Create the Perfect Wedding Day Photo Timeline:

The timeline is the most important thing you’ll need to plan before your wedding: Here’s how to create the perfect wedding day photo timeline! Be realistic about how long things will take (I can help!) and don’t forget to add in any transit time between locations. Do all you can to get it set properly ahead of time and then sit back on your wedding day and just RELAX! Know that weddings rarely run exactly on time and that is okay. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you on time in a relaxed, happy way and everything will be totally fine (and really quite wonderful and fun!).

Sample Wedding Day Timeline With a First Look:

I start with a private (or not, if you want to invite friends and family to watch!) First Look where I’m minimally involved. You two take some time, say hello, dance out the nerves a bit, etc. When you’re ready, you turn to me & we enjoy the property where you’re getting married and take some portraits of you two.

After that, I generally allow 30 minutes each for family photos and wedding party photos. We’ll get a bunch of different combos of your family and friends and have a great time doing it, too.

I like to wrap up photos 30 minutes before your ceremony to give you time to breathe, take it all in, & have some water.

A sample timeline with a First Look looks like this:

• 12:45pm Photographer start time
• 12:45pm Getting ready photos (hair and make up should be finishing up with about ~5-10 minutes left when I arrive)
• 1:45pm First look and portraits
• 2:30pm Wedding party photos
• 3pm Immediate family photos
• 3:30pm Finish photos
• 4pm Ceremony
• 4:30pm End of ceremony & any large group photos
• 4:30pm Cocktail hour
• 5:45pm Dinner & reception

Sample Wedding Day Timeline Without a First Look:

Even if you opt for no First Look, I highly recommend that you still take care of some photos before your ceremony so that you aren’t rushing to try and get everything done during cocktail hour (when you’d really like to just have a drink and celebrate!) I generally allow 30 minutes for each of you for family photos and wedding party photos. We’ll get a bunch of different combos of your family and friends (without seeing your significant other!) and have a great time doing it, too. I like to wrap up photos 30 minutes before your ceremony to give you time to breathe, take it all in, & have some water.

A sample timeline with a First Look looks like this:

• 1:30pm Photographer start time
• 1:30pm Getting ready photos (hair and make up should be finishing up with about ~5-10 minutes left when I arrive)
• 2:30pm Your photos (family & wedding party)
• 3pm Your partner’s photos (family & wedding party)
• 3:30pm Finish photos
• 4pm Ceremony
• 4:30pm End of ceremony & any combined family photos or other large group photos, any combined wedding party photos, and then portraits of you two!
• 4:30pm Cocktail hour (you likely won’t attend this unless you opt to have a First Look)
• 5:45pm Dinner & reception

When should photography time end?

I generally recommend wrapping up photography coverage about 45 minutes to one hour into open dancing. More than this and I generally find you’ll have more dance floor pictures than you need and people will start to be uncomfortable with a camera in their faces.

That being said, if you are having a ton of younger/your age guests and/or you have a big friend or family group who will definitely dance and/or you have a ton of guests and you know you are having a crazy dance floor, you may want extra photography coverage!! Big dance parties are a ton of fun to photograph and you end up with epic photos of you and your people on the dance floor late into the night. Truly epic. Consider adding extra dance floor photography coverage if you’re having an extra crazy dance party and you won’t regret it.

The Number One Thing to Consider for your Wedding Day Timeline!

The number one thing to think about when you’re building your wedding day timeline is SUNSET TIME! Your entire day will be shaped by the light, both in terms of photography AND in terms of how it feels on the day of for you and your guests. However you decide to build your day around the sun is totally fine, but you absolutely should consider it, especially for outdoor ceremonies, winter wedding days, heck, even hot summer wedding days. Your photographer will most likely recommend building sunset photos with you and your new partner into your wedding day, likely 30 minutes before sunset, although it depends a lot on your wedding day location, weather, and time of year!

Even More Sample Wedding Day Timelines!

3pm Ceremony Wedding Day Timeline

• 11:45am Photographer start time
• 11:45am Getting ready photos (hair and make up should be finishing up with about ~5-10 minutes left when I arrive)
• 12:45pm First look and portraits
• 1:30pm Wedding party photos
• 2pm Immediate family photos
• 2:30pm Finish photos
• 3pm Ceremony
• 3:30pm End of ceremony & any large group photos
• 3:30pm Cocktail hour
• 4:45pm Seat guests for dinner
• 5pm Dinner served
• 6:15pm Toasts
• 6:30pm First dance + parent dances
• 6:40pm Open dancing!
• 7:15pm Cut the cake, bouquet toss, then more dancing
• 7:45pm End of Photography Coverage (8 hours)

4pm Ceremony Wedding Day Timeline

• 12:45pm Photographer start time
• 12:45pm Getting ready photos (hair and make up should be finishing up with about ~5-10 minutes left when I arrive)
• 1:45pm First look and portraits
• 2:30pm Wedding party photos
• 3pm Immediate family photos
• 3:30pm Finish photos
• 4pm Ceremony
• 4:30pm End of ceremony & any large group photos
• 4:30pm Cocktail hour
• 5:45pm Seat guests for dinner
• 6pm Dinner served
• 7:15pm Toasts
• 7:30pm First dance + parent dances
• 7:40pm Open dancing!
• 8:15pm Cut the cake, bouquet toss, then more dancing
• 8:45pm End of Photography Coverage (8 hours)

5pm Ceremony Wedding Day Timeline

• 1:45pm Photographer start time
• 1:45pm Getting ready photos (hair and make up should be finishing up with about ~5-10 minutes left when I arrive)
• 2:45pm First look and portraits
• 3:30pm Wedding party photos
• 4pm Immediate family photos
• 4:30pm Finish photos
• 5pm Ceremony
• 5:30pm End of ceremony & any large group photos
• 5:30pm Cocktail hour
• 6:45pm Seat guests for dinner
• 7pm Dinner served
• 8:15pm Toasts
• 8:30pm First dance + parent dances
• 8:40pm Open dancing!
• 9pm Cut the cake, bouquet toss, then more dancing
• 9:45pm End of Photography Coverage (8 hours)

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