How to Plan Your Wedding Photography Timeline
Planning your wedding day timeline can be an overwhelming task for any engaged couple! Especially when it comes to your wedding photography, it’s hard to know just how much time you should budget for different types of photos. This guide should be a helpful reference for advice when planning your timeline and keeping in mind how long you’ll need for your important photos.
Most couples who book me as their wedding photographer end up booking for 8-10 hours. This generally is enough time to cover photos from the getting ready portion of the day through most or all of the reception. But every wedding is different, some have more traveling involved than others, and every couple has different priorities about what pictures they want. So sometimes fewer hours works just fine and sometimes more are needed!
A couple important things to remember:
Keep your photographer in the loop - During your wedding planning process, keep your photographer informed of your potential timeline. Every photographer has their own style and needs a different amount of time for certain photos throughout the day. Before you make a permanent decision (like choosing your ceremony time and sending out invitations), it’s a great idea to consult with your photographer to ensure your timeline is conducive to the photos you want captured!
Schedule in buffer time - Almost every single wedding day has something that runs behind schedule. Whether it’s hair and makeup that takes longer than planned or a shuttle of wedding guests that gets stuck in traffic - expect the unexpected! If you are traveling in between locations, remember that it takes a few minutes for everyone to pack up all their things and get into and out of cars, as well as the possibility of traffic. To minimize stress on your wedding day, give yourself extra time for everything.
Pay attention to sunset - You can look up the sunset time for any location and any date in the future at timeanddate.com. Getting photos during the beautiful golden hour before sunset is always a good idea, but I don’t recommend scheduling ALL of the formal portraits right before sunset! If earlier parts of the day run behind schedule, or if it’s a very overcast day, you might run out daylight before getting all of your outdoor pictures done. Definitely schedule in time to get some golden hour and sunset photos, but don’t try to fit all of the family photos, wedding party photos, and wedding couple photos in that small window.
And don’t forget that your photographer needs a few minutes in between events too! We are lugging around lots of gear, have to change batteries/memory cards/lenses, and usually need to set up lights during the reception. Don’t plan for family photos to end at 4:59 and your grand entrance to be at 5:00 - to get the best pictures, give your photographer a few minutes to move locations and prepare their gear!
And now on to the more detailed advice for each major part of the wedding day!
Getting Ready
1.5 - 2 hours
Plan time for detail photos - The early part of the day is perfect for capturing all the little details. If you want detail photos during this time (things like your dress, suit, tie, shoes, rings, jewelry, invitations), plan for your photographer to take about 30 minutes or more to photograph these.
Candid photos take time to happen naturally - I LOVE some good candid photos during this part of the day, and that takes time! People are not smiling and laughing the entire time they’re getting ready 😂. But having your photographer there for a good amount of time means they’ll be present to capture those happy moments as they naturally happen! Whether it’s getting hair and makeup done or struggling to pin a boutonniere, some of my favorite photos happen while couples are getting ready and I like to have about 1 hour to get these candid pictures.
Allow time for putting on the dress - Putting a wedding dress on often takes longer than you realize. I recommend budgeting 15-30 minutes depending on the complexity of your dress (lots of buttons or a corset that needs lacing up will put you on the longer end).
If you’re not wearing a dress or having your hair and makeup done, you can definitely get away with shorter coverage time. But if candids are important to you, don’t skimp too much on this coverage.
Keep the wedding party on task - This is the part of the day that most often runs behind schedule, and it can throw off the whole rest of your wedding day! And I’ll let you in on a little secret - when hair and makeup runs behind, it’s usually not the stylists’ fault 😂 If the next bridesmaid is up for makeup, but she has to run back to her hotel room for something she forgot, or she’s on the phone, or she’s eating lunch – this is where the backups happen! Make sure everyone getting services done that day is aware of the schedule and will be ready to go when it’s their turn.
And if you’re getting ready off-site, remember to give yourself a few minutes for everyone to pack up their belongings and get out to their cars before heading to the venue.
First Look and Couples Portraits
30 minutes - 1 hour
Your couples portraits are the photos most likely to end up framed and hanging in your house, so they’re some of the most important ones of your wedding day! These should typically get priority in your timeline. Planning 30 minutes for these usually yields plenty of great photos, but I love when we get a full hour for these portraits. Especially if you’re using multiple locations or have a venue with lots of gorgeous ground to cover, having extra time to get to additional photo spots is always helpful. (The extra time is important if you have a videographer as well, so you have time to get both the important photos you want AND time for video too!)
Consider a First Look - I highly recommend doing a First Look to give you a more comfortable wedding day timeline. Seeing each other before the ceremony means you can get a lot of the formal photos out of the way early, rather than missing your entire cocktail hour because you’re taking pictures. Ideally I like to have a minimum of 30 minutes for each of the major groups of photos (wedding couple, wedding party, and family) so squeezing all of that into just a 1 hour cocktail hour definitely sacrifices the variety of photos I like to deliver clients.
I have plenty of couples that want to stick with tradition and not see each other until they walk down the aisle which of course is ok too! In that situation I still recommend trying to get as many photos done before the ceremony as possible – separate wedding party photos, separate family photos – to save time later. Having an extended cocktail hour is another great option to give you some more flexibility!
Plan for sunset photos during the reception - For many wedding timelines, sunset will be happening sometime during the reception. This is another great opportunity to sneak the two of you away for a few more minutes of portraits!
Wedding Party
30 minutes
For wedding party photos, I typically recommend planning for 30 minutes. If you’ve just got one attendant each, you can definitely get these photos done more quickly! But for the most common wedding party sizes I see (3-7 attendants on either side), 30 minutes is usually perfect. If you’ve got a large wedding party, you might be safer adding an extra few minutes. It can take longer to wrangle that many people and get them all looking at the camera at the same time!
Ceremony
15 minutes - 1 hour
The length of time needed for your ceremony is completely up to you two and your officiant! During this time your photographer is just a fly on the wall capturing whatever is happening.
Take a break beforehand - With any pictures that you’re taking before your ceremony, I always recommend wrapping those up 30 minutes before the start of your ceremony. That way you can be in hiding as your guests start to arrive, and it gives you a chance to relax and freshen up before walking down the aisle.
Shorter ceremonies = fewer photos - I always share this piece of advice with regards to your ceremony time. I got married before I was a photographer, and I had a 9 minute wedding ceremony. While this is absolutely what I wanted at the time because I don’t like being the center of attention, I wasn’t thinking about it from a photography perspective. Y’all, 9 minutes does not result in a lot of photos 😂 (I’m very glad we had a second photographer so at least we got more photos that way haha.) But I definitely caution any of my clients planning short ceremonies that they won’t receive as many ceremony photos as they typically see in my full galleries. I think 20 minutes is often the sweet spot if you’re trying to balance getting plenty of photos without feeling like all eyes are on you for too long!
Practice with your officiant - If your officiant is a friend or family member who isn’t an experienced wedding officiant, make sure to run through the ceremony out loud with them multiple times to figure out how much time your ceremony will take. Professional officiants should be able to get the timing correct, but with the folks officiating their very first wedding, I often see those ceremonies go A LOT quicker than expected.
Family Photos
30 minutes
For most weddings 30 minutes is ideal for family photos, but this is completely dependent on the size of your family! I like to budget 2 minutes for each photo, so if you’d like to keep your family photos to 30 minutes, keep it to 15 photo combinations. I usually recommend sticking to immediate family members (parents, siblings, grandparents) for these and saving some of the extended family groupings for the reception.
Consider pre-ceremony for family photos - Most couples do their family photos during cocktail hour immediately following the ceremony, but if your family members can all arrive early it’s great to get these done pre-ceremony so you can all fully enjoy cocktail hour!
Have a list - Most wedding photographers will agree that for this part of the day it is really helpful to prepare a list beforehand of the family photos you want to get. If I can call names off a list we’ll be able to move a lot faster than if people are just jumping in at random to get the photos they want.
Keep everyone organized - The other big factor in family photo time is how cooperative your families are and if they’re in the right place at the right time 😂 Make sure your family members are aware of when exactly these pictures are happening and where they need to be so you don’t waste time wrangling them away from cocktail hour!
Cocktail Hour
1 - 1.5 hours
During cocktail hour your guests are busy eating and drinking, so I will be honest, it’s not always the greatest for taking photos 😂 I try to find a balance between catching candids from afar and also asking groups of people to smile for the camera (without being annoying because these guests are trying to enjoy themselves, not pose for pictures!)
Consider adding time or a second photographer - As I mentioned earlier, at some weddings I’m not photographing cocktail hour at all because we’re taking formal photos during that time. If these photos of cocktail hour are important to you, make sure you either book a package with a second photographer OR get all your formal photos done before the ceremony.
Allow time for reception detail pictures - If you want detail photos of your reception space (the centerpieces, place settings, a room shot before it’s filled with guests), I do these in the last 20-30 minutes or so of cocktail hour. This is when the room should be mostly finished getting set up but also before the guests enter. If we’re taking formal photos through the entirety of cocktail hour, I’m not able to get these reception detail shots. Choosing a package with a second photographer definitely helps here, or having an extended 1.5 hour cocktail hour will also provide that helpful extra time!
Reception
3 - 5 hours
Your reception timeline is typically dictated by your venue/caterer/DJ, and your photographer is just going to be capturing the action as it happens. But there are a few important things to consider in regards to your photography during this part of your wedding day!
Don’t do toasts during dinner - With your toasts, I think most photographers don’t have a preference if you do them before dinner or after dinner, but please don’t do them during dinner. This is such a great opportunity to get candid laughter photos (or tearful emotional ones), and those pictures are completely ruined when everyone’s mouths are full of food 😂
Feed your photographer early - Remember that your photographer has to eat dinner during this time too, so talk to your caterer about having the vendors’ food ready at the same time as yours. I’ve had more than one frantic wedding night where the couple and all of their wedding guests have finished their food, my dinner plate is only just coming out, and then the DJ announces the parent dances or toasts! You do not want your photographer to be sprinting to grab their camera and possibly missing an important moment, so make sure they get their food while you’re eating.
Plan special events early in the evening - With many weddings, I’m not there all the way to the end of the reception. If that’s the case for you, you’ll want to make sure all of the special events you want documented happen while your photographer is still there! Be sure to schedule things like cake cutting and bouquet toss (that often happen later in the reception) early enough for your photographer to document them.
Include a couple hours of dancing pictures - If dance floor photos are important to you, make sure your photographer is present for a decent amount of dancing time! It often takes wedding guests a little while to warm up (and sometimes have a few drinks) before a dance floor really gets going. So while you may not need photos of the entire night of dancing, it’s great to get a couple hours to capture some good dancing moments.
Exit
15 minutes
Plan 15 minutes for an exit - If your photography coverage ends at 11:00, plan for the DJ to announce your sparkler/bubble/glow stick exit at 10:45. Trust me, it takes a few minutes to wrangle up all of your wedding guests and get them outside!
Consider a mock exit - Mock exits are a more common thing than most people realize. If your reception doesn’t end until 11:00 but your photographer is leaving at 10:00, you can absolutely do a fake exit before they leave to capture those photos. Just keep in mind it will break up your dance floor to bring everyone outside. Another option to keep the dance floor intact is to do your mock exit with just your wedding party and/or your immediate family!
Sample Wedding Photography Timeline
Here is a sample 9-hour wedding photography timeline:
1:00 Details
1:30 Getting ready
2:30 Putting on dress
3:00 First Look/couples photos
3:30 Wedding party photos
4:00 In hiding as guests arrive
4:30 Ceremony
5:00 Family photos/start of cocktail hour
5:30 Second half of cocktail hour
6:00 Start of reception
6:10 Grand entrance
6:15 First dance
6:20 Toasts
6:30 Dinner served
7:30 Sunset photos
7:45 Open dancing
9:45 Sparkler exit
10:00 End of coverage
And when in doubt, talk to your photographer! They’ll be able to give you the best advice for their particular style to help you plan your wedding day with your photos in mind. Keep them in the loop early in your planning to get the most from their expertise!
