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Oh, it’s Friday and time for another installment of ‘Friday Tips and Tricks.’ I always hesitate to post one of these because who am I to even give advice to photographers, brides and anyone else who might be reading. However, pushing those doubts aside, I have been doing this for a while and I DO know weddings like the back of my hand. So, I’ll keep posting here and there until someone smarter than me tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about…which is quite likely. Today’s Tip and Trick is for both brides and photographers but mostly for brides and future brides. Not to mention, I am SUPER passionate about this topic. Wedding Day Scheduling.
Scheduling your wedding day or helping a bride schedule a wedding day can be daunting but not to worry! With a few suggestions, it can be a fun process and not overwhelming. Plus, giving it thought and care will pay off by making your wedding day incredibly enjoyable. Having done this for a while now and having been a bridesmaid more times than I care to admit, I am pretty familiar with what works and what doesn’t when scheduling your wedding day. My main rule of thumb is always, better to have more time than not enough! I can’t preach this enough. There is nothing more saddening to me than when a bride can’t enjoy her day because she is stressed about the time. You should be enjoying your day and photographers, we should be helping them to enjoy it! So, I have put together some tips on how to put together your wedding schedule.
1. Be mindful of the sunset time when scheduling your ceremony start time. Natural light photos are the most flattering. If your ceremony start time is less than 2 hours before sunset, getting good outdoor pictures will be difficult. UNLESS, you opt for a First Look. This is my most passionate topic! If you want gorgeous portraits and you DON’T want to see each other before, you probably shouldn’t have a ceremony at dusk. There will not be any light for those beautiful images you wanted to recreate from your Pinterest board. It is SO much better to get married a little earlier or if you are set on the later wedding, I would strongly suggest opting for a First Look. Read my reasons why here. Ok, most passionate topic complete!
2. Always plan in at least 30 minutes of extra ‘pad’ time in to the schedule. It will almost ALWAYS run behind and you don’t want to stress because of it. As I said, it is much better to have extra time than not enough. Your nerves will thank me later.
3. Take as many photos before the ceremony as you can, even if you don’t do a first look. Your photographer can knock out the bridesmaids/groomsmen pictures easily before without the two of you ever seeing each other.
4. Consult your photographer EARLY in the scheduling process. He/she will be more than happy to give their input from the get go and will appreciate it later. If you wait too long and set your ceremony start time, there won’t be much option for the expertise later on.
5. Here is an ideal breakdown for how I would schedule wedding photos. Keep in mind that this is two things: 1. Ideal- meaning I don’t expect it to actually happen perfectly 2. For me- this is not true of every photographer so it’s not universal
Ideal Time Allotment for Portraits on Wedding Day- 1hr 20min- 1hr 45 min
- Bride and Groom- 30-45 minutes
- Bridal Party- 30 minutes (10 min everyone, 10 min bridesmaids, 10 min groomsmen)
- Family Photos- 20-30 minutes depending on size of families
Take all of this with a grain of salt because it’s just my advice, it’s not required. However, I have seen it work wonders! Good luck scheduling and helping brides schedule!
Happy Friday!
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