Having a well-planned wedding day schedule
Today, I was thinking about everything that I need to fit into my wedding day. I’m getting married in June and need to nail down a timeline very soon! So, I thought I would share my own thoughts on the subject, mainly from the point of the photographic main events. There are a lot of things to consider when planning your perfect wedding day but, the attention you dedicate to this step can really help make your wedding day so much less stressful.
First question! Is it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding? My answer, “don’t be silly!” This superstition began in the days of arranged marriages when the bride’s face was actually hidden entirely from the groom until the wedding day for fear that he may not like what he sees and try to get out of it! Many couples still want that sense of excitement however. They want that moment they first see each other on the wedding day to have all the anticipation and thrill that they have imagined all their life.
Before you decide, consider how you and your fiancé are going to be feeling the day of the wedding. There are a lot of nerves and butterflies fluttering everywhere that day! I’ve even heard of grooms being so nervous about getting up in front of everyone that they’ve actually had a stage fright moment, and have thrown up. If this is you, you will probably most definitely want to see your soon to be better half before the wedding starts! Many times, couples find that it relaxes each other. They feel like they’re “in this together.”
There’s also something to be said about getting to share the entire day together. My personal thought is, for my wedding day, I’m going to spend the maximum amount of time with my fiancé. It’s our day, and I want to share the whole thing with him… not just the last half.
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This is my preference as a photographer as well… Here’s why…
When couples want to see each other before the wedding, we do what we call a first sight. Both the bride and groom get ready on their own, not seeing one another all morning. When everyone is ready, we head to a beautiful location, with the bridal party and family following shortly behind. We position the groom so that he cannot see his beautiful bride until she either taps him on the shoulder or is told he can turn around and watch her walk towards him. I love this moment! The bride and groom get to have a tender more memorable moment together, without all the people in the church and nerves to accompany being in front of 100+ guests. The groom’s face lights up, smiling at each other they hug, the groom whispers how beautiful she looks, followed by a kiss. It’s a private moment, save the photographers snapping pictures, that they wouldn’t get to share any other way.
After a few moments alone, we spend a little time on some bride and groom portraits. Once those have been done, the family and bridal party are ready to go. Everyone is freshly done up. The makeup hasn’t smeared or wore off, the bouquets are still new, and no one’s hair has fallen. After the wedding, especially in the summer, everyone will not look as great as they look earlier in the day.
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The final benefit is that the hard stuff is out of the way before the ceremony ever starts! The guests won’t be waiting for two to three hours after the wedding for the reception to start while you’re getting all the family and bridal portraits taken either. It makes for a much smoother day all together.
Whatever you decide, make sure to discuss it with your fiancé many weeks prior to the wedding. Last minute decisions on the timeline will make your wedding day more stressful, for you and your photographers.
I have made an example timeline in excel, that you may edit to fit your own wedding. Nothing fancy but, I hope this will give you a good start on what to think about and how much time everything usually takes. Many couples grossly underestimate how much time their family pictures, bridal party shots and so on actually take. In addition, don’t forget travel time; I made sure to include that in the spreadsheet. When trying to figure everything out, start with what time sunset is and fill out the sunset bride and groom shots, #13, an hour before sunset. From there, you can do the math and get a good idea of when everything needs to start and end.
Around summer solstice, when we have our longest days and sunset doesn’t occur till 9:30, you’ll just have to use your best judgment on times. Your guests don’t want to be eating dinner at 10pm! In the past, brides getting married during this time, tend to have the reception start at 7 or 7:30pm.
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I didn’t break down the reception in the spreadsheet, so make sure to consider whether or not you will have a grand entrance where you will have your DJ announce you (your photographer will have to be at the reception site at least 15 minutes to set up before you arrive), which is a great time to drive around and relax before the big party. After the entrance, it usually goes as follows: Dinner, Toasts, Cake Cutting, 1st dances, and bouquet and garter toss. These things you will mostly be discussing with your DJ. Just make sure to share all that info with your photographer as soon as you’ve ironed out the details.
As you can see from the timelines, the traditional option of not seeing the bride before the wedding requires that the wedding start much earlier in the day. If you’re having an outdoor ceremony, I highly recommend going with the first site schedule. From noon to 2 or 3pm are the worst times for outdoor photography, unless you are in the shade.
Hope this helps get the ball rolling for you as you begin to think about your wedding and about wedding photography!
Highland Illinois Wedding Photography ~ St Louis Wedding Photography ~ Available for travel within North America
~ Rosie Warner Photography ~
~ wedding photography for this post was photographed by Rosie Warner for Courtney Tompson Photography ~
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Before I share this little tidbit of advice about wedding photography, I’d like to say… if you’re reading this, you are probably recently engaged… so, congratulations!
Some years ago, when I was beginning my career as a professional photographer, I purchased a clearance book “The Brides Guide to Wedding Photography” by Steve Sint from Barnes and Noble. I finally got around to reading it today…
I’ve been meaning to add a post to my photography blog website about the value and cost of wedding photography. Many couples do not initially budget enough for this important part of their wedding day because they aren’t thinking about its long term value or are confused as to why photographers cost so much in the first place. In fact, I’ve heard that question many times from even my own family and friends who know of the investment in equipment and time I put into my clients’ photography.
The chapter I read today in this book put it so clearly that I’d like to share some of the insight and also some of the misinformation that many bridal books share about wedding photography costs.
As a professional photographer, I have had the honor of being a part of many weddings. A day which is probably the most important day in a man and woman’s life together, aside from starting a family. There are many things that go into planning this perfect day… flowers, the dj, catering, the wedding cake, an assortment of decorations, coordinators, musicians etc. Among these things, very few are lasting. The truth is, when the day is over, what a bride and groom will have to take with them are their rings, the wedding dress, their photographs or album and their memories of the day. Everything else is “ephemeral. Invitations are sent, food is eaten, flowers wilt, and the band eventually packs up and goes home…”
A great point the author of the book I read today made was that, to a bride and groom, the photographs may not be immediately appreciated. The day after, month after, or year after, they can still remember the wedding’s details and emotions. However, as the memories begin to fade, what is left are the few tangible reminders they took away. They will be able to take their album off the shelf on their ten, twenty or fifty year anniversaries and remember the day they joined their lives together and all the emotion and happiness of that special time. They will be able to share their day over and over again with their children and grandchildren.
In fact, I have my parent’s wedding album on my shelf right now. They were married over 30 years ago. I love looking back and seeing them, not as parents, but as a couple in love with all the excitement and expectation for the future in their eyes.
So, when considering how much to spend on a wedding photographer, it’s important to consider the entire picture and how much your wedding photography will mean to you long term. I hate to see brides make the shortsighted decision to cut their photography budget to allow for more food choices, or to have a professional musician play at their wedding. Not to say these things aren’t fabulous at weddings! But the question to ask when reviewing a wedding budget is, what will be most important to me when the wedding day is over?
As I said earlier, I have been asked over and over again why I charge what I do. The truth is, a good wedding photographer puts a lot of time into photographing a wedding. I personally spend about a week after the wedding is over making sure every photograph is perfect and that the album is breathtaking. When you sign that contract with a photographer and agree to pay them, you are not just paying for their time the day of the wedding, you are paying for their specialized equipment and expertise, and the editing time afterwards. Just as you wouldn’t want to hire a discount electrician to wire your home, you don’t want a discount photographer to photograph one of the most important days in your life.
With this in mind, I find it misguided when I find wedding forums and books telling couples to simply allot 5-10% of their total budget to the wedding day photography, so when they contact a photographer they are considering they are stunned by the price because it wasn’t consistent with the advice they were receiving. To make that percentage work, a bride and groom would most likely have to have a total wedding budget of nearly $40,000. For many new couples, this kind of budget is unrealistic. It is entirely possible to have a beautiful wedding and an awesome photographer for half that, if not a quarter of that!
Most professional photographers START their packages anywhere from $1500-$3000. Realistically speaking, for everything that my clients typically want, a bride should expect to pay anywhere from $2500-$6000 for most professional wedding photographers. Of course, wedding photography can reach a price of $10,000 or more, however on average $6000 would probably be the package that includes everything you could ever possibly want and more from an extremely talented and experienced photographer.
To try to put that into a percentage of the total budget would be difficult. For example, I have photographed a wedding in the past that the bride and groom actually spent twice as much on their photography package than on their entire wedding day; their wedding photography was that important to them.
If you just can’t make that happen with your budget, there are other options. If you live near a university with a photography department, you can often find students willing to photograph your wedding for much less. There are also many hobbyist photographers looking for more experience who would also be willing to photograph your wedding for under $1000 in most cases. They will not be as experienced of course and the final product may not be up to professional standards as they are still learning, but it is still a great option for those with a limited budget. As a student of photography, I did many budget weddings for under $1500 for young couples myself.
Before you make any budget decisions, take a day or two to research some photographers in your area. Find ones that have photographs that you truly love! Find out what they charge, call them up on the phone and have a conversation, then compare and select. It is also a good idea to ask if you can see a full wedding day gallery. Anyone can get a few fabulous pictures for their portfolio; it’s important to look at a full wedding day to make sure their style and skill is consistent throughout the entire day. “If you love the work of that photographer, you will never regret any amount spent.”
Also, consider registering with an online monetary wedding gifts site, such as Deposit a Gift, where you can ask guests to deposit money towards a fabulous album from your photographer, a vacation package for the honeymoon or a new bedroom set etc. The only downside I see is that you don’t get to unwrap anything!
With wedding season fast approaching, I hope this little tidbit about wedding photography was helpful. Congrats again!
St. Louis Wedding Photography
~ Also available for travel throughout North America ~
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Wedding Photography ~ Backyard Weddings ~ About wedding photography
I wanted to post this backyard, country style wedding for a while now. It had so many great details to photograph, all of them put together by the bride and groom and their family. They turned this simple pond area into a beautiful wedding hall with a relaxed atmosphere. With all the farmland and rural settings here in Illinois, I can see a lot of brides wanting to do something very similar. In fact, I’ve decided to do something along these lines, cancelled my reservation with the country club we were originally planning on to do a simple but elegant backyard wedding and reception. My fiance couldn’t be more thrilled with the decision! I can’t wait to make my own little details…
Once you see the wedding photography images, I’m sure the details will speak for themselves!
If you do plan on doing a backyard wedding, shoes are definitely something to put some thought into. Heals will sink into the grass! This bride chose to go with a pair of super cute cowgirl boots. I’ve also had brides who wanted to maintain the high healed look with wedges as a compromise, and of course, flat sandals are always an option as well.
Illinois Wedding Photography
~ This wedding was photographed with Courtney Tompson Photography ~
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This summer I had the pleasure of photographing the cutest couple. For this couples anniversary, Andrew wanted to get his lady a great present. Since she collected picture frames but had no portraits of the two of them together to fill them, he decided to give me a call and surprise her with a couples session! I thought it was the sweetest thing. It’s not very often that I get a call from the man in the relationship. It just shows how much he truly loves the woman in his life, especially since he told me that he hates having his picture taken!
We photographed this session at the beautiful Bee Tree Park in Saint Louis, Missouri. It was definitely worth the drive!
St. Louis Couples Photography
St. Louis Engagement Photography
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