As someone who has photographed well over a hundred weddings, I have noticed that the key to a stress free wedding day is great planning. It’s so important to make sure vendors, wedding party, and family know where to be and when, but it’s also crucial to making sure you fit in everything that’s important to you. Here are my top five tips for making the best phytography timeline for your day!

1. Make a list of your priorities for the day

   What are you most excited to experience on your wedding day? Is it a first look, private vows, your mom helping you get in your dress? Do you want tons of time for portraits, or would you rather prioritize candids with your guests? Are you most excited for an epic dance party with all your friends? Write down your top 5 most important wedding day experiences.

2. Design your timeline around those priorities

   If your number one priority is an epic party, make sure you block out plenty of time for dancing at your reception, even if that means having your ceremony earlier or doing a first look to save time after the ceremony. If your priority is spending time with your bridesmaids and family while you’re getting ready, make sure you allow plenty of time for that in your timeline. Don’t feel like you need to include a lot of time for things that aren’t important to you. If you don’t really care about dancing photos, but really want sparkler photos, consider doing a sparkler walkthrough earlier in the reception and ending your photography timeline there. If you want full day, stress free wedding day coverage, you’ll probably want at least 10-12 hours with your photographer.

3. Include more time than you think for detail photos

   If your want photos of your invitations and other wedding day details, make sure you allow a minimum of 30 minutes to an hour for these photos. Even if you only want a few shots, it can take a lot of time to style and photograph a flatlay, and then get photos of individual items such as rings and shoes. Have your photographer get these images out of the way when they first arrive, and put everything you want photographed in a box so you cut out the time of trying to find everything once the photographer gets there.

4. Make a detailed family group list

   Family photos don’t have to be stressful and chaotic, and you can get all the groupings you want. That can only happen with the right preparation, however. I recommend making a list of every family grouping you want and sending it to your photographer ahead of the wedding. This way they can go straight down the list and call out names, making the process quick and easy without forgetting any important groupings. Another tip: Make sure all of your family members know exactly where to be and when photos are happening, so no one has to go find a missing person and slow down the process. I also recommend allowing at least 20-30 minutes for family photos, depending on the size of your family.

5. Build in wiggle room

   The absolute best way to get candid, fun images is to have a great time and be super in the moment. If you allow wiggle room in your timeline in case hair and makeup runs behind, someone forgets their tie, there’s traffic traveling in between locations, it pours rain for 20 minutes, etc, you’ll feel so much less stressed when something does go wrong. This will translate through your photos, and you’ll look back at them with joy and laughter.

These are my top tips for creating a timeline that allows for the best photos, but consulting your photographer is the best way to really get the most out of it! Click Here to chat with me about your unique wedding day. I would love to talk to you! 🙂