A Wedding Day Timeline Example
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Your big day is getting closer, and you have arranged the venue and all your vendors (as your wedding photographer and videographer we look forward to seeing you on your big day!), the guest list and seating are all done, but you are just wondering how it all comes together from the photographer and videographer point of view? Well, you have come to the right place, as SMC Studios has over 10 years of experience and that equates to quite a few timelines!
So the first step in this process is we send you a timeline questionnaire, which lets you simply and easily in your own time tell us the locations that will be used for your big day, and the time for the ceremony among any other important times. From there, we are able to use our years of experience to help you create a wedding day timeline which will be used by our photographers and videographers to ensure your beautiful wedding day goes smoothly!
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Below is an example of how a wedding day can run, with some examples of the images that would be obtained!
01:00 pm: Arrive at the groom's preparation location. We like to arrive at the groom’s place first and capture images here, as it is usually a shorter shoot, and gives the bride some more time with makeup artists before we arrive. We recommend 45 minutes to an hour.
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01:30 pm: Leave the groom's location - add additional time for travel!
02:00 pm: Arrive bride’s location for wedding day preparation. We recommend at least an hour for this. Here we also capture the Bridal party photos. If you would like to do this at a different location than the bridal preparation location, additional time will be needed, so keep this in mind!
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03:00 pm: Leave the brides preparation location - add additional time for travel.
03:30 pm: Photographer set up. We recommend 30 minutes for set up and capturing images and videos of your guests and yourselves arriving.
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04:00 pm: Ceremony
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05:00 pm: Group photo time! If you want a photo with all your guests, the only time is straight after the ceremony, as everyone will be present. Usually, we recommend 15 minutes for less than 100 guests and 20 minutes for over 100 guests. Now is also a good time for family photos, as everyone is in the same location after the ceremony. This is probably the section of the timeline that is hardest to predict, as depends greatly on the size of your family and guest list.
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05:30 pm: Couple photos. We recommended capturing those beautiful, authentic family photos first, and then the couple photos can be taken after. We usually recommend 40 minutes - 1 hour minimum depending on any travel required.
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06:30 pm: Bride and groom enter.
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07:00 pm: Speeches/cake cutting
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07:30 pm: Dinner
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08:30 pm: First dance
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08:45 pm: Party time!
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11:00 pm: Exit.
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Of course, this is just an example, but here at SMC Studios, we would love to hear more about your wedding day plans and help you craft the perfect timeline! Also, we generally find that to capture the entire wedding day, 8-9 hours is sufficient, depending on the travel time between locations!
And if you are looking for examples of those must-have shots that would be captured during the day, check out our blog on that here!
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Still looking for a wedding photographer or videographer (or why not both!), if so we would love to chat!
We look forward to seeing you on your wedding day!