Unless you are a event planner, coordinating a wedding is an experience most of us are not doing on a regular basis. What should a wedding day look like and how much time should you plan to make sure it flows smoothly with minimal bumps. Here are a list of the typical events on a wedding day. These do not count the work other vendors do, just the day from the bride or groom’s perspective.
- Breakfast
- Bride Hair and Make up
- Dress
- Bride Reveal
- Ceremony
- Family Photos
- Bridal Party Photos
- Grand Entrence
- Dinner
- Toasts
- Dances
- Cake Cutting
- Garter/Bouquet Toss
- Last Dance
Breakfast (30-60 minutes)
Yes, you should eat on your wedding day. The last thing you want is low blood sugar while walking down the aisle and landing flat on your face in front of your loving spouse’s family. Light food will keep your energy up without being so heavy that your nerves make you feel unwell.
Hair and Make-up (60-90 minutes)
We love hair stylists and make up artists. They make our lives easier. I would rather not Photoshop out that pimple or try to add digital eyelashes later on all your wedding photos. That said, we have met very few who take exactly as long as they say they will. Most hair and make-up goes over the estimated time by about 30 minutes. Plan on this. If they finish early, great. This is your wedding day and you want them to make sure it is perfect. Don’t push your timeline trying to save a penny here.
Dress (20 minutes)
This isn’t a maxi dress. Your wedding gown will take more time than normal to get into. Especially if the person who was at the gown shop with you isn’t helping you get into your dress. Finding the ties or figuring out how to fasten things can take some time. Lacing a corset back or fastening 20 buttons also doesn’t happen in 5 minutes or less.
Bridal Reveal (30 minutes)
Should you see each other before the wedding? I really is an outdated superstition.
Disclaimer: We encourage you to do your research before setting your foot down solid on this. We will respect your wishes here.
Why should you do it? To get better photos and video of course. By seeing each other, we can set the two of you up in the best light to capture great photos and make your film more impactful. This means you can allot less time between the ceremony and the reception too.
Ceremony (15-90 minutes)
What more do we need to say here. Some officiants and vows are short, some are elaborate religious events. Plan accordingly. On average, we see ceremonies last 45 minutes.
Family Photos (20-30 minutes)
Depending on the size of the family you want to take pictures of, this may take longer. It can often be like herding cats too. Getting 30 people to all come back into the church and not talk to each other long enough to follow directions just takes time. Plan on 1-2 minutes per person you would like to have in family photos. If you have 30 people, it will take 30+ minutes to get all your photos. If you have 10, it will take about 15 minutes.
Bridal Party Photos (30-60 Minutes)
Depending on the location, these may be best off site. We have places we like to go and shoot to get a stylistic look in our images. Getting everyone there and sitting still long enough to make great images, again just takes time. The more time you give your photographer here, the more and better photos they can get. If you don’t do a reveal, this will definitely be on the longer side and could even go to 90 minutes.
Grand Entrance (5-15 Minutes)
If your Emcee knows his stuff, this will go well and take about 15 minutes for the whole bridal party. If he or she doesn’t, it will just be a line of your bridal party walking in and having their names read.
Dinner (45 Minutes)
You made it this far. Now the venue is serving you a meal. If things go absolutely perfectly, feed your photographer and the cinematographer (video guy) at the same time. You don’t want shots of you eating and they don’t want to miss shots of you talking with guests. If they eat when you do, everyone wins. Venues don’t like this because it messes with their flow and they think it is poor etiquette. Personally, I want better photos because that is what everyone will remember, not when the photographer got a plate of food.
First Dances, Garter, Cake, Etc (60 Minutes)
All of these things take about an hour total to complete and happen usually after the dinner. The DJ controls this part of your day unless you have an amazing coordinator. The toasts can be included in this hour of time even if they happen before dinner and the order on these is really up to you.
Last Dance (10 Minutes)
In our home town, weddings are really funny about the end of the evening. No one stays. That sparkler send off, forget it. The bubbles you want everyone to blow, maybe. Usually we don’t see more than 15-20 guests at the end of the night. This is especially true for weddings where kids are welcome or most of the guests are older. Ask yourself how important photos of this event are and be realistic about the people who will likely stay to make it worth getting photos of.
So how many hours does all this add up to? On the short end assuming everything flows perfectly: 4 Hours 55 Minutes not counting breakfast.
In all likelihood you will need 7-8 hours to reasonably cover your wedding if there is not a lot of travel between locations on the wedding day. When should you plan on your photographer starting? When should the video team pack up? Schedule a consultation with us and we can get into the details better with you and see what is best for your wedding.