In this three-part series I’m sharing my approach to helping couples plan their big day. In the first part we broke your wedding day down into mini-events. In the second part we went over your photography options and how each ties into capturing your complete wedding story. In this third part we’ll put your day back together in a timeline. Along the way, we’ll ask the question – what is most important to you? Because really, that’s what all this planning is about!
Last time, we looked at the events of your big day in terms of emotional images that tell your story. We broke your wedding day down into mini-stories and looked at the unique photos we could get in each. Your assignment was to go through that list and think about what matters to you.
So what do you want to include in your story? That will inform your choices in putting together your own, custom timeline.
Assuming you want to include everything, here is a recommended timeline. I’ve included start times as a rough guide.
The groom’s story – putting on final touches, sharing moments with the guys, the groom and his parents, portraits of the groom alone: 10am-11:30am
The bride’s story – getting ready before the ceremony, the bride and her bridesmaids, the bride and her parents, portraits of the bride alone: 12pm-2pm
Bride and groom first look: 2pm-2:15pm
Bridal party photos of the bride, groom, and bridal party enjoying time together, followed by fun, romantic, and fashion photos of the bride and groom – all done on location 2:15pm-3:45pm
Family photography: 4:15pm-4:45pm
Wedding ceremony: 5pm-6pm
Celebrating the newlyweds: 6pm-6:30pm
The reception starts: 7pm
Last look photos of the bride and groom to close off their story: 10:30pm-11pm
Carey Bryan Photography leaves: 11pm
The bride and groom leave the reception: 11:45pm
The last of the guests leave the reception: 12am
In making this timeline I’ve assumed that the bride and groom will see each other before the ceremony. If you and your fiance are planning to see each other for the first time during your ceremony, this timeline can be adjusted to fit your own plans by simply moving mini-stories around. That’s a great part of this mini-story approach – it is flexible enough to accommodate your own plans.
If your ceremony and reception are in the same location, that simplifies things in some ways – since some travel can be eliminated. If you and your fiance are not seeing each other before the ceremony, you’ll likely want to move your family photography and your bridal party location photography between your ceremony and your reception. In that case, serving light appetizers and cocktails to your guests during your location photography is one way to keep them entertained and provide them the opportunity to catch up with each other and make new friends.
The timeline is an overall schedule that includes the mini-stories that make up your wedding day. As your wedding approaches and you work with your vendors, you’ll want to run your timeline by them, make sure they know what you are planning, and have them help you fill in the spaces specific to their own areas of expertise. If you hire a DJ, he or she can help you keep your reception schedule on track. Likewise, your catering manager can verify that you have sufficient time allocated for your dining plans and your venue manager can look at your overall schedule in regards to setting up and changing around the venue.
Personally, I go over a couple’s timeline with them when they first meet with me. Most couples don’t have a firm timeline then, and that’s okay. We talk about their goals and what they have planned so far. As they plan their wedding I answer any scheduling questions they may have and I ask them to keep me updated on how their timeline is shaping up. A few weeks before their wedding, we meet up and go over their final timeline in detail – and match it up one more time with their photography. At that time there is still an opportunity to make minor adjustments if something looks like it might work better if slightly rearranged.
I hope this mini-series of posts has helped! Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or sending me a tweet!
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