Creating your wedding day timeline
Okay so you've planned the perfect wedding day, hired your dream vendors and your wedding day is quickly approaching! Have you thought about your day-of timeline yet? If not, don't panic! I've put together some tips to help guide you through that process!
*a full wedding guide to help you through the whole wedding photography experience is available exclusively to clients of Robin Easler Photography!
*a pre-wedding questionnaire is sent to each client approximately 6 weeks prior to your wedding date, this will help you pull together last details and finalize your timeline.
Getting Ready
To enable us to have a relaxed day, you should be ready to go about 2.5 hours before your ceremony time, however, there are a lot of things that factor into that decision! You will want to consider if you are doing a first look, when you'd like to do your group portraits, how large your group is etc. I suggest chatting with your wedding coordinator or photographer to solidify your pre-ceremony plans.
I like to arrive at the prep location as the bride is finishing hair/makeup- this way we can photograph the finishing touches. I'll also utilize this time to photograph flatlays of your stationary and any other details from your day.
Items for flat lay photography:
- invitation suite
- florals
- jewelry
- the rings
- heirlooms
- other small items that help complete the story of your day
Ceremony
The length of your ceremony will totally depend on the type of ceremony you have. A short and sweet ceremony will usually last about 15 minutes and a full length ceremony (most commonly at a church service) will last around 45 minutes.
Group Portraits
I highly recommend making a list of the combinations you'd like for family portraits. This will help ensure that we photograph everyone in a timely manner. I'll arrive to your wedding day with a list of group shots for the bridal party, these should go pretty quickly/smoothly with excellent cooperation from the party!
*If you want to do something fun with champagne, rose petals or something else just let me know ahead of time and we will add that into the plans!
For those of you that are opting to do a first look: consider doing family photos and bridal party portraits before the ceremony so that you can hop right into cocktail hour and enjoy your party!
Couples Portraits
I'll take as long as I can with you two! At minimum try to pencil in 30 minutes for your couples portraits. Your portraits can be done before the ceremony if you are doing a first look!
Full disclaimer: If golden hour is GORGEOUS I will definitely try to steal you away for some magical sunset shots!
Reception
I typically only need to photograph about an hour of open dancing in order to get a variety of people dancing and having a great time! If you're planning a big exit consider doing a "faux" exit before I leave so that you're not paying for extra hours of unneeded time.
Happy Wedding Planning!
I hope this information has been helpful, feel free to reach out at any point during the planning process! You're more than welcome to bounce ideas off me or ask for professional input. The best way to contact me will be through email; robineaslerphotography@gmail.com.
