A frequent question I am asked is, “What time do you arrive on the day of the wedding?”. Weeks before your wedding, we will discuss your timeline for the day. This will include your wedding morning photography timeline. When planning your timeline, however, a wedding photographer will already have a very good idea of the images and events they wish to capture. Work back from the time your ceremony is due to start. This will give you a good idea at what time your photographer should arrive.
Starting Your Wedding Day Photography
Personally, I like to arrive at least an hour before we start shooting bride and groom’s preparations. This gives time to get the perfect shot of your dress, bouquets, rings, shoes and the other details of the day. When your preparations start, the room fills up and, very soon, becomes very untidy!
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Bridal Preparation Wedding Morning Timeline
Having about an hour photographing ‘preparations’ is ideal. The lead photographer will be with the bride, while the second shooter is photographing the groom and groomsmen. However, the guys will be dressed within the hour but there are still great moments happening in the groom’s party. The lead photographer will be getting close ups of hairstyling and makeup as well as candid moments between bride and bridesmaids. Generally, the champagne corks have popped and these are some of the most emotional and fun times of the day, so we don’t want to cut it short.
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Wedding Morning Photography Timeline for Portraits
Right after ‘prep’ is the best time for separate portraits of bride and groom. The bride’s makeup and hair are immaculate and the groom’s tie is still straight. This is when we can get some perfect portraits of you both. Window lighting is great and always creates a unique look. This is also the time we have to be ready for those awesome ‘first-look’ moments – bridesmaids/bride’s dress; father of the bride/bride and, if the situation allows, groom/bride.
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Ceremony Arrival Photography
If the bride is travelling by car to the ceremony, then one of the photographers will drive ahead to photograph the bride’s arrival. The other will shoot those all-important bridal car moments with father and daughter side-by-side. At one wedding we photographed, the bride and groom travelled from the church to their reception by air. I was given the challenge of racing a helicopter across Oxfordshire countryside to photograph their arrival! I admit, the final results were staged.
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Wedding Morning Photography Timeline at the Venue
I may be familiar with the venue and already know those magical spots where I can get great portrait images. Nevertheless, we want at least 30 minutes to capture the sites of the ceremony and wedding breakfast. These two locations will be set up, yet free of guests. They will be looking their best!. We also want to photograph buildings and surrounding grounds, again at quiet moments. As we travel throughout the UK, we will often arrive the day before the wedding. We may check out and photograph hotels and grounds then. I would never want to deliver these ‘staging’ images showing people not associated with your wedding.
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Natural Wedding Day Photography
Finally, everyone wants beautiful images. To create a good photograph, you must have a real connection with your photographer. In turn, this will always create a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Your photographer will then deliver not only beautiful photographs, but natural photographs. You can read more about My Photographic Style.