Annapolis Wedding Photographer | Wedding day timeline tips.
Months, maybe even years have went into planning your big day, vendors have been contracted, a venue has been booked, guests have been invited, a dress has been said yes too, and now its almost that time.. the moment where you will walk down the isle and promise forever to each other is fast approaching. You begin to second guess yourself and thankfully you chose such wonderful friends to be your maids and offer support and help in the last few weeks leading up to your wedding day. You wake up that morning with a stomach bursting with butterflies, guests from out of town begin arriving and wishing you the very best, beauty prep has started, and then the thought crosses your mind, will it all go off without a hitch???? If you have a timeline and someone experienced in coordination, the answer should be yes. Now that is not to say that nothing bad will happen, or something will not go wrong.. you’ve just brought 100-350+ people together, with lots of emotions, family ties, and anticipation its only human for little hiccups to arise, however the object of the game is to keep those hiccups from making their way to the bride.
I tell every photographer that I mentor, or have worked with or who works for me, that while our job is to accurately document the wedding day with style, and in a very methodical way, your job is also to keep the bride as happy as you possibly can. There have been many times that I have played the part of Wedding photographer, bridal coordinator, and vendor coordinator, and sometimes Ive found myself wearing other hats too. My personality lends itself well to this as I function at my best sometimes in high stress moments (I used to be a nurse and I believe that may have been cultivated there) and I am thankful for that. If I see my bride begin to get even the slightest bit upset, or overwhelmed I will delegate to one of my assistants or second shooter or even myself many times to find the source of the issue, handle it, and move on. Why do I tell you this? Well as wedding photographers we are the one vendor who will be with you the longest on that day, we are also the ones who will deliver the final product that will showcase everything that happened on that day. I not only want to create and produce beautiful images but I want my bride to look back on them and not only love the image that I captured but the feeling that she gets when she looks at it from remembering that the day went so well.
To achieve this I have many tips, tricks, and plans for my day but one of the most important parts of MY day, is THE WEDDING TIMELINE. Who creates this timeline? I do of course!!! During one of the bridal meeting that I have prior to the wedding day, I talk through the whole day with my bride, we talk about where everyone will be, who will be doing what, and what is most important to her about each segment of the day. After that phone call I then create a timeline for my bride that lets her know where I expect her to be or be doing throughout the day to allow me to properly capture all that I will need to. As I mentioned before, things happen, they go wrong, rain comes.. whatever it may be.. and this document is a working timeline, meaning I can adjust it as we go, but having that in place before the wedding, can be a lifesaver.
This timeline will tell the bride when makeup should be wrapped up and she should be getting her dress on, when the groomsmen should arrive, when family formals are, when she should be in place for things and when she should run to the bathroom because we have created a place for that, again in doing so we create a more peaceful, calm environment not only for the bride but the whole wedding party.
If you are a bride planning a wedding, make sure that your photographer is planning to pre-write your timeline based on the things YOU have told her are most important to YOU and your groom! If you are a wedding day photographer who constantly feels out of control, or like you are not sure what is happening next in your wedding day coverage consider creating timelines for your bride that will let her know how much time you need to complete the things she has requested of you. This will help create a cooperative setting in which everyone is on the same page. However, even though a timeline is in place, be prepared to be flexible, wear other hats, do things that may not fall under the photographers job title (I once shot a beach wedding where is began to pour shortly before the bride came down the isle, I let her know we would handle it, and since i had given her my word we went right to it. My assistant and I **Bless her soul** began filling buckets with sand, and placing wooden signs in them so that we could bring the event under the tent. Did I pack my equipment that day knowing that I would be digging in the sand, not at all, but we created a spot in a timeline for if the weather changed and something needed to be done about it, and it kept our bride happy).
The great Benjamin Franklin said ” If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” keep that in mind, and have a well written timeline and back up plan in place.
Annapolis Wedding Photographer | Wedding day timeline tips.
// Sarah Michele is an Annapolis Wedding Photographer, capturing weddings in and around Annapolis, all over Maryland and throughout the US! Her favorite part of the wedding day is the parent dances, and if you happen to catch a glimpse of her capturing your special dances you may find a tear in her eye. She and her assistant also love jumping on the dance floor with their brides and grooms for the wobble or the cupid shuffle. When she is not behind the lens you will find her spending time with her husband, almost 5 year old daughter, and black lab named jack. She also photographs Families, newborns, and children, loves to create, and mentor other photographers or those marketing in the wedding industry\
