HOW TO PLAN THE WEDDING DAY ITSELF
AKA THE LOST ART OF TIMELINING
Most people, by definition, are rookies when it comes to planning their wedding day. Timing is super important for a whole bunch of reasons. The better planned you are, the less stressed you will be. The less stressed you are the more present you’ll be. The more present you are the more you will have the space to focus on all the beautiful, messy, emotional, drunken moments that are playing out in front of you and not thinking about logistics or how late x y or z is running.
So, I've put together a few helpful tips to get the most out of the day, and out of your photographer. All of these are designed around, to be honest, creating the space and mindset for epic moments to happen, both for their own sake (obviously) and so they can be captured for posterity.
So, here’s a quick guide on how to plan your wedding day.
Also - I have an example timeline at the end to help you get started.
1st hot tip - Plan in as much buffer time throughout the day as you can and be conservative when estimating how long something will take (e.g. if your HMU tells you you’ll be done by 10 30, assume it will end at 10 45 when planning whatever comes next).
This way if something runs late - which it inevitably does - you don't have to worry, your friend who you love to death but is a bit of a stress head won't start reminding you of the time every 10 minutes, and everyone will be much more relaxed. Plus, if nothing runs late you get more time to hang out with your mates / family, or have a few sneaky reds / beers / whiskey with your closest before the reception. Win win.
Finding Vendors
I always insist on meeting couples wherever possible before letting them put down a deposit and you should too (this goes for meeting with photographers, videographers, make up-artists etc etc). This is super important for a few reasons. Firstly, to make sure everyone is on the same page as to what you are after, and secondly, just to make sure you get on with each other on a personal level. Your photographer / videographer in particular is going to be in your immediate vicinity literally almost the entire day, so make sure you are comfortable enough with them to be able to completely relax, both because it's your wedding day and you don't want to be around anyone who's going to stress you out, and because if you can't relax around them it's likely to be reflected in the final product.
Getting Your Kit On
When people think of 'getting ready' photos they typically think of cufflinks getting put on and close up shots of rings. That's not at all what it's about (for me at least). I love capturing the quieter, oft unseen moments that happen this time of day.
Your photographer has hopefully met the two of you before but this is most likely the first time they'll be meeting your family and close friends. Personally, I like to use this time to get to know everyone so they are at ease around me throughout the day, and more importantly to watch and observe everyone interacting so I can get a feel for which relationships are particularly important to you. This way I know who to keep a close eye on later in the day.
2nd hot tip - let your photographer / videographer know if you have any plans for the start of day they should know about, be it giving your partner a letter you’ve written, giving someone a gift, or even if you just really want your dad’s reaction to seeing you dressed.
I also always suggest to tell your HMU artist that you need to be completely ready at least 45 minutes before you need to walk out the door - that way you have plenty of time to get dressed and ready exactly the way you want to be, and there are inevitably some beautiful scenes as emotions run high between you and your parents / friends when they see you all set to go for the first time. I also love taking just 5 or 10 minutes here for some creative portraits too.
On that note - if you're not going to get ready at your / someone's home, always go airbnb over a hotel. There's generally much more space and beautiful light, and they're often cheaper too.
The Ceremony
Keep in mind you'll possibly (….probably) be running 5 to 15 minutes late to the ceremony venue, as will some guests, so keep this in mind when putting together the timeline for the whole day.
3rd hot tip - whatever time you actually want the ceremony to start, put the time 15 minutes earlier on the invites. That way you account for the couple of people that are inevitably running late and don’t have to stress.
Also, if you want to have a confetti exit, make sure to tell the celebrant to remind everyone as you are signing the registry (and to tell everyone to throw it up over your heads and not in your face). I've occasionally seen baskets half full of confetti after a ceremony when people weren't informed, or people cop full blasts of confetti to the face, which maybe isn’t a bad thing depending on how you look at it.
Immediately after the ceremony, literally every single person at the wedding is going to want to come up and give you a big hug and say congrats - this is actually one of my favourite parts of day but when planning just remember if you have 100+ people this can easily take 30 minutes.
4th hot tip - make sure to account for the time post ceremony when every man and his dog i8s going to come up and congratulate you and give you a hug.
Immediately after the this is also the best time to do any family / group shots you want too. If it's just family on both sides it can normally be done in about 15 minutes, but if you want more specific groups of uni friends, work mates etc etc I always suggest appointing someone (who isn't afraid to be a bit of a hard-ass) as photo captain with a list of the group shots you want that can coddle the appropriate people together so we can work through them quickly and everyone can relax and have a good time afterwards.
5th hot tip - got a lot of group photos you want taken? Make a list, send it to your photographer as well as a good friend who you can appoint as photo captain to wrangle groups as you work through them. Will make the process 11/10 more efficient and get you to the good stuff quicker.
Portrait Time
This is actually the most flexible part of the day. I've done portrait sessions that last twenty minutes and portrait sessions that last an hour and half, but most fall somewhere in the middle. It all depends on who you want to be there, where you want to go and how important to you this part of the day is.
Also, don’t be afraid to play with convention and have a bit of fun. Some of my favourite portrait sessions have been in pubs, chinese bakeries and outside theatres at night
As a general rule the later in the day this is the better. I'm all about authenticity over aesthetics, but that sadly doesn't change the fact that good light can make or break a photo. As such the best time of this is golden hour, the hour or so before the sun sets, which is when the light is typically soft and golden (who'd-a-guessed) and super flattering.
Typically in Australian spring / summers sunset occurs during the reception, and I always recommend planning on ducking out for just 10 or 15 minutes right before the sun goes down to capture some of the more dramatic, striking images you simply can't get any other time of day. This can also be a really great opportunity for the two of you to take step outside of the wedding moment and reflect on it all as opposed to be in it, if that makes any sense, and check in with one another. Weddings can be such busy days that I regularly see people get to the end wondering where the day went, and it can be really important to take a quiet moment to yourselves reflect on the big, beautiful, hopeful, romantic and all round fucking rad thing you are doing and I always try to facilitate this when we duck off. No one ever regrets it.
6th hot tip - if the reception will have already started, schedule in 15 minutes around the time the sun is going down to quickly head out and take some photos. You can get some more dramatic imagery you can’t any other time of day, and its also a great chance to check in on one another and reflect on this big beautiful thing you are doing away from all the (admittedly glorious and wonderful) noise back at the party.
Reception / Party Time
Once you get to the reception most of the formalities are done with, and even if dinner service or the canapes are running slightly behind time by now everyones chatting, having a few drinks and generally having a grand ol' time.
I love sticking around until after speeches and formalities are done and the dance floor has kicked off. Speeches in particular can get pretty emotional / funny / absurd and are definitely worth capturing. It’s also worth splitting up speeches into a few blocks if you have more than a couple, as it both gives the night a bit of structure as well as giving people a break in between so as to not lose focus.
7th hot tip - if you have a bunch of speeches break them up into blocks to both give the night some structure as well as ensure everyone remains focused
8th hot tip - I get it, first dances might seem a little outdated to some, but its actually genuinely a phenomenal way to transition from the sit down dinner / stand up canapes and speeches part of the night into party mode. Ask all your guests to surround the dancefloor, and even if you literally only do 30 seconds before asking the DJ to transition to a party banger, everyone will immediately bumrush the dancefloor, and the 30 minutes after the first dance is often (crowd depending) the most raucous time of party.
Example Timeline
This would be for a spring / summer afternoon ceremony, and just has a bunch of prompts to think about things, adjust accordingly
11 am— Hair and make up (HMU) starts if you’re getting some done. If you’re not, do whatever/
2 pm — Finish HMU, get dressed, have some moments with your friends and family to be like, ‘holy shit this is happening’, get some quick but beautiful portraits
2 45 pm - Leave accom
3 15 pm — Official ceremony start time on invites
3 30 pm — Actual start of ceremony time to allow for traffic, that hopeless friend who’s always late etc
4 15 pm — End of ceremony, everyone comes and gives you big hugs, says ‘shit mates, well done’ and tells you how bangin’ you look - what a time to be alive
4 45 pm – Group / family photos. The parents love em, and it doesn’t have to be a chore.
5 pm – Everyone goes and has some beers in the sun, we go have some fun and get some photos with you and your bridal if you have one / want them, or just the two of you
5 30 pm – Cocktails.
6 pm - Reception starts, everyone sits down
6 15 pm - Entrees if sit down, roaming canapes if not
6 30 pm - First round of speeches
7 15 pm - Mains, and cocktails
7 45 pm - Duck out for 15 minutes to catch some epic light as the sun dips over the horizon, soak in this big crazy thing you are doing, check in with one another and have a moment to yourselves
8 pm - Back inside, more cocktails
8 15 pm - Second and last round of speeches, drunkenly ugly cry
9 pm - First dance if that’s your thing (totally get it’s not for everyone, however they are great fun, and it always prompts every single person to come join you afterwards, great way to transition to the party phase)
9 01 pm - End of last dance if you’re awkward AF, party starts
9 34 pm - More cocktails
9 35 pm and onwards - Party
11 pm - Farewell / big sparkler exit / smokebomb out the side door
The End
These are all general tips, and won't be applicable to each and every wedding. Have a chat to your photographer about making the best plan for your day, or get in touch with me here.
Also, feel free to share this with other friends that are planning their wedding, even if they’ve already locked in a photographer.
Back to the main blog, or have a read about do I need wedding prep photos?
