IDEAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY TIMELINE
With so much happening on your wedding day, it’s difficult to know how much time you should allocate for pictures through out the day including preparation time, first look, bride and groom portraits, and family photos. We’ve put together an outline we recommend for your wedding day to ensure you get the most enjoyment out of your special day while also ensuring we get the time we need to capture all the necessary pictures to deliver as part of your wedding photography package.
RINGS, DRESS, SHOES, AND OTHER DETAILS
* Ideal Time Allotment – 30 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning or Early Afternoon
* Ideal Location – Bridal Suite or Hotel Suite
* Advice – Having at least 30 minutes for details ensures that we have plenty of time to get that perfect photo of the bride’s dress, wedding rings, shoes, bouquets, family heirlooms, and the other details.
There will be times when your hotel room is going to be extremely crowded or simply a mess, don’t worry! This is perfectly natural and is expected. However, we may have to take your dress, shoes, and some accessories down to the hotel lobby or even outside.
BRIDE + GROOM PREPARATION
* Ideal Time Allotment – 30 – 60 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning/Early Afternoon
* Ideal Location – Bridal Suite or Hotel Suite
* Advice – Having about 30-60 minutes of bridal preparation time is ideal to ensure we have plenty of time to capture your hair and makeup. Meanwhile, we’re also capturing candid moments with your family and bridal party that are hanging out in your room or brides maids getting ready along side you. These are some of the most natural moments and truly reflect you and your families’ personalities!
We recommend the groom and his groomsmen get ready in the same hotel, otherwise you’ll likely want to add a second photographer to your photography package to ensure simultaneous coverage if he is in another location. Another option is to cover the grooms and his groomsmen after the bridal prep is finished.
Fortunately, guys generally don’t require as much preparation time so about 20 minutes for guys should be plenty to capture accessories and getting dressed (sorry guys!). This is also an ideal time for capturing a lot of candid moments of boys being boys.
INDIVIDUAL PORTRAITS
* Ideal Time Allotment – 20-30 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning/Early Afternoon
* Ideal Location – Bridal Suite, Hotel Suite, Venue Lobby, or Venue Garden
* Advice – Right after preparation is the ideal time for individual portraits of the bride and groom. Hair and makeup is completely fresh at this point which makes this the perfect opportunity.
The best part is the natural light that shines through the windows in most hotel rooms create such a unique light that likely won’t occur throughout the rest of the day.
FIRST LOOK AND COUPLES PHOTO SESSION
* Ideal Time Allotment – 30-45 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning or Early Afternoon
* Ideal Location – Venue Garden, Empty Venue Hallway (shaded areas with natural light)
* Advice – The first look will take approximately 30 to 45 minutes. This is the first time the bride and groom see one another in their wedding attire, prior to the start of the ceremony. The actual first look will likely only take 15 minutes while we will then go right into portraits of the bride and groom separately and together.
We will use this time for some photos of you guys together. Generally, we’ve noticed that tension is quite high prior to the start of the ceremony and this takes away from the natural posing we’d like to capture. We continue this session after the ceremony.
WEDDING PARTY PHOTOS
* Ideal Time Allotment – 30 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning or Afternoon
* Ideal Location – Venue Lobby, Venue Garden, Beach, Park, Off-site Location
* Advice – Wedding Party Photos should be about 30 minutes. During this time, we get a variety of shots in a variety of poses. We start off with the standard photos of the bride and groom with their wedding party together. Then we’ll go right into some of the more fun and creative shots. Knowing how much your wedding party means to you, so we are sure to get pictures with you and each one of your bridesmaids or groomsmen individually and some combinations as requested.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY
* Ideal Time Allotment – 20-30 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning or Afternoon
* Ideal Location – Venue Lobby, Venue Garden, Beach, Park, Off-site Location
* Advice – Immediate Family Photos can take about 20-30 minutes. It’s important to have pictures with your parents, grandparents, and siblings. This is also especially helpful for us to know who’s your immediate family. We tend to “look out” for those members of the families throughout the ceremony and reception to ensure we also get plenty of candids.
Depending on how large your family is, plan on about two minutes per group. For example, if you have 10 groups, schedule in a 20 minute time slot.
We all know how important family is on an occasion such as your wedding. We want to be sure were capturing enough pictures with them.
CEREMONY DETAIL AND VENUE
* Ideal Time Allotment – 20-30 minutes
* Ideal Location – Ceremony Site
* Ideal Time of the Day – Morning or Afternoon
Advice – Please allow 20 minutes for the photographer to take pictures of the ceremony site, completely set up with no guests or vendors in the area. Before guests are seated, it’s important that we are there to capture the complete set up of your ceremony site so we can capture the scene at its best.
FORMALS (EXTENDED FAMILY, IMMEDIATE FAMILY, AND FRIENDS)
*Ideal Time Allotment – 45-60 minutes
*Ideal Time of the Day – Morning or Afternoon (Post Ceremony)
*Ideal Location – Ceremony Site
Advice – Formals can take around 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of your family and the number of guests.
Some couples decide to take pictures with every couple or family that is in attendance. The most time spent here is rounding up people. We would recommend assigning this task to one or more family member(s) to call up guests and line them along side the stage. Lists of groups would be helpful here along with a microphone from your DJ.
COUPLES SESSION
* Ideal Time Allotment – 1 hour
* Ideal Time of the Day – Late Afternoon (Sunset)
* Ideal Location – Venue Garden or nearby Park
* Advice – The bride and groom’s photo session should take about an hour and would be best before sunset. The is the best time due to the warm glow the sun gives off during this time.
If you’ve booked your venue because of the spectacular view of the ocean, this is the most important time of day for your portraits.
RECEPTION DETAIL AND VENUE
* Ideal Time Allotment – 20-30 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Early Evening
* Ideal Location – Ceremony Site
* Advice – Please allow 30 minutes for the second shooter to take pictures of the reception room, completely set up with no guests or vendors in the area.
Similar to the ceremony details, this is the only opportunity we have to capture the beauty of the reception room prior to guest arrival.
COUPLES SESSION – SNEAK AWAY DURING RECEPTION
* Ideal Time Allotment – 20 minutes
* Ideal Time of the Day – Dusk to Night Time
* Ideal Location – Areas with interesting lights, fountains, city scapes and mirrors
* Advice – The best time to sneak out for this is right after you grab a bite to eat or during the open floor dancing after you’ve danced a few songs and would like a break. We understand you’ll want to party with your family and friends and this is the quickest and the last photo shoot session of the day. We only need about 20 minutes as we understand the importance of being a good host.
OTHER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
Table Shots – Table shots are when you go around visiting each table during your reception. You can either take formal pictures with each of these tables or we can simply focus shoot candidly as you mingle with your guests at each table. If the former, we ask that half the table remain seated as you stand behind them for a formal shot. This can take approximately 3 minutes per table.
Last and most important – A photo with the Raj Photo Video team at the end of the night! 🙂
We hope that this timeline gives you an understanding of the amount of time required to help you plan your wedding day. We’re offering some great wedding photography packages. Give us a call at 732-939-0828 or shoot us an email at info@rajphotovideo.com
