One thing I LOVE doing for my couples is helping them with their wedding day timeline. The timeline plays a huge role in how I’ll be able to capture your wedding day, and more importantly, it plays a huge role in how you’ll enjoy your wedding day!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll share a few tips I keep in mind when planning your timeline.
Week 1: Choosing Your Wedding Date & Ceremony Time
Week 2: To Do A First Look Or Not?
Week 3: Example Timeline With First Look
Week 4: Example Timeline Without First Look
Time of Sunset
This one is HUGE because it will have an impact on the time of day and maybe even the time of year you choose to have your wedding! When planning your wedding, make this the first thing you look up. Use this tool to check out what time sunset will be based on your wedding date and location.
Let me give you some examples on why this is so important:
-Wedding Date is December 6. Sunset is at 4:45pm here in Hampton Roads. In this scenario, if you have a ceremony at 5:00 p.m., it will be totally dark after your ceremony. If you’re a traditional couple and choose not to do a first look before the ceremony, all of your portrait time will be after the ceremony, when it’s dark. This would be totally okay with me, and we could capture some completely epic night time portraits! But it’s important to know ahead of time when planning your wedding, to expect that look for your wedding photos. If you’re completely set on bright, beautiful daytime portraits, then I would urge you to reconsider having a first look before the ceremony, adjusting your ceremony time, OR consider a different date for your wedding.
-Another reason I love planning weddings around sunset, is to be able to plan for portraits within golden hour (the hour before sunset) if at all possible! Using the example above, with a December 6th wedding… Golden hour would be from 3:45-4:45. If the couple wanted to do a first look, this would be the perfect scenario for beautiful wedding portraits! I would recommend that the ceremony start at 5:30pm, so we could shoot from 3:45-4:45 and give the couple plenty of time to hide away before the ceremony and relax as the guests are arriving. This timeline would give the bride and groom beautiful, glowing portraits like the one below. That beautiful golden light is because these photos were taken just before sunset at East Beach in Norfolk, which you just can’t duplicate earlier in the day!
Planning your own wedding and have questions about your timeline? Just comment with any questions you have and I’ll be sure to respond in future blog posts!
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