Planning Your Wedding Day

When planning your wedding day, it is important leave enough time in between your ceremony and reception for wedding photography. Normally after the bride and groom walk down the aisle as husband and wife (exciting!) I allow the guests to congratulate the happy couple for around 5 to 10 minutes.
I then organise a big group wedding photo of all of your guests. This looks fantastic in your photobook as it spans across the double page and is a great way to ensure all of your guests are in at least one wedding photograph. This alone can take around 15 minutes to organise depending on how many guests are in attendance. After this, I then organise family photographs. This alone can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. Although this can be pretty mundane, it is perhaps one of the most important parts of the wedding day. I try to take my time with these wedding photographs and make sure everyone is looking good and feeling comfortable.

After this, I like to take wedding photographs of the bridal party. I like to allow 20 to 30 minutes for this section as we can use a variety of locations and mix up the posing a little bit. I also like to allow the bridal party to relax a little bit and not work them to hard. If there are snacks and drinks available and we have enough time then fantastic! Next, I like to spend around 45 to 60 minutes with the bride and groom to take some portraits, otherwise known as a Location Shoot. Allowing enough time for this part is important as wedding photographs always look better when the subjects are relaxed and not worrying about the time.

If for instance, you do not allow enough time between your ceremony and reception, then we may have to rush sessions or skip them all together. It is a good idea to plan for 90 minutes if possible in between your wedding ceremony and reception. This will allow us to capture all the necessary wedding photographs and do so in a relaxed manner. Often at times, when the schedule is a bit rushed, I have suggested that we photograph family portraits at the reception in a nice location which can create more time. If you can not allow 90 minutes, do not despair. There is quite a lot we can do within 30-45 minutes, however we might have to work a bit faster!