If there is one thing that is crucial for a wedding day and for the photographer, it’s the wedding day timeline! The wedding timeline is a detailed list of everything that is happening on the wedding day, what needs to be photographed and when, and where everyone is supposed to be at a certain time. I have photographed one wedding without any kind of a timeline and the only thing I knew about the wedding was when to be there and what time the ceremony was. I can honestly tell you, it was very stressful. I didn’t feel prepared and I felt like I was just winging it the whole time.  There are some instances where you can wing it with photography, but a wedding day is not one of them. I would think the only time where a wedding timeline is not necessary would be if you had a very small wedding where you weren’t on a schedule and you wanted minimal photographs. For the most part, that’s not the case with weddings these days 🙂 There’s almost always some sort of a schedule.

             Now, I create a timeline for every one of my brides and each one is customized to their unique day! It’s ideal for helping not only the bride, but me as well! I look at the timeline probably a hundred times it feels like throughout the wedding day, because it helps me know exactly what to do and it keeps me on time! Being and staying on time is very important on a wedding day, especially for the photographer. I definitely don’t want to be the reason why the ceremony starts 10 minutes late, because I took too long with photographs leading up to it.

              I am a very detail-oriented person and I love to organize and plan. So creating a wedding timeline is like Christmas for me. Seriously! Everyone needs a detailed timeline for many reasons, whether you (the bride) creates one or your photographer does it.

             Having a detailed timeline of the wedding day allows everyone (bride, wedding party, coordinator, family, etc…) to know what’s going on and when. Everyone is so much more prepared because they know where they’re supposed to be at any given time during the day! That helps you and it also helps the photographer because that will greatly minimize the possibility of having to go in search of members of the wedding party when it’s time to start portraits, for example. After I email the bride her timeline at least a few weeks before the wedding, I always encourage her to send out the timeline to everyone else.

             I know first hand from my own wedding that planning for how much time you need can be intimidating, but the timeline makes it so much easier! I created an extremely detailed timeline for my wedding and emailed it out to everyone involved. I’m sure there were some that received it and thought it was a little overkill (it was multi-paged), but I guarantee you that everyone knew exactly where to be and when 🙂 It takes so much of the pressure off when you prepare yourself and everyone else involved!

              If you use the timeline to plan enough time for each part of the day, you can get so many more photos! I always create the timeline for my brides, because photography surrounds the wedding day. It’s involved in every little detail and I’m the only one that knows how long it will take to photograph certain things. The timeline is one of the first things that I discuss with a bride, because it affects all of the photography. As soon as I know what time the ceremony will start, I plan out photography around it (before and after), so that I can capture as many photographs as possible and make the most of the time that I have. It makes sense that I layout the day based on what the bride and I have discussed that they want photographed. I really believe that if you make photography the focus and plan the timeline around it, you can really make the most out of the wedding day.

              You can’t really expect a wedding day to flow well if you just wing it, because it’s extremely difficult to go through a wedding day without a plan. If you implement a detailed timeline, it keeps everything on track. Now, this doesn’t mean the timeline will not need to be adjusted a little throughout the day. There are always situations that come up that you can’t always plan for. So, in that case you are forced to be flexible. However, if you add in extra time here and there for those little hiccups, you won’t have to worry as much if something is running behind or a part of the day takes longer to photograph than you thought it would. For my sister Shannon’s wedding, she and the photographer had planned more than enough time for photography before the wedding, and I believe we sat around for 45 minutes before the ceremony started because we were done with pictures! It was wonderful to not be stressed about time! It’s always better to have more time than you think you’ll need, than to be rushed to get everything done and photographed before the ceremony starts. So, the more you focus on a timeline that will keep everyone on track, as well as create enough time for pictures, the better the day will flow.

              Weddings are stressful enough, so the more you can do to help that stress level go down the happier everyone will be! Happy Wedding Wednesday!!