Making your wedding day timeline is one of the most important aspects of planning the flow of your wedding day because it ensures that there is enough time for everything and can alleviate the most stress if planned well in advance! I work closely with all of my brides to make sure there is enough time to gather portraits of each part of the day to complete the story and make sure that the day isn’t too rushed. The ideal wedding day is relaxing, un-rushed, and enjoyable!

I have created a sample wedding day timeline when a couple chooses to do a “First Look” (if you don’t know what one is or want to know why they are important: click this link to ‘5 Benefits of a First Look’). And then I created another wedding day timeline for a couple who has decided to do a traditional timeline to show how much time is needed for me to deliver to capture all of the portraits in a relaxing manner.

These timelines are just samples for 8 hours of photographic wedding coverage and are not factoring travel time in between, so there would need to be adjustments if everything is not all in the same location.

1. SAMPLE WEDDING DAY TIMELINE WITH FIRST-LOOK

• 1:00 pm | BRIDE GETTING READY

  • Photographer arrives at the bridal suite or bride’s getting ready location to capture the bride’s details and the moments of her with her bridesmaids.

    • First, I’d capture the bride’s details (jewelry, rings, dress, bridesmaids dresses, invitation suite, etc).

    • Second, I’d capture the bride’s finishing makeup touches and candids with the bridesmaids in their robes
    • Third, bride putting on her dress, and a first-look with ad to capture his reaction if she desired.

  • During this time, I or a 2nd photographer will also capture final details of the groom & groomsmen getting ready

    • 2:15 Bride & groom depart separately for first-look

• 2:30 pm |First-look and bride & groom photos (Photographer first sets up groom in proper spot and position with back turned)

• 3:00 pm | Wedding party photos (bride & bridesmaids, groom & groomsmen, full wedding party)

• 3:30 pm | Family Photos (immediate family and close extended family)

• 4:00 pm | Bride freshens up, gets tucked away from early arriving guests

  • photograph ceremony decor & candids of guests arriving

• 4:30 pm | Ceremony begins

• 5:00 pm | Ceremony ends and cocktail hour begins

  • Photographer photographs reception space untouched before guests are allowed in, and any more family photos if needed

• 6:00 pm | Reception doors open

• 6:15 pm | Grand entrance of wedding party

• 6:30 pm | Special dances: First dance, followed by Father-daughter dance, and Mother-son dance

• 6:45 pm | Speeches

• 7:00 pm |Cake Cutting

• 7: 15pm | Dinner is served

• 8:00 pm | Dance floor opens

• 8:15 pm | Sunset photos of bride & groom

• 9:00pm | Photography coverage ends

2.  SAMPLE OF TRADITIONAL WEDDING DAY TIMELINE

• 2:00 pm | BRIDE GETTING READY

  • Photographer arrives at the bridal suite or bride’s getting ready location to capture the bride’s details and the moments of her with her bridesmaids.

    • First, I’d capture the bride’s details (jewelry, rings, dress, bridesmaids dresses, invitation suite, etc).

    • Second, I’d capture the bride’s finishing makeup touches and candids with the bridesmaids in their robes
    • Third, bride putting on her dress, and a first-look with ad to capture his reaction if she desired.

  • During this time, I will also capture final details of the groom & groomsmen getting ready if groom is in the same building, if not the 2nd photographer will capture the groom is your package includes two photographers.

• 3:30 pm | OutdoorBride with Bridesmaids portraits, and Bride with immediate family

  • Bride freshens up, gets tucked away from early arriving guests

• 4:00 pm | Outdoor Groom with Groomsmen portraits, and Groom with immediate family photos

• 4:20 pm |photograph ceremony decor & candids of guests arriving

• 4:30 pm | Ceremony begins

• 5:00 pm | Ceremony ends and cocktail hour begins (Bridal party and family cannot attend early part of cocktail hour until their portraits are done)

  • Bride and Groom portraits,  Family Photos, and Full Bridal Party (this time will have to move very fast and efficiently)

  • 6:00pm Photographer photographs reception space untouched before guests are allowed in

• 6:15 pm | Reception doors open

• 6:30 pm | Grand entrance of wedding party

• 6:45pm | Special dances: First dance, followed by Father-daughter dance, and Mother-son dance

• 7:00 pm | Speeches

• 7:15 pm | Cake Cutting (this can be moved to later, but is best to get all formalities out of the way so that after dinner everyone can just have fun and dance).

  • Photographer breaks to eat dinner

• 7: 30pm | Dinner is served

• 8:30 pm | Dance floor opens

• 8:45 pm | Sunset photos of bride & groom (if desired and location has a sunset)

• 10:00pm | Photography coverage ends

I hope these are helpful and can give you a great frame work to go off of when working on your wedding timeline. Your photographer and/or wedding planner should be helping you with this since there can be many things that can come up or things that you may not be aware of that need to be factored in. Your wedding day should be a day of just focusing on the ones you love and not running around like crazy. Planning ahead can certainly prevent a lot of stress and help make your special day more enjoyable!

Much joy,

Charity HOPE

 

VENDORS

Planning & Design: AMC Weddings | Ariana | @amc.weddings

Signage & calligraphy: Details & Swirls | Danielle | @detailsandswirls

Florals: Botanica Wedding Flowers | Giti @botanicawedding

Photography: Charity Hope Photography | Charity | @charityhopephotography Rentals: Uniquely Chic Rentals | Briel | @uniquelychicvintagerentals

Bridal attire: Spark Bridal | Laura | @sparkbridal

Hair: Rhode Island Wedding Hair | Cassandra | @rhodeislandweddinghair

Makeup: Glam Done Wright | Erica | @glamdonewright

Model: Meg Mattera | @meg_era