Timeline Guide
Planning a stress-free Wedding Day
Let’s plan a wedding! But better yet, let’s plan a wedding that will run smoothly, be stress-free and leave room for you to take a breath and enjoy quiet moments throughout the day. We get it. For most people, this is the first time you’re required to plan a schedule for a wedding day and coordinate when and who will arrive where. It can be a lot. So we’ve come up with a guide to help you make the most of your day and that can hopefully make the planning process (and the day itself) be done with ease.
Our Top Tip: Give yourself more time than you think you need
If you take nothing else away from reading this blog, let this be the tip you remember. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to feel rushed or to feel like you need to ‘catch-up’ for the rest of the day after one part of the timeline took longer than anticipated. By simply giving yourself a little extra margin for each part of the day, you can eliminate the need to constantly watch the clock and count each minute that goes by.
Let’s get into it
When creating your wedding day timeline, factor in travel times between venues. For instance, allow 20 minutes plus a buffer for the bridal party to move from the getting-ready location to the ceremony venue. Build in similar margins for vendors to relocate their equipment and set up at each new spot. This helps ensure a smooth flow of events and reduces stress for everyone involved.
These timelines are simply recommendations based on our experience. This is still YOUR wedding day and you should prioritise the things that are most important to you and make sure that you’re happy with the timeline above all else.
Groom Prep (60 minutes)
The boys have it a little easier than the girls. It’s not unusual for the photographer or videographer to arrive while the boys are still eating breakfast and lounging while playing video games. There’s no rush and simply no need for the guys to be ready in their suit and tie before we arrive. Once we arrive, we will often spend a little bit of time taking photos of general hangs happening and some of the details such as the suit, tie, shoes, rings, cologne etc. Following that, we’ll give some guidance as to when and who could start getting ready to ensure we can capture the finishing touches of the groom and his party getting ready for the big day.
It’s worth noting that although there will be some waiting around, it is generally far more convenient for the groom to be dressed and ready early rather than the bride. Therefore, we would recommend having the photographer and videographer capture the groom’s preparations first, followed by the bride’s getting ready.
Bride Prep (90 - 120 minutes)
There’s normally a little bit more going on at the bride’s getting-ready location. Flowers are being delivered, makeup being done, hair being finished, dresses being steamed. Similar to when we arrive at the groom's, we take some time capturing the bride hanging out with her bridesmaids and family members in a more casual setting as well as taking photos and video of the details such as flowers, the invitation suite, the wedding dress, the engagement ring, perfume, earrings and any other sentimental bits.
One of the most common questions we get asked is when hair and makeup should finish. You should always talk to your hair and makeup artist and plan for them to finish as the photographers and videographers arrive or soon after (within 20 minutes or so). That way everyone will be looking great for photos but will still allow us to capture the final touches of the hair and makeup being completed.
After capturing the details and candid preparation moments, we'll move on to document the pre-ceremony activities that are important and personal to your day. This could include bridesmaids in their robes, champagne toasts, the bride putting on her dress and jewellery, the father's first look, and finish with some elegant group portraits before the ceremony.
Ceremony
The moment is finally here! You’re about to marry your best friend in front of all your favourite people.
We (your photographer and videographer) always aim to arrive at the ceremony location early to set-up any equipment and capture the styling you’ve carefully selected (15 minutes minimum for photography only or allow 30 minutes minimum for videography).
Ceremonies can vary a lot in their duration with some being a short-and-sweet 15 minutes and others being an hour plus. The duration can often depend on the special moments, traditions and religious aspects you choose to have as part of your ceremony.
One thing that is often overlooked and in turn not included in the timeline calculations is that every guest will be itching to come up and congratulate you after the "I Do’s”. Making sure you plan for this will allow for some really special moments with your loved ones and we then get to capture you interacting most naturally with them. We’d recommend giving yourself between 15 - 30 minutes depending on the size of your guest list.
Family Photos (20 - 30 minutes)
This can often be the hardest part of the day but it doesn’t have to be with a little planning and some pre-wedding communication. Once family and friends have said congratulations to you, it’s not uncommon for them to disappear to the toilets or to grab a drink - leaving you on an endless scavenger hunt to track them down. The easiest way to avoid this from happening is to communicate with them before the day that you’d love to have a special portrait taken with them straight after the ceremony and to please hang around.
We highly recommend creating a ‘Family Photo List’ to ensure this part of the day is as stress-free as it can be. An organised list will help us, a) not miss anyone and b) take your family photos in an organised and efficient manner. It’s also worth designating a family member from each side of the family to help locate and gather people as your photography team won’t know who’s who. So having Auntie Faye, who’s loud and knows everyone’s name, coordinating people for the next photo means smooth and timely group photos.
Bridal Photos (45 - 90 minutes)
We can spend as little or as long on this part of the day as you like. Some couples prefer to spend as much time with their guests as possible and others like to get away, take their time and have a bit of fun with their bridal party. Depending on where you are having your ceremony/reception, we can take all the bridal party photos on location or travel to another location of your choosing.
Generally, we’d start with photos of the whole bridal party, aiming to keep this casual and fun before sending the bridal party off to enjoy some much-needed refreshments so we can capture some intimate portraits of just the two of you.
Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the coveted sunset photos. Read on to see what we recommend for this.
Reception
Normally your reception venue and coordinator will be all over this. They will likely work with you and provide some suggested timeframes for speeches, food, dancing and any other formalities.
It is worth communicating with your venue that you would like to take some time around sunset to have some stunning, golden hour and dusk photos captured. You can estimate that 30 minutes before sunset would be the sweet spot to head out, although it’s worth remaining flexible on the night as the weather can impact the ideal time. We will keep an eye out and let you know when we think it’s time to go. Sunset photos only take about 15 minutes so we can get you back to your guests as soon as possible.
We’re more than happy for you to send us your reception timeline if you’d like our input on the schedule you and your venue have decided upon.
Lastly, make sure you take moments throughout the day to slow down and appreciate one of the best days of your life.
We can’t wait to celebrate with you!