Wedding Timeline Examples
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The timelines below are simply examples and suggestions to help you decide how much coverage time you need. You can do whatever you want - it’s your day!
For example, you can always do a first look before the ceremony, or family photos before the wedding, you can take 15 minutes total and just do a quick portrait session if you’d like. The timing of it all really depends on your individual desires and the situation i.e. family photos with 10 people can literally take 5 minutes, your portrait session can be split up into two 20 minute (or longer) sessions to benefit from different light in the afternoon vs the evening etc. etc. your actual timeline will be much more specific to your day.
All this being said, you’re welcome to reach out to us for recommendations specific to your day. -
Recommended for weddings all at one location/venue or with minimal travel and intimate celebrations.
1:00 - getting ready
2:00 - ceremony
2:45 - photos (family/bridal party/portraits)
4:00 - reception
5:00 - coverage ends
Don’t care about getting ready coverage? Add that hour to the reception instead! -
Another great choice for weddings with 1-2 locations and intimate weddings.
1:00 - getting ready
2:45 - ceremony
3:30 - photos (family/bridal party/portraits)
4:45 - reception
7:00 - coverage ends
Alternatively with no getting ready coverage:
3:00 - ceremony
3:45 - photos (family/bridal party/portraits)
5:00 - reception
9:00 - coverage ends -
This is where “full day coverage” starts because it usually covers a good amount of both getting ready/pre wedding time as well as the reception. 8 hours can also be a good fit for weddings with more than 1 location.
1:00 - getting ready
2:30 - first look & 15 - 20 minutes of portraits
3:00 - family photos or bridal party
3:30 - ceremony
4:15 - bridal party or family photos
4:30 - cocktail hour
5:30 - reception
8:00 - sunset/night portrait session (15 minutes)
9:00 coverage ends -
This is the premium package - great for multi location weddings, weddings with large guest lists, couples who want to do longer photo sessions, couples who want a lot of dancing/party photos/footage or have a traditional early ceremony like a tea ceremony, couples with complicated days that just need more time. If you have the budget, 10 is a safe bet if you want to add lots of buffer time between events. Bookings 10 hours or longer include a short engagement session - we figured we’d be spending a lot of time together and it would be nice to get to know each other before the
big day.
1:00 - getting ready
2:30 - first look & 15 - 20 minutes of portraits
3:00 - family photos or bridal party
3:30 - ceremony
4:15 - bridal party or family photos
4:30 - cocktail hour
5:30 - reception
8:00 - sunset/night portrait session (15 minutes)
9:00 dancing
10: cake cutting & late night fun
11: coverage ends -
You know your guests better than we do, so schedule in buffer time accordingly. If you have big families and lots of folks who are frequently late, ask them to arrive a minimum of 15 minutes prior to the event or photo session start time.
Plan for buffer time when there is driving involved between locations especially for weddings in the city.
If you’d like to spend the most time with your spouse and guests as possible with photo sessions being more of an afterthought, scale your timing to the length of your coverage. If you only have us for 4 hours and you only want 10 minutes of photos - that is cool with us! We work fast and will still be able to deliver tons of great photos.
Prioritize reception events that are most important to you comfortably within our coverage time. For example: if coverage of your first dance is important to you, make sure it’s scheduled well before we’re done so in case something runs late you won’t have to book extra time. We always love a first dance upon entering the reception!
The best time for speeches is between dinner courses! This makes the most of your time and people are already sitting and waiting anyway.