Wedding Day Timeline Tips

Just like every person is unique so is every wedding. There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to how many hours, you’ll need to have your wedding photographer or videographer there on your wedding day. This is where we come in to help and personalised the wedding package that suits you best.

We are wedding day documentary storytellers, and believe no story is truly complete if it has no beginning or ending. This is why we recommend you invest and book as many hours as you can to ensure nothing is missed.

For us we suggest starting at least 8 hours of coverage. For most wedding plans, this is a great start to record the best parts of getting ready, ceremony, portraits and the first couple of hours of your reception. Add or take away an hour or two based on memories you want to chronicle and your budget.

The first question you should ask yourselves is when your wedding day has come and gone and your memories start to fade, what do you want to remember the most?

Preparations

Time Suggestion | 60 – 90 minutes for each partner

Time of Day | Morning (3-4 hours before ceremony)

Ideal Location | Hotel Suite, Airbnb, or Family Home

TIPS

Allowing an hour of preparation coverage also known as getting ready for each partner is great if you want to capture the finishing touches to make-up, hair, putting the dress or suit on as well as candid moments with the bridesmaids and groomsmen. This can also be genuine fun and or emotional time, so you will want to make sure you do not miss this.

Often being a duo affords us the opportunity to separate can capture both partners in different locations unless we are capturing both photos and video when we need to stay together. 

Extend your hourly coverage and do something fun like golfing or go-carting in the morning. This can really add to the fun of your day.

First Look

Time Suggestion | 45 Minutes

Time of Day | Early Afternoon

Location | at your Venue in the Gardens, Empty Hallways (shading areas)

TIPS

Do not rush your first look if you opt into having one. This is usually a time of lots of emotion, seeing each other for the first time on the wedding day and should be savoured. The moment might actually only last a few minutes but the rest of the time we will be capturing some romantic portraits of the two of you.

Wedding Party Photos

Time Suggestion | 20-30 Minutes

Time of Day | Morning or Afternoon

Location | at your Venue inside or out, gardens, parks, at the beach etc.

TIPS

This is the time to get some fun shots of your favourite people that stand by you on your wedding day. We like to keep it fun and light-hearted. These can be taken directly after a first look if you are opt-in for one or after your ceremony once the family portraits are complete. These images are mostly group shots but can include individual portraits if time allows. The more fun everyone is having the better video footage we can capture too.

Immediate Family Photos

Time Suggestion| 30 Minutes (longer if you have a big family)

Time of Day | After your ceremony

Location| at your ceremony location indoors or outside

TIPS

This tradition is very important and even if you are having a very non-traditional wedding we always recommend you don’t skip this part. We try to photograph family photos in the shaded areas or indoors with flash to help with evenly lit faces. Allow at least 3 minutes per grouping, if you have 10 groups we’ll need 30 minutes of time to photograph them.

The best advice we can give you to help capture family photos is to simply nominate a member from each side of the family to wrangle the family into groups with a list that you have provided.

Ceremony

Time Suggested | 30-60 Minutes (longer if you are having a traditional church service)

Time of Day | Morning or Afternoon

Location | of your choice

TIPS

It is very important from the video side of things to allow 30 minutes before the ceremony is to take place for us to get our gear set up. This will include hooking up audio and putting one tripod in place. From a photography point of view, we will be able to photograph the decor and guests arriving.

Couple Portraits

Time Suggested | 1 Hour

Time of Day | Late afternoon – sunset

Location | around your venue, beach or garden

TIPS

If you want creative, fun and romantic portraits taken of the two of you on your wedding day we suggests this is done 30-45 minutes before sunset. This is the best time in regards to lighting. However, we understand that some wedding timing doesn’t allow for this amount of time or at this time of day and we are able to work with any time constraints and light conditions.

We never want your wedding to feel like a photo shoot, we want to enjoy spending time partying with your guests.

Reception

Time Suggestion | Consider extending coverage to have us stay for everything.

Time of Day | Late Afternoon – Evening

Location | wickedly fun venue that is just right for you.

TIPS

If you would like photos or videos of what your reception room looks like before your guests are invited in, consider adding 15 minutes to the timeline for us to document this.

Your wedding reception is when your guests are relaxed and having the most fun on the day. There are 100 reasons why we think this is still an important part of your day to be included in your timeline. So many moments and reactions always make it into your wedding albums.

And don’t get us started on how much we love photographing and videographing the dance floor!!!

Drone Footage

Time Suggestion | 30-45 Minutes

Time of Day | Early morning or late afternoon

Location | Around venue and surrounding locations

TIPS

Drone footage not only looks cool in your wedding film, but it can also really help to showcase the location you have picked for your wedding. We included drone footage complimentary in our wedding videography package. However, we only fly it depending on if we are allowed to use it in your location if the weather is favourable and we have a spare 30 minutes in your wedding timeline.

Sneaky Night-Time Portrait

Time Suggestion | 10-15 Minutes

Time of Day | Night

Location | Cool spots around your venue

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This is the time to take a breather from your reception and go on a little walk outside and snuggle up while we let our creative juices run wild and use our flash gear or video lights to make a magical portrait that will most like to hang on your wall as art.

Also sometimes our couples bring little props like smoke bombs, bottles of champagne and fog in a can spray with us to use for moments like these! Let us know if you want some recommendations.