putting your family shot list together keep in mind how long you’ll be standing in one place while people filter around you and think about which shots are most important to YOU and your spouse.
Photography timeline tip #3 - Get as many portraits done before the ceremony as possible so you have more time to spend with guests after saying “I do!”
Your wedding day is a whirlwind and your guests only get to be with you for so long before the music has to be shut off and the bar has to be closed. By building your wedding timeline so that the majority of your formal portraits are taken prior to the ceremony this ensures that you get to spend as much time socializing and partying during your cocktail hour and reception as possible. Another positive to getting a lot of those formal portraits out of the way early is that you to feel much more relaxed heading into your ceremony and reception, thanks to knowing that you (and your wedding party and family) aren’t going to be pulled in different directions or asked a lot of questions by your photographer during your cocktail hour and reception.
Photography timeline tip #4 - If your overall timeline has space, budget at least 45-60 minutes for photos of JUST you two.
This creates a good time to relax, be creative with your photographer, and enjoy your wedding day rather than feeling rushed. The more time I am able to spend with each of my couples photographing their wedding portraits together the more fun we have together and the easier the process feels. The luxury of time - at least 45-60 minutes - gives us a chance to take short breaks, chat between photos rather than pushing our pace to capture as many images as possible in a tiny timeframe, and ultimately opens up a lot of creative opportunities that aren’t always afforded with shorter time frames. If the schedule for your full wedding day allows it, plan for some extra time for those portraits of the two of you together. It’s worth it for so many reasons!
Photography timeline tip #5 - If you are having an outdoor ceremony, consider where and when the ceremony will be so that you can plan to best utilize your lighting.
The Pacific Northwest is an amazing place to be married but thanks to our abundance of trees and long summer days I routinely show up to weddings where the lighting on the ceremony space winds up being less than ideal. This may look like splotchy sun spots from sunlight passing through trees, or sometimes our outdoor light and exact location of the ceremony causes one partner to be standing in shade and the other partner is covered in sun. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but on the flip side, sometimes it is by adjusting the specific location of your ceremony or adjusting the time of day of the ceremony a bit, or in the case below, by utilizing a tent to provide even, consistent light no matter what the weather turned out to be. I recommend considering what lighting will be like when choosing your wedding venue because splotchy, dappled sunlight or a mixture of harsh shade and sun will impact your photos. If your venue is already chosen but adjusting the ceremony timing or the positioning of how your ceremony will be set up are possibilities, consider making a tweak there in order to avoid tricky or annoying lighting as you say “I do”.
Assisting with timeline planning is a very important part of my process with each couple I work with because I feel it drastically improves the quality of the images I can deliver following the wedding. It allows me to understand every aspect of the day ahead of time so that I won’t need to bother my couples with questions and I can help direct and move the photography portions of the day along. I have no doubt you will enjoy your photography experience much more if you’re able to work even a couple of these tips into your timeline plans. I’d love to chat with you about your wedding vision and plans, too! Click the link to send me a note and I’ll write back to you within 24 hours! Happy planning!!
