Planning your wedding-day timeline

A wedding day always moves faster than you expect. A timeline won’t slow it down, but it does make sure the moments you care about most have room to happen, and that you’re not being hurried from one thing to the next. Here is how we suggest thinking about it.

Start from the times that can’t move

Begin with what is fixed: the auspicious time for the ceremony, the time the venue is yours from, and when the light fades in the evening. Everything else is planned backwards and forwards from those points. If your ceremony has a nekatha, share it with your photographer as early as you can, because it decides the shape of the whole day.

Getting ready takes longer than you think

Hair, make-up and dressing almost always run over, and it is the part of the day most worth not rushing. Some of the most loved photographs come from here: a mother fixing a necklace, a quiet minute before everyone arrives. Ask your dresser for an honest finishing time, then add a cushion on top of it.

Give the portraits their own slot

Photographs of the two of you need a block of time that belongs to nothing else. Squeezed between the ceremony and lunch, they feel like a chore; given their own space, they become a breather in the middle of a busy day. The soft light late in the afternoon is the kindest, so if your schedule allows, keep a little time free before sunset.

Make a short list for family photographs

Group photographs go quickly when there is a list and slowly when there isn’t. Write down the combinations that matter, keep it short, and ask one relative who knows both families to gather people. It saves time and makes sure no one important is missed.

Leave gaps on purpose

Travel between locations, greeting guests, a change of outfit: these are the things that quietly eat a schedule. Build small gaps around them. If the day runs to time, you get a few minutes to sit down and take it all in. If it doesn’t, nothing is lost.

If you’d like help shaping your timeline around the photographs, send us your date and venue and we’ll plan it with you.