Creating your wedding day timeline can feel incredibly overwhelming. There are so many variables and items to consider! So many things to coordinate! Chances are you've never planned a wedding before and you're not sure where to start.
Well, have no fear! Your friendly Des Moines Wedding Photographer is here to save the day!
Okay but seriously - trust your photographer! They have likely been through YEARS and YEARS of weddings and have lots of ideas they can offer up if you're feeling overwhelmed. I know I do!
After five years in the wedding industry, here are some of my favorite tips and tricks when it comes to organizing your wedding day timeline.
- First things first - you have to figure out how much daylight you'll be working with on your wedding day. A quick Google search of "your date + sunset" will give you all you need to know. My guess is that you want most of your portraits taken outside in the gorgeous sunshine. Knowing what time the sun is going to set will be pretty critical to planning that part of your day.
- Next you'll have to determine your answer to the very popular wedding day question: Will you have a First Look? (You can read alllllll about my views on First Looks here!) This is important to answer early on (especially if you're planning a late fall/winter/early spring wedding and you don't have a lot of daylight hours to work with!) because it will determine whether you'll take most of your wedding portraits before or after the ceremony. This helps determine what time your ceremony should start.
- This next part is pretty straight-forward. If you're planning to have a First Look, then your ceremony can be a bit later because most of your portraits can be done beforehand. If you're not planning on having a First Look, then you'll want to have your ceremony a bit earlier so that you have enough daylight for your portraits afterwards.
- By now you should have a rough idea of your ceremony's start time. Know that this time will probably be adjusted as you start planning the rest of your day - and that's totally okay! It's a process, after all. When I'm make my first draft of a timeline, I like to place the ceremony start time right smack dab in the middle of my hours of coverage. So, if I'm planning for an eight hour wedding day, I'll start by planning four hours of coverage before the ceremony begins, and four hours of coverage afterwards.
- Then I start with the ceremony and work backwards! I like to give every bride at least 30 minutes before their ceremony to relax, get refreshments, and hide away before guests arrive. This is usually when I'm busy photographing all the details around the ceremony site. If there's going to be a First Look, then I'll typically schedule an hour for Wedding Party Portraits and Family Portraits combined. I'll also schedule 30-45 minutes for both Couple's Portraits and the First Look, another 30-45 minutes for Getting Ready shots, and roughly 60 minutes to capture all the beautiful Bridal Details that you've picked out.
Here's a Possible Beginning Timeline for a 4:00PM Ceremony:
**Start with the Ceremony and Plan Backwards!**
- Next, we work on finishing out the day! This is where things can get more difficult because there are usually a lot more variables to consider. Things like:
- How long of a ceremony are you expecting to have?
- Will there be any driving time required between the ceremony site and reception venue?
- Will there be a cocktail hour?
- If there was no First Look, how many additional portraits are we needing to take? Any Extended Family portraits?
- Will you be wanting Golden Hour portraits before sunset?
- How many Reception traditions/events do we need to plan photography coverage for?
Don't worry! This is where your photographer's expertise really comes in handy!
I send all of my couples easy questionnaires for them to complete and all they have to think about is what moments they want included in their wedding day. That's it! I'll do all the work behind the scenes and present you with a beautiful, clean, rough draft of what your timeline could look like. That timeline is yours to tweak and change however you see fit. It's YOUR timeline because it's YOUR day! Whatever you say - goes! I'm just here to help make planning a little bit easier.
For the sake of making things easy...
Here's a Final Sample Timeline
One Venue | 4PM Ceremony | First Look | 8PM Sunset
And there you have it!
Creating your timeline is easy peasy! Hopefully this gave you a little confidence boost when it comes to tackling your wedding day timeline. And if you're still feeling a little overwhelmed - that's okay too! That's why it's so important to surround yourself with experienced vendors - so that you can have a stress-free planning experience AND a wedding day that flows smoothly.
