A Step-by-Step Guide To Your Wedding Day Timeline
Making The Most Of Photography & Videography on Your Wedding Day
Your wedding day timeline will be unique to you and will differ depending on what is most important to you both. We’ve put together sample timelines for each of our packages to give you an idea of what your day could look like. Although your wedding day can look however you want it to, this guide will help you have a better understanding of how we can make the most of the time capturing your wedding day, no matter what package you may go with. This can help you prioritise what is most important to have captured and therefore help you decide on a collection that fits you.
Groom prep
We often start our day with the Groom, capturing all the behind the scenes that go into the prep. This is a great time to capture special bonding moments with the whole groomsmen party, from helping each other with ties to sharing a late morning whisky to take the edge off the nerves. Things to consider for the Groom Prep to help us make the most of the time is to make sure you have all your suits, shoes, watches, ties, cologne etc ready to go. As storytellers, we think it’s important to capture more than just faces on your wedding day. The small details - your rings, buttonholes, or the cufflinks your S/O bought for you are crucial to telling the whole story, giving you more than just portraits to remember when you look back on your wedding day. Maybe your groom is a surfer and would prefer a morning surf to start his day. These kinds of activities are great to capture, especially for the S/O to look back on, providing an insight into how their S/O started their day before the big “I Do” moment. Groom prep tends to be a little more laid back due to the lack of hair/makeup that needs doing, which allows time for these smaller activities to happen.
Bridal Prep
Once we are satisfied with the capturing of one S/O, we head over to the Bridal Prep location and begin to capture many special moments. The bridal prep is a very special moment that you will be grateful to look back on, as we capture the rollercoaster of emotions that carry through from hair and makeup to a champagne toast. More often than not, there is always a lot more going on at the bridal prep. We like to capture the whole getting ready process so make sure you don’t go too many steps ahead before we arrive! By the time we arrive the bridal party maybe halfway through hair and makeup. This is a great chance for us to get to know you all and chat about the day ahead. While the bride is having hair and makeup done, we will capture small but significant details that important to the storytelling of your day. Like your other half’s prep, to also make the most of our time, have all your small details such as jewellery, wedding invitations, shoes, bouquets etc ready for us to take some snaps of. Also, consider having a small breakfast platter and a bottle of bubbles to add a social aspect to your prep. This helps morning feel more stress-free and makes for great photos. Depending on your location of prep, we will find an ideal spot to creatively snap your dress in all its beauty and glory before it's worn. Once we have all the prep details captured, it’ll be time for you and your bridesmaids to get dressed! This is a great time to have someone close to you (such as mum) help you get the dress on, which creates a sweet moment full of love, nerves, proudness and excitement. Following this, any family members that you would like to have a first look at you all dressed and ready would arrive at your location to soak in all the beauty.
Ceremony
The ceremony is technically the most important part of the day - the moment where you legally get to marry the love of your life! During this time we will capture details such as your ceremony decor/signage, furniture, archway, florals, pets, and candid shots of your guests. The groom and groomsmen will arrive and wait at the altar. This gives us a good opportunity to capture the groom waiting in anticipation for his soon to be wife or husband. From here on out we will be sure to capture all the special moments - the first moment when you make eye contact with your S/O walking down the aisle, vows, tears, laughter, exchange of rings, and the kiss to seal it all! These are the moments where we urge to pretend we are not there. Focus on you and your S/O only, really connect with one another in this milestone of a moment. Soak it all up, because it’ll go by in a flash with all the nerves and excitement. Soon after this, we will snap photos of you both signing the register. Something fun to consider is having cups of flower petals at each row of benches for the guests to throw as you walk back down the aisle hand in hand as a married couple. The pure joy that is captured in these images is elevated by the falling petals thrown in the air in celebration. Following the walk back down the aisle, we will capture many candid moments between you and your guests hugging in congratulations of the newlyweds.
Family & Group Photos
After the ceremony, family and group photos will take place which can take up to 30 minutes (We like to allow 3-4mins per each group). Before the day we will have discussed a list of groups that you would like photographed and have a printout list ready for your MC or the allocate person in charge of calling out the photos. This list will be appointed to someone who is confident in herding people together to ensure the list is checked off, plus additional group photos needed on the day. Appointing someone to do this task is something important to consider as it will help us efficiently take photos (snapping away while your allocated person rounds up the next group), ensure you don’t need to stress and keep your family and guests satisfied knowing they have a photo. Everybody stays happy!
You can find a group photo suggestion list below:
- Full Group Photo
- Lovers Alone
- Lovers with both sets of parents
- Lovers with Lover One’s Parents + Siblings
- Lovers with Lover One’s Parents
- Lovers with Lover Two’s Parents + Siblings
- Lovers with Lover Two’s Parents
Creative Shoot
The creative shoot will most likely happen after the family and group photos and before the reception. We like to allow about an hour and a half for this time slot, including travel time. If you have a location in mind for your creative shoot, keep in mind travel distance, as you don’t want it to consume all of the time, leaving little time for the actual shoot. With a knowledgeable and experienced team, we are experts in scouting locations specifically for creative wedding shoots. Often very private yet beautiful spots, we are more than happy to help with this decision. Another important factor to consider for this time is if/how long you want your bridal/groom party to participate in the creative shoot. We recommend having them around for the first half-hour of the time to take group photos, spray champagne etc. It’s important to have the remaining time to yourselves. Being on your own will help with the intimacy and romance of the moments. More often than not, the shots captured from the creative shoot will be the ones you’ll print, post and share due to the intimate moments and beautiful scenery.
Reception
Now the evening of celebrations begins! First of all, we like to make sure we capture the reception untouched. We may pop away and do this anytime through the day when we have a moment of spare time. Following the creative shoot we will head back to the reception, capturing your entrance to all your guests. Something to consider at this moment is music - do you want an upbeat song to make a memorable entrance? Or maybe that just isn't your thing which is totally cool!
Cake Cutting & Speeches
The cutting of the cake and all the speeches are key moments in your reception. With the cutting of the cake, consider where the cake will be placed - what is in the background? What is it sitting on? Will it be lit up with extra lighting? These are just a few small details to think about to really make the most of your cake cutting shots. Depending on the type of wedding/reception you are having, how your speeches look will vary. You may have your go-to stand up with a mic speech, or maybe you have an awesome friend that performs a song or dance for you! Whatever your speeches look like we will be sure to capture both the people talking/performing as well as your reactions. This is important to us because we want to be able to capture the emotion and connection between you and the important people in your life at this milestone of a moment. We will capture all the ugly crying and laughing for you to reminisce back on.
First dance
If you and your S/O choose to have a first dance at your reception, it’s definitely a significant emotional and intimate moment to capture on camera. We’ll get all the angles to be sure to capture every special moment. To elevate the atmosphere of your first dance, consider your lighting options. Fairy lights, festoon lights, LED uplights are all great options. (Check out our brother company Gravity Events to see their range of lighting gear). Like the ceremony, this is a moment where we urge you to focus on eachother. This may feel hard with all your guests eyes on you, but try your best to feel the moment and connect with your S/O on an intimate level.
Sunset photos
Sunset is one of the best times of the day to get stunning imagery. If weather permits, we love to wisk our couples away for just 10 minutes and get some shots against the beautiful sky. The lighting is oh so dreamy and an opportunity you don’t want to miss if you are blessed with a sunset on your wedding day.
Car light photos
Nearing the end of night when it’s dark out, we like to get what we call “car light photos''. Basically we'll have you stand in front of a car with its headlights on, which creates a stunning silhouette effect that brings all the magical vibes to the last set of imagery of the night. We’ll have you twirling and dancing till one of you is swept off your feet. This slot of time will only take about 10 minutes, then you can back to celebrating into the night.
Maple Package Sample Timeline
12 hours coverage
10:00 - 11:00am - Lover One Prep
11:00 - 11:30am - Travel to Lover Two Prep
11:30 - 1:30pm - Lover Two Prep
1:30 - 2:00pm - Travel to Ceremony
2:00 - 2:30pm - Candid shots of Guests Arriving at Ceremony
2:30 - 3:15pm - Ceremony
3:15 - 3:30pm - Hugs & Congratulations from Guests
3:30 - 4:00pm - Family and Group Photos
4:00 - 4:30pm - Travel for Creative Shoot
4:30 - 5:30pm - Creative Shoot
5:30 - 6:00pm - Travel to Reception
6:00 - 6:20pm - Detail Photos of Reception Untouched
6:30pm - Reception
6:35pm - Cutting of the Cake
6:35 - 7:00pm - Speeches
7:00 - 7:45pm - Dinner
7:45 - 8:15pm - Speeches
8:15pm - Dessert
9:00pm - First Dance
9:15pm - Sunset photos (if weather permits)
9:45pm - Car Light Photos
10:00pm - Photographer End
Cotton Package Sample Timeline
9 hours coverage
11:30am - 12:15pm - Lover One Prep
12:15 - 12:45pm - Travel to Lover Two Prep
12:45 - 2:00pm - Lover Two Prep
2:00 - 2:30pm - Travel to Ceremony
2:30 - 3:15pm - Ceremony
3:15 - 3:30pm - Hugs & Congratulations from Guests
3:30 - 4:00pm - Family and Group Photos
4:00 - 4:30pm - Travel for Creative Shoot
4:30 - 5:30pm - Creative Shoot
5:30 - 6:00pm - Travel to Reception
6:00 - 6:20pm - Detail Photos of Reception Untouched
6:30pm - Reception
6:35pm - Cutting of the Cake
6:35 - 7:00pm - Speeches
7:00 - 7:45pm - Dinner
7:45 - 8:00pm - Speeches
8:00pm - Dessert
8:15pm - First Dance
8:30pm - Photographer End
Pistachio Package Sample Timeline
6 hours coverage
11:30am - 12:15pm - Lover One Prep
12:15 - 12:45pm - Travel to Lover Two Prep
12:45 - 2:00pm - Lover Two Prep
2:00 - 2:30pm - Travel to Ceremony
2:30 - 3:15pm - Ceremony
3:15 - 3:30pm - Hugs & Congratulations from Guests
3:30 - 4:00pm - Family and Group Photos
4:00 - 4:30pm - Travel for Creative Shoot
4:30 - 5:30pm - Creative Shoot
5:30pm - Photographer End