As your wedding day approaches, you’ll likely find that your wedding suppliers will start asking for your wedding day timeline. This document highlights all the important events happening throughout the day and is essential for several reasons:
1- Scheduling: It helps everyone involved know exactly what’s happening and when.
2- Smooth Flow: It ensures the day progresses seamlessly without hitches.
3 –Personal Touches: It allocates time for the elements that matter most to you.
As your wedding photographer, I kindly request that you send me your completed wedding day timeline at least one month before your wedding. This allows me to review it thoroughly and ensure we have adequate time to capture all the photos you envision. After reviewing your timeline, I’d love to schedule a call (either by phone or video) to discuss all the finer details. Just let me know your availability, and we’ll arrange a convenient time.
In this blog post, I’ll dive into the various segments of your wedding day from a photographer’s perspective, offering advice on how much time to allocate for each part. At the end of the post, you’ll find a sample timeline to guide you. Feel free to use it as a template or source of inspiration for crafting your perfect day.
Where to start with your wedding timeline?
When creating your wedding timeline, start by establishing fixed events first – such as your ceremony time. Once all of the fixed times are in place you can easily work out how you would like to fit everything else in. Once these key moments are set, you can more easily fit in the remaining activities and details. Organising your timeline this way not only helps streamline the planning process but also provides you with invaluable peace of mind.
Detail photos
One of my favourite things to photograph on a wedding day is the details. Each item, whether it’s the dress, invitations, shoes, jewellery, or perfume, is carefully chosen and often holds sentimental value. These elements are a key part of your wedding story, and I dedicate the first 20-25 minutes to capturing them beautifully.
Quick tip – To streamline the process, gather all your details in one place before I arrive. This way, when I arrive, everything is ready for me to photograph. You’ll likely be busy with hair and makeup, so having everything organised in advance will save you from any last-minute scrambling.
Bridal preparations
After all of the wedding details are photographed I spend time photographing what is happening in front of me. Usually, during this time the bride/bridal party has hair/make-up done. When it is time for the bride to be getting into her dress I usually ask whoever is helping her, to be dressed in their wedding outfit, as this ensures everyone looks great in the photos. I would advise aiming to be ready at least 45-60 minutes before the ceremony if you’d like any photos of you and your bridal party. Doing this saves time later on in the day and is just a great opportunity to get some lovely photos with the bridal party/parents.
I usually arrive at bridal prep about 2-3 hours before the ceremony depending on location and if there is any travel involved. Quick tip for couples having a civil ceremony – on your wedding day, you will have a meeting with the registrar 15 minutes before the ceremony and your partner will be doing the same 30 minutes before the ceremony. You must be ready for your meetings as registrars sometimes have multiple weddings to attend on any given day. If there are delays on your wedding day this affects the weddings of others and registrars can leave to go to their next event (this hasn’t happened on any weddings I have worked at but this isn’t unheard of).
Want some top tips for acing your bridal prep photos, check out this blog post.
Groom preparations
If groom prep is at the same location as bridal prep I can go between photographing bridal and groom prep. If they are in two different locations you can have a second photographer join them to capture the wedding build-up. More often than not 60-90 minutes is more than enough coverage for groom prep, speaking from previous wedding experience grooms don’t usually take that long to get ready.
Guys have a couple of options:
- Have the second photographer join them at groom prep for final getting-ready photos
- Meet at a pub for more chilled vibes and candid photos
- Or meet at the ceremony location
What I find works well is meeting at the ceremony location/pub to capture the groom and groomsmen putting on their buttonholes, maybe having a quick pint before the service, a couple of group photos and some candids of what’s happening in the ceremony build-up.
The ceremony
The official part! On average, the ceremony takes about 25-30 minutes (15-20 minutes if you don’t have readings and up to 60 minutes for religious ceremonies). It’s helpful to include both a start and finish times on the timeline, which you can obtain from your registrar/celebrant/priest.
If you are planning a confetti throw on your wedding day then I would advise scheduling this in the timeline after the ceremony. I recommend allowing a few minutes for the newlyweds to enjoy a brief moment to themselves whilst nominated photo helpers (usually bridesmaids/groomsmen) and I set up the confetti line. This ensures a smooth experience as you walk through your confetti line.
After the ceremony but before dinner
The official part is over and you’re officially wed (ekk!) now it’s time to grab a drink, mingle, eat all the canapés, and have your group and couple photos taken.
As a standard, I find that after the ceremony finishes there is usually a window of 90 minutes to allow time for couple/group photos and most importantly mingling with your guests. As you can imagine that time goes very fast! If you want extra time here it might be worth speaking to your venue and caterers to see if you can have an extra half an hour. Couples that opt for a 2-hour drinks reception often have a more chilled afternoon as they are not rushing between different things.
If you stick to the standard 90 minutes your drinks reception may go something like this:
14.00 – ceremony finish
14.10 – confetti and mingling
14.30 – group photos (roughly 30-40 minutes based on 10 groups)
15.10 – couple photos (15/20 minutes, we can do this whilst your guests are being called in to give us a bit more time on location if need be)
15.30 – guests called in for wedding breakfast
If you would like to make more time for mingling in the above timeline here is one way to do that: nominate helpers (usually bridesmaids/groomsmen/siblings) to assist in rounding up people needed in the group photos (it always helps if they are slightly bossy/have a loud voice). Surprisingly, rounding up people usually takes longer than capturing the photo, it’s like people magically disappear when it is group photo time (more on group photos in the next section).
Know that the above times are only guides, if we finish groups early that means more time to mingle.
Couple photos
I know that couple photos are really important to the couples that choose me as their wedding photographer but I understand I can’t take you away from your wedding for hours on end for photos (as much as I’d like to). I keep the couple photos to roughly 15/20 minutes after the ceremony and another 10/15 minutes at sunset (as the light is softest at the time).
If you’ve had an engagement session you’ll know what to expect and you already know how beautiful you look in front of the camera. If you haven’t had an engagement session don’t worry just trust the process and we will create some magic.
Group photos
Roughly allow 30 – 40 minutes for group photos, this is based on having 10 groups. Naturally, the more groups you have the longer you’ll spend taking photos. If you need more help and advice when it comes to group photos head on over to this blog post as it goes into more detail on the subject.
Guest call-in
There are a few things that determine how long this part takes, the first is how many guests you have, and the second is if you are opting for a receiving line. Obviously, with more guests, the longer it’ll take to round everyone up. One way to make this a little easier for yourselves is to ask someone to make an announcement to go through to the wedding breakfast, this could be a groomsman, a friend with a loud voice or a toastmaster (if you’re having one). Once the announcement is made, have bridesmaids/groomsmen show the way to the reception and take people through. People love to chat and catch up on wedding days so this can sometimes take a while to get people moving.
If you are opting for a receiving line this makes call-in take a little longer. A receiving line is where the wedding couple (and sometimes parents) greet guests into the wedding breakfast room, it is useful for larger weddings to ensure you have taken time to speak with every guest on your wedding day (albeit quickly). The receiving line makes for a nice opportunity for candid photographs.
For a normal call-in, I would allow 10/15 minutes to allow guests to go through and get seated and with a receiving line, I’d say it’d be more towards 30 minutes.
Speeches
Speeches can happen before or after the wedding breakfast and can last anywhere between 20-60 minutes, depending on the number of speakers and how long the speeches are. If your speakers are nervous about doing a speech I would recommend doing speeches before dinner, this means they can enjoy their meal without the worry of public speaking dawning upon them.
I always find it helpful to know the following:
- When speeches are taking place
- How many speeches (if you have a videographer, it is vital you tell them this too as often they have to mic up the speakers)
- Roughly how long the speeches will be
Wedding breakfast
Not egg and bacon ;-), the wedding breakfast as I’m sure you already know is the first meal as newlyweds. Usually, the wedding breakfast is about 60-90 minutes, but it is always best to double-check with your venue/caterers.
During this time, most photographers/videographers also have something to eat and take a break. No one wants a camera pointing at them whilst they are enjoying their meal, trust me on that.
Sunset couple photos
There is a time of day when the light looks magical and this is in the hour before sunset, which is also referred to as golden hour. I love taking couples out for 10/15 minutes as their portraits look dreamy in the warm setting sun. I don’t like to take you away for any longer than this as I understand that you may have evening guests to welcome and of course, a party to get started! Read more about the magic of golden hour here.
Getting the party started
From experience, it is great to cut the cake and go straight into the first dance as this creates a good flow and all of your guests are already gathered. Asking your band/DJ to announce this makes things a lot easier. If you plan on doing a confetti cannon during the first dance please give your photographer the heads up, so they are prepared for the moment.
I usually stay for about half an hour after the first dance to capture dance floor photos. After this, I leave you both to enjoy the party and continue making lifelong memories.
Things I haven’t mentioned
If you are planning any surprises, gifts, first look, sparklers, or anything a little different and you’d like these moments captured chat with me on how we can achieve this for you. If the surprise is for your partner you can always give me a call/drop me an email to not spoil it. It is always super handy to know things in advance.
Sample timeline
Below I have created a sample wedding timeline, based on full-day coverage with a second photographer. Obviously, every wedding is totally different so just use this as a guide.
10.30 – I photograph bridal prep (2- 3 hours before the ceremony)
12.00 – Second photographer photographs groom prep (60-90 minutes before the ceremony)
13.30 – Ceremony (usually 20-30 minutes, for religious ceremonies allow up to 60 minutes)
14.00 – Ceremony finish
14.10 – Confetti/ mingling
14.30 – Group photos (roughly 30-40 minutes based on 10 groups)
15.10 – Couple photos (we can do this whilst your guests are being called in to give us a bit more time on location if need be)
15.30 – Guests called in for wedding breakfast
15.45 – Speeches
16.15 – Wedding breakfast
18.30 – Sunset couple photos (dependant on sunset time, allow 10/15 minutes)
19.00 – Evening guests arrive
19.30 – Cake cut
19.35 – First dance & dancing
20.00 – Sparklers (dependent on sunset time)
Couples that follow and stick to a timeline find that their day runs a lot smoother and they get time to fit in everything they want. Obviously, it goes without saying that on a wedding day, anything can change the flow of the timeline (more often than you’d think), whether that be down to delays, weather, or travel. Your wedding venue/wedding coordinator will be working with you on the day to keep everything running on time as best as they can to allow you not to worry. If you are planning a marquee wedding I would highly recommend booking a coordinator/wedding planner to allow them to deal with organisation and timekeeping on your day.
Thank you for taking the time to make your timeline, you’ll be amazed by the peace of mind you’ll have knowing when everything is happening. I can’t wait to hear from you with your timeline and if you need any help putting yours together I am always more than happy to help.