WEDDING DAY SCHEDULING GUIDE

This Guide is designed with a 10 Hour & 2 Prep Wedding in mind from Prep to the Dance-floor.

When planning your schedule for your day there are a few key things to keep in mind, one of them being how you want your day to feel - not rushed. With so many points on the schedule this can be hard to achieve without pre-planning with plenty of time up your sleeve to accomodate the many moving parts. Having attended almost 600 weddings in 15 years, the best days are the ones with considered timing.

Make sure the common space is tidied, Magazine or Open-House ready - it will be photographed! It’s very easy with 6+ people for things to get chaotic, bags on the floor, stuff all over, aesthetically, make sure it is tidy and photo-ready.

Turn off all artificial lighting and open the natural light up into the space. Natural light will be the most flattering for portraits.

Before the arrival of Photo/Video have all of your Wedding Items together and ready. This includes what you’re wearing, anything sentimental, florals, stationary and other key styling items - for Grooms/Suits go with darker tones and textures (suede, leather, wood), for Brides/Gowns go with lighter tones and textures (marble, tulle, gold/silver). For general styling and flat lays you can include trinket holders, ring boxes, ribbons and other small items that represent your wedding venue and wedding colour palette.

When Photo/Video arrives for Prep the timing will go as follows:

10 minutes to photograph attire & accessories
15 minutes to photograph pre-dressing shots (PJ’s, champagne, beers, hanging out at the bar, having hair and makeup touch ups) - we will also do Wedding Party gifting now as these gifts usually include accessories for the day.
10 minutes for The Wedding Party will now be instructed to get dressed 90% of the way and have their finishing touches like shoes, ties, jackets, earrings, necklaces photographed.
10 minutes for the Nearlywed to Dress followed by Reveals to Wedding Party & Parents.
15 minutes for Parent gifts, family portraits, Wedding Party portraits.
15 minutes of Solo Portraits before Gift/Letter from your spouse.
1-1.5 hours.

If you’d like Cars photographed please add an additional 20 minutes to Prep time.

Before you schedule your ceremony and send out your invitations, jot out your timeline taking into consideration sunset time on your wedding day.

Wedding Ceremonies are scheduled at 3 or 4pm routinely but without forethought to the timeline and to the available daylight and your days schedule. The best time for Portraits outside is in Golden Hour - the Hour leading up to Sunset and up to 10 minutes after, Blue Hour. Schedule your Wedding Party Portraits and Couples Portraits in this hour. It is the prettiest and most flattering light of the day when the sun is at the lowest to the horizon.

Most Ceremonies start 10 minutes late so buff the timeline out here. People forget things, you’ve got to pack cars with everything, people need to use the bathroom, there is traffic, roadworks, and often late arrivals. Then also leave 15 minutes after your Ceremony for Congratulations and hugs and kisses. EVERYONE wants to see you and talk to you and snap an iPhone photo. Photo/Video will be right there with you to capture these moments. Before guests disperse, Formal Posed Photographs will take place, usually at the Ceremony site or close by, leave 3-4 minutes per grouping for this.

Formal Photos take 2-5 minutes per grouping. It takes a little time to get people situated, account for bigger groups and slow movers.
Schedule your Pets first followed by Kids and elderly Grandparents/family members.
From there start with 1 sides extended family, we’ll thin the group to just your immediate family then only your parents, then we will add in your spouses parents to capture both sets of parents before excusing your parents and doing the 2nd parents solo, then immediate family (siblings, siblings+partners) then extended family.
This gives the photos a nice progression.
Work and School groups can follow.

Now is a good time for you to enjoy Canapés, the music and mingle. It’s important to spend as much time on your day with the people you love. Leave as much time as you can do this.

Timing now will depend on a few things; what time of year it is and when the sun sets, what time your Reception opens to guests and so on.

Assign 10-15 minutes for Reception setting and styling to be photographed PRIOR to the Reception opening to your Guests, this is when styling will be complete, candles lit, cake will be out. During this time you both can hangout with your Wedding Party, prep for the Reception entrance, snack, makeup touch ups etc. If your Reception opens to Guests at 6pm, we will photo/video it from 5:45pm.

30 minutes leading up to sunset should be scheduled for Couples Portraits. We can make do with 20 but buff it out if your venues sunset spots are a bit of a walk. Again, we don’t want to rush, a slow meander to take in the scenery, to enjoy the sound of your Wedding in the distance and to just be with one another before the party starts is a really nice thing to have in your day.

You can Google the sunset time on your Wedding Day.

Sunset may be during your Reception - let your Venue know that you’ll be going outside for Photo/Video at Sunset.

after the ceremony

Depending on your Sunset time and your Personal Preferences you may want to schedule your Wedding Party Portraits prior to entering your Reception and either before or after enjoying Canapes.

During Wedding Party Portraits we’ll do a Bottle-Pop shot, some walking shots and mix up the sides as a whole wedding party. We will then do each Newlywed with their side separately and time permitting each Newlywed with each individual in their crew.