It's been a while since we have done an "Into the Lens" post, and as I was 2nd shooting today at a very "smootly running" wedding I had a brilliant thought. Why not do a post about our typical wedding day timeline?
Since Lance and I planned a wedding about 6 months ago I can totally relate to the HUGE amount of stress and time that goes into planning where 20-30 people have to be to make sure the wedding happens. Lets face it, the wedding will not happen if someone doesn't take charge and tell people when to be where, and at what time. Some brides, who already are natural born planners (aka. OCD+bossy) this is one of the easiest and most fun parts of the wedding. The week before our wedding I sat down and happily spent about 2 hours in front of my computer planning out every single hour of the day. I then printed out about 30 copies and highlighted each person's part of the day and where they should be. Now that I look back, I probably took it a little too far, but HEY the bridesmaids were only about 10 minutes late to the photo location and that was the only thing that went off schedule. We actually ran ahead of schedule for most of the day which TOTALLY alleviated most of my stress.
BUT for those brides who are totally lost on 'what should happen when' during the wedding here's an example timeline for a "typical wedding" (Typical wedding includes 50+ guests and bridal party). Of course this timeline is totally flexible and is not the same for any wedding that we shoot, but for the most part most of the weddings that we shoot follow this schedule.
First of all lets pretend that the wedding ceremony begins at 2:00 and the bride and groom have chosen to do a First Look. If you are confused about what a First Look is, check out this blog post. :) Also, the bride and groom have chosen to have us at their wedding for 6 hours of photography (which is our most popular package).
8:30: Bride begins getting her hair done. The bride should always get her hair done first because it will probably take the most time. Plus, if the bride is doing a First Look, she will need to be the first one ready. (HINT FOR THE BRIDE: Your hairdresser will probably give you a more accurate time on how long it will take to get everyone's hair done, and when they want to do your hair.)
10:30: Groom and groomsmen arrive at ceremony site to begin getting ready. (HFTB: They probably won't end up getting ready until about 15 minutes before they have to be, so you might as well tell them to get there even earlier, just to be safe)
10:30: Lance and I will arrive at the ceremony site, and I will do getting ready pictures with the bride. Lance will sometimes snap a few pictures of the groom while he gets ready. We also take pictures of bridal details; like a picture of the dress hanging, jewelry and any thing else the bride wants.
11:30: First Look time! As I said previously, if you are interested in how we conduct a First Look you can visit this blog post {here}.
11:50: The First Look and solo pictures with the bride and groom should be finished by now depending on how many pictures the bride and groom are interested in. Next, is the bridal party. We typically do the bride with her girls first, then the groom with his guys and then the complete wedding party (including ring bearer and flower girl if they are there).
12:20: Family pictures- The bride is totally in charge of this section of the day because we typically have no clue who is family and who is not. (HINT FOR THE BRIDE: It really helps us AND YOU if you make a list of all of the people you want to be in each picture and then give me the list. I can help corral people if I know who is supposed to be in the picture. If you have a regular sized family, and everyone is on time and cooperative, we can knock out family pictures in 20 minutes, easily.)
12:50- Finished with preliminary pictures- Now the bride and groom can go relax, chill, eat a snack and/or reapply lip gloss until ceremony time. During this unwinding time, Lance and I typically go to the reception location (if it is located at the ceremony site) and do detail pictures of decor. If the reception site is not on location, we will do lots of detail shots at the ceremony site. After doing the reception, we also do ceremony details.
By the way, we tell you that this hour is in place to let you unwind before the ceremony, and it is good for that, but honestly we make sure we keep this time slot in just in case someone is running late and preliminary pictures run overtime. As long as the bride is hidden at least 30 minutes before the ceremony we are still safe.
1:40- Guest arrive- Bridal party begin gathering in the back to prepare for processional. Lance and I will be at the ceremony site taking pictures of people signing the guestbook and being seated.
2:00- Ceremony begins- (HINT FOR THE BRIDE: I am going to leave out a timeline for the ceremony because this is totally up to you and your minister, and the last thing you will be thinking of is Lance and I. We try to stay hidden as much as we possibly can.)
2:30- Reception- We typically have nothing to do with the schedule of the reception events, either. The reception timeline is actually based on how long the guests stay at the wedding. If people start leaving we typically try to hurry the reception events so the b&g will have people for their photos. For those of you who aren't wanting to spend $200 on a wedding planner to help you plan a reception, here's an example timeline for you:
2:30- Intro of Mr. & Mrs.
2:35- First dance
2:50- Eat
3:15- Cut cake
3:30- Mingle/dance with guests
4:00- Bouquet and garter toss
4:15- Grand exit: Sometimes, just to fit it in the time slot that we allot for photography, the bride and groom do a "faux exit" where they leave the reception and have bird seed thrown on them, or whatever, and then they actually go back into the reception for more fun.
YAY! Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? Remember this is just a sample timeline and WILL be different for every wedding, in some way.
If a wedding day is planned out, and the b&g make it a goal to stick to the schedule, the wedding will be much less stressful for her, the groom, the bridal party, the family, the officiant, the photographer, the guests and anyone else I left out.
HINT FOR THE BRIDE: At the end of the day, it honestly doesn't matter if the hair dresser is running an hour behind, or the caterer doesn't get here until 15 minutes before the reception, you are going to GET MARRIED to the most important person in the world, and it is going to be wonderful. We will PERSONALLY make sure of that. :)
Happy, Happy Saturday Everyone! :)
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