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Overview: Scheduling for the Wedding Day
First Look + Portraits + Bridal Party
OVERVIEW: SCHEDULING FOR THE WEDDING DAY
Below are “sections” of the wedding day. These time periods are our minimum requirements. Any section of the day can be made longer, but not shorter. While sections can’t necessarily be shortened, any of them may be removed. For example, when there has been limited time in the past, we have had couples remove “guys getting ready” photos, saving the groom/groomsmen photos for later in the day. We have even had couples remove “getting ready photos” all together, having us show up for the “First Look”. We’ve also had couples keep “getting ready photos” and remove “bridal party photos”, instead choosing to include one group bridal party photo at the end of family photos. These are just a few examples.
These choices are entirely up to the bride and groom, and we are happy to accommodate unique scheduling choices, but the durations listed below should be helpful when creating the wedding day schedule.
Wedding Day “Sections”:
Girls Getting Ready – We request 1.5 hrs with bride and the girls getting ready. First we’ll shoot details like the dress, shoes, jewelry, etc, along with candids of the girls during the getting ready process. Then 60 min into us being there, bride gets into her dress. I step out of the room for a moment until the back of the dress is ready to be done up. Then Jordin and I shoot bridal portraits, sometimes additional shots with parents if there is time. After 1.5 hr total, I will leave to shoot guys getting ready pictures. Jordin stays with bride and girls to do group shots with bride + bridesmaids/family members who are there.
If only 1 hr can be allotted in total to “Girls Getting Ready” photos, we can do this and will shoot basic details when we first arrive (dress, shoes, jewelry) and remove “candid” photos. Then 30 minutes into us being there, bride gets into her dress and continues as before.
Guys Getting Ready – Then add transportation time plus 10 minutes (buffer for potential traffic) for Curtis to get from “girls getting ready” to the “guys getting ready” locations. I will need 10 minutes to reset my cameras and film. Then I’ll need 30 min with the guys, candids first, then group shots. Then transportation time to the “first look”, if the bride+groom are doing a first look. Groom + Curtis should arrive 5 min before the bride + Jordin do.
First Look + Portraits + Bridal Party – 15 minutes at the “first look” + 30 min immediately following is enough for portraits of the bride and groom… Then the bridal party can meet us for group shots of the whole party… 20-25min for the whole party. If the Bride + Groom are not doing a first look, this whole section (70 minutes total, which includes portraits of the bride + groom, and bridal party photos all together) can be moved to after the ceremony, typically after family photos. Also, time devoted to bridal party photos can be minimized if having these types of photos (multiple creative/group/posed/candid bridal party photos) is not high priority. Rather than doing 20-25 minutes of bridal party photos after the bride+groom portraits, we could devote 10 minutes at the end of family photos to bridal party, just to get one formal posed group shot of the bridal party, in the same location as the family photos.
Ceremony – Bride + groom should be at the ceremony site at least 30 minutes before the ceremony begins, with no pictures left to take. Breath/Relax. We will be doing ceremony details during this time. During the ceremony, we do not need a shot list, but we will take anything in terms of a ceremony order/schedule that is already being generated. We will just shoot inconspicuously in documentary style as events take place.
Family Photos – 30minutes (this depends on the length of the photo list, but 30 minutes typically is enough time) We typically do these immediately following the ceremony, since family will already be together. Just make sure everyone on the family list knows not to go to cocktail hour until after family photos! We require a list of every family photo combination the bride and groom would like. Sample:
Jack and Jill’s Family Photo Combinations
Bride’s side first:
1) Jack + Jill
2) Jack + Jill + Barb (mother-of-bride) + Chuck (father-of-bride)
3) Jack + Jill + Barb + Chuck + Kyle + Kristie (Jill’s parents and siblings)
4) Jill + Kristie
5) Jack + Jill + Grandma Jude
6) etc.
7) etc.
We will read this list out loud and in order immediately following the ceremony, so write it in a way that will be understandable to your families when read aloud. We recommend designating a person in the family or bridal party who knows everyone on the list, who can gather everyone and find anyone who may be missing. This list may be as long or short as you like. For your family’s sake, short will allow them to get to cocktail hour faster! We also recommend thinking through if any person(s) should be towards the top of the list, such as an elderly relative, or young children, to be finished sooner than later.
If you are concerned with the length of your list and want to try to narrow it down, imagine receiving a print of each of your family photo combinations, with no digital file backup (you will receive digital files, but this is helpful in narrowing down your list). Imagine receiving a 5×7 or 8×10 print of every combination listed. Think through each print. Where would it go? Would it go in a frame on the mantle in a particular relative’s house? Would you put it up in your own house? Would it go in a parent’s living room? If you stumble upon any combinations where you’re not exactly sure where the print would end up, it may qualify as a combination that may be nice for sentiment, but ultimately is not kept after the wedding and could be removed from the list for the sake of your time dedicated to family photos on your wedding day.
Cocktail Hour – Documenting the cocktail hour consists of shooting your cocktail hour details/décor and candids of your guests mingling. Often times, this coverage would be after the family photos, before the bride and groom make an entrance. Sometimes however, due to scheduling the next two categories (Reception Details + Golden Hour Portraits), the bride and groom may choose not to have cocktail documented. When it is included in the schedule, this can be 20-30 minutes of coverage after the family photos are complete.
Reception Details – 30minutes. We often shoot the details and décor of the reception before guests enter and “mess it all up”! This allows for clean, beautiful, documentation of the details. We sometimes do this at the very beginning of our coverage, before “Girls Getting Ready”. However, most often the reception details are not set up that early in the day, and another 30 minute window needs to be found during the day for us to document these details. This 30 min window can be before the ceremony (if the ceremony and reception are in the same location), or sometime during cocktail hour (when guests have not yet entered the reception site). Quite often, during the last 30 minutes of cocktail hour, after family photos are complete, we will go in to the reception site to document details before guests enter. Sometimes, when the bridal party photos and bride+groom portraits are scheduled during that window (as opposed to being done earlier in the day after a “First Look”), we will go in to do reception details after the bridal party photos and bride+groom portraits, but before their reception entrance.
Golden Hour Portraits – See details about golden hour here: curtiswiklundphoto.com/golden-hour/. To determine “golden hour” time on your wedding day, enter your wedding zip code and wedding date on this site: http://www.calendar-updates.com/sun.asp – This gives you calculated sunset time for your wedding date/location. Go back 45 min from calculated sunset, and that is the end time for golden hour. Go back another 60min and that is the start time for golden hour. For example, if your calculated sunset time is 8:03pm, your golden hour window is 6:15pm – 7:15pm
During the 60 minute window of “golden hour”, there will be the best light of the evening. Sometimes, the schedule lines up to do the whole set of bride + groom portraits then. More often though, we will have already completed portraits earlier in the day, and if there is beautiful evening light occurring during golden hour, we will simply take the bride and groom out for 10-15 minutes at some point during this window.
Sometimes it can go slightly later than 45 minutes before calculated sunset, but the sun often goes behind trees, clouds, or buildings first, before calculated sunset (the time at which the sun goes below the horizon line). If you can’t see the horizon line at your wedding (ie – ocean or large lake), plan on sunlight ending 45 minutes before calculated sunset. After that point, daylight photos are complete, and you move into evening photos lit by your reception lighting.
Reception – We do not need a very specific list of reception events, but will take any list that is already being generated. We will be discreet and shoot documentary style as events take place.
Reception Lighting Tips – For decorations/toasts/dancing purposes, we always tell couples to double the amount of light sources they think they need. For example, if you have candles on your tables, double the number of candles. String lights, lanterns, chandeliers, etc., double them. Lighting is what creates the atmosphere of your reception setting. This is not to say that you are making the room “brighter”, or trying to make it feel like daylight. It will still feel like evening, just with a beautiful glow. You are simply adding points of accents throughout your space. The more points of light you have in the backgrounds of your photos the better, for nighttime photos. Budget tip: you do not need to double your most expensive lights. Again, you are just adding “points of accents”. Even lining your background and out-of-the-way tables with lesser expensive lights/candles will help to create background accents in your photos.
End Coverage – When the coverage included in the contract ends, we will pack up and head home, but we always ask the bride and groom first if they are okay with us leaving. We are happy to stay late and will bring the addendum to the contract to add additional hours, on the day-of, at our hourly rate. This often happens when the best dancing gets started later than expected.
SAMPLE SCHEDULES
Please feel free to copy/paste one of the two schedules below to make your own wedding day schedule. You can rearrange the sections of the day or remove any sections that are not a high priority (but you cannot shorten them). Use these two samples as a guide to putting together your own wedding day timeline.
* Please include for us a contact from each side of the bridal party, so we don’t have to call you on your wedding day!
Sample Schedule without “First Look”:
Bridesmaid Phone Number: (555) 555-5555
Groomsman Phone Number: (555) 555-5555
11:30am – Curtis and Jordin show up where the girls are getting ready. Candids and dress/shoes/details first.
Location –
“Girls Getting Ready”
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
12:30pm – Bride gets into dress. Bridal Portraits.
1:00pm – Curtis leaves for “Guys Getting Ready” location. Jordin stays w/ girls for group shots. (Jordin will need a ride to the ceremony with the bridesmaids if she stays with the girls.)
Location –
“Guys Getting Ready”
(10 minute expected drive + 10 minute camera reset + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
1:30pm – Curtis arrives for candid “Guys Getting Ready” photos, while Jordin does group girl photos.
2:00pm – Groomsmen (and bridesmaids if they haven’t left yet) leave for ceremony location.
2:30pm – All bridal party is at ceremony location, finished with planned photos.
Location –
“Ceremony”
(20 minute expected drive + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
Location Name
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
3:00pm – Ceremony begins
3:30pm – Ceremony ends
3:40pm – Family photos (tell your family not to go to cocktail hour yet!)
4:10pm – Family photos finished
4:15pm – Bridal Party Leave for Reception Location
Location –
“Reception”
(20 minute expected drive + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
Location Name
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
4:35pm – Bridal Party Photos around Reception Location
4:55pm – Portraits of Bride+Groom
5:40pm – Curtis + Jordin photograph “Reception Details”, such as table settings and décor (before guests enter/mess them up!) and if two photographers are included, one can document Cocktail Hour during this window of time.
6:10pm – Guests enter Reception
6:20pm – Reception Events (Entrances, Dinner, Toasts, Cake Cutting, etc)
8:00pm – First Dances
8:30pm – Party Dancing
9:30pm – Photo Coverage ends or photographers stay until “Bride & Groom Exit”
11:00pm – Bride & Groom Exit? (i.e. – Sparklers or other “send off”?)
Sample Schedule with “First Look”:
Bridesmaid Phone Number: (555) 555-5555
Groomsman Phone Number: (555) 555-5555
11:30am – Curtis and Jordin show up where the girls are getting ready. Candids and dress/shoes/details first.
Location –
“Girls Getting Ready”
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
12:30pm – Bride gets into dress. Bridal Portraits.
1:00pm – Curtis leaves for “Guys Getting Ready” location. Jordin stays w/ girls for group shots.
Location –
“Guys Getting Ready”
(10 minute expected drive + 10 minute camera reset + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
1:30pm – Curtis arrives for candid “Guys Getting Ready” photos, while Jordin does group girl photos (Jordin will need a ride with the bride to the “First Look” location).
2:00pm – Groom + Curtis leave for “First Look” location.
Location –
“First Look”
(15 minute expected drive + 5 minute camera reset + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
Location Name
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
2:05pm – Girls leave for “First Look” location.
2:30pm – Groom arrives at “First Look” location.
2:35pm – Bride arrives at “First Look” location.
2:35pm – First Look.
2:50pm – Bride & Groom Portraits.
3:20pm – Bridal Party meets where Bride & Groom are for Group Photos.
3:40pm – Whole Bridal Party leaves for Ceremony Location.
Location –
“Ceremony”
(10 minute expected drive + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
Location Name
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
4:00pm – All bridal party is at ceremony location, finished with planned photos.
4:30pm – Ceremony begins.
5:00pm – Ceremony ends.
5:10pm – Family photos (tell your family not to go to cocktail hour yet!).
5:40pm – Family photos finished.
5:45pm – Bridal Party Leave for Reception Location.
Location –
“Reception”
(20 minute expected drive + 10-15 minute traffic buffer):
Location Name
1234 Sample Rd
City, State, ZIP
6:15pm – Curtis + Jordin document “Reception Details” (before guests enter/mess them up!) and if two photographers are included, one can document Cocktail Hour during this window of time.
6:45pm – Guests enter Reception.
7:00pm – Reception Events (Entrances, Dinner, Toasts, Cake Cutting, etc).
7:40pm – “Golden Hour” Bride & Groom Photos (10-15 minutes with Curtis and Jordin during a break in dinner to catch the sunset if it is nice outside).
8:00pm – First Dances.
8:30pm – Party Dancing.
9:30pm – Photo Coverage ends or photographers stay until “Bride & Groom Exit”
11:00pm – Bride & Groom Exit? (i.e. – Sparklers or other “send off”?)