The Perfect Wedding Day Timeline - How much time do you really need?

Whether your wedding is this summer, or next year, planning out your timeline is an extremely helpful jump start to your wedding planning. And while we’re all sitting here in quarantine, this is the perfect time to get some wedding stuff done! While I always help couples plan their timeline for the day, this will give you a guideline for how much time is REALLY needed for each portion of the day. I will be covering everything from the first look, to family portraits. This is also very helpful for determining how much coverage you may need on your wedding day from your photographer - an 8 hour package? 10 hours? Do you need full day coverage? Read on for my best timeline tips to make your day go how you planned without rushing from one thing to the next!

Getting ready

This is a big one! Deciding when your photographer will arrive will start your wedding timeline off on the right foot. Having shot countless weddings, I’ve determined the perfect amount of time of what’s actually needed the morning of your getting ready.

Though no two weddings are the same, generally speaking based off of the majority of wedding days, typically arriving about 1.5-2 hours before the bride departs from her house/hotel is the ideal time to begin.

Arrive any sooner, and a lot of times the bride and her girls don’t have an ounce of makeup on and they’re aren’t really up for photos just yet. (I don’t know about you, but I preferred my photographer to start shooting me once my face was on and intact!) Once I arrive, I immediately start shooting any details - your dress, invitation suite, jewelry, and any special mementos included in your big day. Once I’m finished, this usually ends up lining up perfectly with when you’re in the makeup chair having any finishing touches done to your hair and makeup. From that point, we get any shots of you and your girls in those fancy robes you bought them or cute pajama sets. Then it’s time to get dressed! After you are completely ready to go and you’re looking stunning, I ask to get a few quick portraits of you alone before heading out (and maybe some with just your mom, sister, or MOH before the day gets rolling).

First Look & Portraits

If you choose to do a first look before your ceremony, I recommend 2 hours of time spaced apart for this. The intimate first look itself only will take 15 minutes or so, but after that, we tackle your bridal party photos, family photos, and bride and groom portraits all in one foul swoop so you can cruise on through the rest of your day without having to miss out on any your cocktail hour. (Who wants to miss those incredible h’orderves you taste tested a few months ago!?)

**Pro Tip: If you plan to do all of these photos before the ceremony begins, do tell all your family members to be present and ready for this at the location agreed upon! The last thing you’ll want to do is stress about where your grandmom trailed off too. (The good news is, your bridal party will most likely already be with you)

Ceremony, Cocktail Hour, and Reception

Okay, so I can’t tell you how long your ceremony and reception will be, but you venue should be filling you in on that - that’s their department. If your ceremony is on site, they are typically only about 15-25 minutes long. And receptions as we know, are usually anywhere from 4-5 hours.

But how long should the photographer stay until at the reception??

Is it really needed to have your photographer stay the entire reception? That’s totally up to you! And I’m going to break that down for you. Let me ask you these questions to decide:

1.) How important are dancing photos to you?

• If you have a guest list filled with a ton of crazy fun family and friends, you probably already know they will be tearing up the dance floor! Do you want those moments captured?

• Some couples are okay with just the major moments captured - first dance and parent dances, and that’s enough for them. So this is total subjective for what is important to you. I know personally for my wedding, I wanted to remember how much we partied all night! Those pictures were so fun to look back on!

2.) At most venues, the venue timeline goes like this in this order: Bridal party and family entrances, first dance, parent dances, speeches, toasts, dinner. Believe it or not, all of that can take about an hour and a half to two hours and any dancing sets from your DJ or band may not happen until after that!

3.) So if you are planning out your timeline with your photographer, and you’d like them to get some fun dancing photos of you and your guests, I definitely recommend that we stay AT LEAST 2 hours minimum into the reception - and that’s just to ensure we are getting all those important formalities.

But what about cake cutting?

Oh yeah! Cake cutting! That may have slipped your mind, since it’s not usually done at the beginning of the night. Again, this is subjective per every venue, but from my experience, cake cutting is usually done either an hour before the reception is over, or about an hour or so after dinner.

If getting photos of your cake being cut is important to you, this is definitely something to consider.

**Pro Tip: You can always call your venue and ask at what time during the night do they normally do cake cutting so you know when to send you photographer/videographer home.



IF you’ve already had a wedding consult with me, you already know that my packages start at 8 hours - no less. Why? Because in all my years in this business, I’ve learned that any LESS than 8 hours, and your story is being cut short. So I found that 8 hours in the minimal amount of time needed to at least capture the story of your wedding day and most of all the formalities and big moments throughout the day. Usually anything more than that - 9 or 10 hours, is going to get you all of the extra fun dancing photos during the reception. A lot of times, 10 hours may even bring you to the end of the night to the last dance. (Some really fun things can happen at that point.)

Special Exits

If you plan to have any special exits at the end of the night - sparklers, Chinese lanterns, glow sticks, ect, then that is definitely something to consider when planning how many hours of photography you may need.

** Pro Tip: If you have considered a sparkler exit, but don’t care for all day coverage, you can always do a fun sparkler shot with just a small group of people (such as your bridal party or close family) during the reception when the sun goes down to create a similar shot of a sparkler exit. (This also will avoid the chaos of gathering all your 200 guests outside and handing them FIRE when they’ve been drinking all night! Haha. (I’ve seen some things..)

I hope this helps you determine how many hours you actually need for wedding day coverage and can make your planning just a little bit easier! And if you still have some questions, I am always happy to help you!! Shoot me a message below!