Make Planning Your Wedding Photos Easy!

Planning a wedding is stressful. Trust me, I’ve been through it as well! With all these questions swirling around when wedding planning begins, thinking about your wedding photos are important.

A little extra planning initially will save a TON of stress later and give you the best possible wedding day. So here are five tips to help organize your wedding photos and big day!

Making a Wedding Schedule

Building a timeline of how the entire wedding day will pan out is one of the first and most important items to check off your list. I suggest starting with the ceremony time and dinner hour, and work backwards from there. Here are some general times I recommend to allot for photographing different parts of the wedding day:

Groom getting ready- 45minutes

Bride getting ready – 1- 1.5 hours

Bride and Groom- 1 hour

Bridal Party- 45 minutes

Family Photos- 45 minutes (more if you are have a large family)

Work backwards from your ceremony time and dinner hour when making a timeline for wedding photos

You may be adding all these times in your head and think ‘Wow that’s a lot! Why do we need so much time!?’ The first thing I tell my clients is, your wedding day will fly by quickly, so this won’t ACTUALLY feel long the day of. Also, weddings have a funny way of falling behind schedule, and you want to make sure you enjoy yourself instead of stressing about minutes lost.

It’s always better to find yourself a bit ahead of schedule and having an extra moment to relax, have a sip of champagne and enjoy your bridal moment.

First Look or No?

Depending on personal preference and when the wedding ceremony is taking place, deciding whether or not you will have a first look prior to the ceremony will help establish your timeline.

If your ceremony is later in the afternoon, you may consider having a first look with your groom earlier in the day and finish photos prior to the ceremony. If this is your plan, budget a good 2.5 hours before the ceremony begins. This will give you lots of time for photos and hopefully a bit of a breather before the ceremony begins!

To make it easier on your bridal party and close family, begin with bride & groom photos, then move to the bridal party (who got ready with you in the morning and therefore will be ready to go), and finish with family photos. That way, you can slowly add people to the photos as they arrive instead of having guests hang out and watch while you and your groom share your special time together.

You can also opt to only do couple and bridal party photos prior to the ceremony, and family photos after the ceremony when everyone is already there and eager to give their congratulations!

Location, Location, Location!

On your wedding day, you will have several locations featured in your photos: where you’re getting ready, ceremony, and site for bridal/family portraits.

Before putting a deposit down on your wedding venue, ceremony site and possible hotel to get ready in, consider where these locations are in regard to each other. Your wedding day will be busy, so think about trying to cut out any unnecessarily long trips.

If there is a site particularly meaningful to you that is out of the way, make sure to budget extra time in your day to travel to and from these spots.

Here are a few important things to keep in mind when selecting locations for your wedding day:

* Choose a location with lots of light and room to get ready in. You, your bridesmaids, hair stylists and your photographer will all be sharing the same space. Big windows and lots of natural light will make for beautiful photos that can’t be replicated with a flash

* If you are opting to have a Church ceremony, make sure to inquire with the priest if there are any photo restrictions during the ceremony so you know what to expect. You don’t want to pick a church for its beautiful backdrop to find out photography isn’t permitted!

* If your family and bridal photos are not on the venue’s grounds, then ask if a permit is required to photograph at the location. Many historic areas or city parks require permits, which need to be booked long in advance.

Planning Family Wedding Photos

The best thing you can do for yourself to ensure a smooth wedding day is to organize a list of family photos you want and budget time accordingly. Because you and your groom will want to enjoy the day with your guests, I recommend selecting no more than 10-15 groups.

Once your list is set and organized logically, sit down with your

photographer to budget time accordingly. Typically a group will take about 2-3 minutes, so 15 groups puts you around 30-45minutes.

Select a point person who can help organize upcoming groups and keep family members together

When your wedding day arrives, I HIGHLY recommend selecting a point person from both the bride and groom’s families to help organize everyone. Provide them with the list/order of group photos you made previously. With the list in hand, they can then keep family members together and let them know who is on deck for the next group. It will save a ton of extra time and stress tracking down a wandering relative!

Spread the Word!

Now that you have your wedding day schedule and photo list settled, it’s time to spread the word! Send it to your hair/makeup stylist, and all your VIPs to let them know when they need to be there, and gently encourage them to stick to it. With everyone aware, everything is more likely to stay on schedule, and your wedding day will go off without a hitch!