As Brisbane Wedding Photographers, we often get asked about timing for your wedding day.
We love to be involved in the planning process and help with timing on the day as much as possible.
Here are a few tips that may help when it comes to booking your wedding photographer and choosing what time you would like them to start.
This is a rough idea of a timeline for a wedding day from a photographers perspective, based on a 6pm Sunset. (This would be our ideal timeline based on an ‘all in one’ venue - remember to take extra time into account if there is travel time required in-between)
11.45 - 12.40pm Groom Prep (If you have 2 photographers, bride and groom prep can be done at the same time by having one photographer with each of you)
12.45- 2.15pm - Bride Prep
2.30pm Photographer arrive at Ceremony
3-3.30pm Ceremony
3.30 - 4pm Congratulations
4 - 4.30pm Family Photos
4.30 - 6.15 Location Photoshoot
6.15 Photographer arrive to Reception
6.25 Guests Enter Reception
6.35 Bridal Party Entrance
7pm Main meals (Check with your venue on how much time they need to serve and clear tables)
7.30pm Speeches/ Cake Cutting
8.30pm First Dance
Our Advice:
Groom prep: We recommend having your photographer for about 45min to 1 hour. If you have a large bridal party or lots of people getting ready together then extra time may be required.
During this time we take some photos of the grooms details such as his tie, cufflinks, shoes, watch, rings and anything else that he has that is special for your wedding day.
After we do a few details, we will ask the boys to get dressed and as they do, we capture them putting their ties, vests, cufflinks, jackets on. Followed by a few photos with the groom and groomsmen and then a couple of photos with mum and dad if they are there too.
We have a fairly natural approach to this part of the day. We like to capture things as they happen and capturing the exciting and build up to what is about to happen.
Bride prep: We recommend having your photographer with you for about 1.5 - 2 hours.
We like to arrive just before your hair and make up is due to finish and this is so we can capture some photos of your hair and make up being completed. While you’re hair and make up is getting finished off, this is a great time for us to capture the Brides details such as your flowers, shoes, jewelry, perfume etc.
Before the bridesmaids start getting dressed, we love to get some fun and natural photos of you and your bride tribe altogether - even having a champagne or just relaxing a little bit before getting dressed.
We will ask the bridesmaids to get dressed first then they can help the bride get ready. We also suggest that your mum and dad are dressed by this time too if you would like them in some photos or if you would like them to help you get ready.
We capture those final getting ready moments, mum or your bridesmaids doing up the back of your dress, putting on jewelry and shoes etc.
If your dad or even your mum or bridesmaids haven’t seen your dress yet, doing a first look/ dress reveal with dad can be really nice too.
Your photographer will then take some formal photos once everyone is dressed and then spend a bit of time getting some beautiful portraits of the bride before she leaves.
Your Ceremony: It’s important that your photographer arrives before the bride. We like to plan to arrive about 30min before your ceremony starts. (If you have a videographer, they may need to arrive about 45min beforehand to set up)
This gives us time to take some photos of your ceremony all set up, guests arriving and the boys waiting. It also gives us a chance to speak with your celebrant if they have any special requests or if they need to let us know about anything specific.
After your ceremony, your guests will want to congratulate you so we advise to allow around about 20-30 mins for your guests to give you a hug and say hello and then about another 30 mins for group and family photos.
Location Photoshoot: Having between 1 hour to 1.5 hours for your photoshoot is ideal.
If you have a large bridal party, then having longer is great as it allows your photographer to get a range of photos with everyone. If you have a photoshoot with just the two of you then having around 1 hour on location is great.
Remember to allow for any travel time in between locations
Time saving tips:
If you don’t want to stay away from guests for too long, you could consider just having a photoshoot with the two of you and leave the bridal party to mingle with guests.
You may like to spend 30min or so having canapes with your guests before heading to photoshoot (Just take this time into consideration)
You may like your bridal party to just stay for photos for 15min and then they can join your guests while your photographer focuses on some couple photos. (This can speed up your photography session as there are less people)
Reception: Allow for your photographer to be inside reception about 15-20 min before guests enter to capture some photos of the room all beautifully set up. (After all there is a chance you may not get to see it without people in the room), this also allows for your photographer to be set up and ready for the bridal party entrance.
Every reception runs a bit differently and has different timings for your formalities (Cake cutting speeches and first dance). If you would like a full day coverage, our recommendation is to have your photographer finish up about 30 -45min after your first dance. This allows them to capture all your formalities along with a few fun photos of everyone on the dance floor.
Of course, if you are doing a sparkler exit or a farewell then having your photographer stay right until the end is a great way to truly capture all the moments of the reception too.
If you have any questions on planning your wedding day or would like a hand with working out run times for your wedding day, feel free to get in touch with us. We have attended over 600 weddings and are always happy to lend a hand in working out your wedding day run sheet.
We also have wedding day run sheets that we give to all our couples to help your day run smoothly.
These times above are just a guideline, every wedding day is a bit different and the types of photos that you would like may also differ. Most importantly, speak with your photographer and videographer before locking in your ceremony and reception timeline just to make sure you have allowed enough time to capture the photos that are most important to you.
Happy Wedding Planning xo
- The Everlast Studios Team
