This is a little section of my website dedicated to some tips from me about planning the timeline of your wedding day.
It’s by no means how you should do your day, but just some advice from me and a bit of my experience thrown in.
If you do have a wedding venue or coordinator then they will have a much better plan than me, but you might find some of the tips here helpful!
Before I get started on this bit I want to reiterate that this is a fairly ‘normal’ wedding day, please don’t take this as gospel and if everything here is the opposite of how you’re doing things then do not worry!
I’ll start my day about 2 hours before the ceremony, but it varies from wedding to wedding and we can make an exact plan following the questionnaire.
I would always say to leave more time than you need on the wedding morning, your hair and makeup artists will be able to help with the timings here. I’d say the key thing here is having a set time to get into your dress/suits that you work towards, that way you can keep on track for the morning.
I tend not to do any formal photos before the ceremony, but if you are ready I’m happy to do a few off-the-cuff ones, however, you don’t need to factor this into the timings.
I’ll need to leave for the ceremony before you do, and I’ll have to factor in travel time if applicable, this being the case I’d recommend being dressed and ready to go before I have to leave, that way I can get photos of the dress reveals, etc.
When it comes to the ceremony whoever is conducting the ceremony (registrar, vicar, etc) is running the show, I’m just there to take awesome photos of it.
I’ll check in with them to check their rules and where I can stand, I won’t interfere at this stage, except perhaps to grab a staged photo of the signing of the register as sometimes I’m not allowed to photograph the actual legal moment you do this.
Then onto confetti, I’d say doing this right after the ceremony is ideal, any later and it’s very hard to get everyone together again. Here are some confetti tips that might help, I’ll be on hand to organise people but some help from ushers is a good idea to get people where they need to be.
This is one of the best parts of the day for me to photograph, everyone will be coming up and hugging you and there will just be this awesome buzz!
I’d say leave at least 90-120 minutes for your drinks reception, that way if you have 100 guests you can speak to each one for around a minute.
This section of the day is also when I’ll do your formal group shots, usually about mid-way through (more on this below…)
Here’s where planning is key and a well-planned set of group formals can be done quickly and let you get back to the drinks reception.
I recommend about 6 groups as a good number to do, you can of course do more but it will take longer. In my experience, 6 groups take about 10-15 minutes. Have some ushers on hand who know the people in the shots so they can grab them quickly.
(I’ll use ‘Bride & Groom’ as the couple getting married example, but of course, sub this out for Bride & Bride, or Groom & Groom):
Bride & Groom + Bride’s Parents
Bride & Groom + Groom’s Parents
Bride & Groom + Both sets of Parents
Bride + Bridesmaids
Groom + Groomsmen
Bride & Groom + Bridesmaids & Groomsmen
Feel free to use this a starting place, if you do go for more than 6 then I’d say add on 5 minutes per group to your drinks reception time (so for 10 groups add on another 20 minutes to the drinks reception)
Then, once these are done, you can head back to the drinks reception for a bit till the guests get called for the wedding meal.
Here’s where we get efficient with timings. Just before everyone is called to find their seats for the wedding meal, we head off for a quick and easy portrait session.
It will take about 15 minutes for 100 guests to find their seats on average, so this is an ideal time to head out, as there’s not much else for you both to do other than wait at this point.
For this section, I’ll be finding some nice spots / good light and just getting some very chilled photos of both of you. It’s nothing too staged or formal, a lot of the time I’ll get you to look at and talk to each other while I get my shots.
If there are any must-have shots of you both at the venue then do let me know and I’ll be happy to do them
After this, I’ll head into the wedding meal room and wait for you to be announced, giving you both a few minutes alone to take it all in before the rest of the day.
Speeches can be before or after your wedding meal, have a chat with your caterers and they will be able to help plan this as they might have certain needs from you.
For me, I’ll just need the time they are due to start so that if they are after the meal I can make sure I’m back from taking a break, the most important thing is to not start them early, or if you do make sure I’m there and ready to photograph!
Sometimes people have speeches in between courses, in my experience, this will make life hard for the caterers and can throw off the pacing of the meal and the speeches.
My personal recommendation is before the meal, all in one go, that way anyone talking can relax after and enjoy their food, and you avoid clashing overrunning speeches with evening guests arriving. - Just my personal thoughts, again, you do it however you want to!
So the meal and speeches are all done, and evening guests have arrived.
If you’ve got a cake then just before the first dance is a good time to cut it, that way you can flow right into the dancing. I’ll tell you where to stand for the cake cutting and let you know exactly what to do and where to cut.
A lot of cakes have a non-cake layer in-between the tiers to help construction so it’s best to cut into only one (usually the bottom) tier as you won’t be able to get a knife from top to bottom.
Then head out for the first dance, I’d say here that if you’re not super comfortable dancing in front of people then do about 60 seconds just the two of you, then wave on, or even better ask close friends to join you mid-song. That way you can create a nice flow and get people on the dancefloor and by telling a few people beforehand to join this will let other people know that it’s ‘allowed’ for them to come onto the dance floor.
Then at this moment take a second with your newly married partner and take it all in, all of the formal things are done, now it’s time to crack on with a dance, have a drink, and party the night away!
So this is a pretty standard wedding day, but all weddings are different, if your day sounds nothing like this then do not worry, you-do-you and have the day you want.
We can go through your plans following the questionnaire 28 days before the wedding and make our own version of the above, the most important thing is that you relax and have the best day ever!
I do hope you found that useful, give me a shout if you have any questions at all,
Cheers,
Col-
