Planning a wedding is hard – I get it. Most couples haven’t done this before so a lot of these things are new to you. So when I ask my future clients what they’re looking to book in terms of coverage, I get a lot of long pauses, uncertainty and visual question marks.

Luckily I have done this whole wedding thing a few times – as a vendor and not as a bride (thankfully)! I’ve worked with 4 hour timelines, 12 hour timelines and everything in between.

My first and more important tip is to not try to squeeze 10 hours of coverage into a 6 hour package. Weddings are expensive and I totally get that – but trying to capture all the things that are most important to you in a package that doesn’t allow you enough time is stressful both for you and your photographer. Take a look at a few example timelines and really think about how many of these things are important to you and go from there.

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Portraits Before Ceremony

I’m a big fan of portraits being done before the ceremony. Your family and bridal party are usually still on their best behaviour, you can enjoy cocktail hour with your guests, and you can get the most chaotic part of the day (family formals) over with early on in the day.

Doing portraits before the ceremony is, in my opinion, even more important on a timeline of 8 hours or less. If you’re not opting for a first look or prefer portraits after the ceremony, keep in mind you (the couple) will likely miss out on cocktail hour and/or more down time.

10 Hour Coverage

8 Hour Coverage

Portraits After Ceremony

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10 Hour Coverage

8 Hour Coverage

Other Factors & Considerations

Travel

If you’re not having your whole ceremony at one spot, make sure to factor in travel time to and from each of the locations. I recommend planning an additional 5 minutes for travel per trip to account for traffic/construction and in case someone needs directions or to fuel up.

Second Shooters

If you’re on the fence about a second shooter, it might be helpful to remember that they do more than just capture other angles. Often, the second shooter will be with one person for the parts of the day the couple is split up. If you’re on a tight schedule, this could save a few hours between travel, getting ready portraits and detail shots.

Picture Requests

If you (or someone in the family) looooves Pinterest and is coming to your wedding with all the wedding inspo – definitely plan some extra time for pictures. If Aunt Susan is piping up suggesting doing x pose or y location, we need more time. If you’ve dreamed about these photos since you were in diapers and have a huge list of “must-have” shots, we need more time.

Rest Time

Trust me when I tell you that you’re going to want to plan (and schedule) some down time on your wedding day. In theory, it sounds great to book your wedding day as full as possible, but you want time to be present for your big day – ideally even just 10-20 minutes for you to sit in your newlywed glory – completely alone.

Plug & Play Time Estimates

Here are some estimates of how long popular wedding day events usually take on average. Keep in mind how likely your family is to cooperate and how big your wedding is. Both of these factors can affect these numbers significantly.

Getting Ready Photos: 30-45 minutes (2x, 1 per spouse)

Family Formals: 30-45 minutes

Wedding Party Portraits: 20-30 minutes

Ceremony: 30-60 minutes

Dance Coverage: 60 minutes (including first dances)

Dinner: 45-60 minutes

Reception Coverage: 90-120 minutes