How to plan your wedding day timeline around the photos

This is part two of The wedding photo plan. Last week was about deciding what you want to remember; this week turns that into a timeline for the day. If you have not written your photo brief yet, part one takes you through it in an evening.

A timeline that works for photos does not have to be built around the camera. It needs the light in the right place, enough slack that a late car does not cost you your portraits, and the photo moments that need people (the family photos above all) at a time when those people are easy to find.

Getting ready

Most photographers need about an hour of getting-ready coverage to capture the details, the last touches and the moment you are dressed. More rarely helps: two hours of hair and make-up look much like one hour of it.

Put that hour at the end of the preparations, not the start. Ask your hair and make-up people how long they need, then add twenty minutes, because they almost always run over. Choose a room with a window and tidy one corner of it. Daylight from a window flatters everyone more than a ceiling light does.

If you are getting ready in two places, the photographer either travels between them or you add a second photographer. Check the drive time before assuming one person can do both.

First look or not

A first look is a private moment before the ceremony when you see each other for the first time, with only the photographer there. It is common in some countries and rare in others.

What it gives you: a quiet, unhurried reaction on camera, and the chance to take most of your couple portraits and some family photos before the ceremony, so you can join your guests straight after it. What it costs: the moment at the end of the aisle is no longer the first time you see each other. Neither choice is wrong. Decide what the aisle means to you, and plan the rest of the day around that.

The ceremony

Tell your photographer if the officiant has rules. Some churches and registry offices restrict where photographers can stand or whether flash is allowed, and it is better to know a week ahead than on the steps.

If you are asking guests to put their phones away during the ceremony, say so at the start and tell them when they can take them out again. Our post on the unplugged wedding ceremony has wording you can use.

Where the family photos go

Straight after the ceremony, while everyone is still in one place and dressed up, is usually the best slot. Wait until the drinks reception and relatives drift off to the bar, the garden and the toilets, and a twenty-minute list becomes forty.

Thirty minutes covers most couples' lists. Part three of this series is entirely about that list, so for now reserve the block and move on.

Couple portraits and the light

The best-known rule in wedding photography is the golden hour: the hour or so before sunset, when the sun is low and the light turns warm and soft. It flatters skin and makes ordinary places look good. Most photographers will ask for fifteen to twenty minutes of it for portraits.

Where you marry changes everything here.

• Scandinavian summer. Around midsummer in Stockholm the sun sets after ten in the evening, and at this latitude the low, warm light lasts far longer than an hour. Golden hour then falls in the middle of the party, not before dinner. Plan a short break for portraits between courses or after the speeches, and check that your coverage reaches that late.
• Short winter days. In December, the sun in Stockholm sets before three in the afternoon and sits low all day. That can be lovely, but there is not much of it. Hold the ceremony around midday, take portraits straight after it, and plan the evening for indoor light, candles and a photographer who is comfortable with flash.
• Spring and autumn. Sunset falls around dinner time, which is the easiest version to plan: a short walk outside before the meal.

Look up the sunset time for your date and location, not a general rule. Several free websites give sunset and golden hour times for any day and place.

Take portraits in two short sessions if you can: fifteen minutes after the ceremony while the light is still reasonable, and fifteen at golden hour. Two short sessions feel easier than one long one, and you are away from your guests for less time.

Buffers and travel

Things run late at weddings, and the lateness adds up across the day. Put a buffer of ten to fifteen minutes after each part that depends on other people: getting ready, the ceremony, the family photos, and any move from one place to another.

For travel between locations, drive the route at the same time of day a week before, or check it in a map app for that weekday and hour. Remember that forty guests leaving a car park takes longer than one car. If the photographer needs to arrive before you to catch your entrance, that is their travel time too.

Speeches and first dance in good light

Speeches get long, and many couples find out afterwards that their photographer was photographing a darkening room. A few adjustments help:

• Hold speeches between courses, not all at the end, so they happen earlier and in brighter light.
• Ask the venue not to dim the lights during speeches. Candlelight looks good in the room but harder to photograph.
• In a Scandinavian summer, a first dance at nine or ten in the evening can still happen in daylight, which is worth using if the dance floor has windows or opens outside.
• Make sure your photographer's coverage includes the first dance, and put it before any late gap in the evening.

A sample timeline

Here is a timeline for an August wedding in southern Sweden, with the ceremony and reception in two places twenty minutes apart and sunset around nine in the evening. Adjust the times; keep the order and the buffers.

Time	What happens
12:30	Photographer arrives; details, last hour of getting ready
13:30	Dressed; short first look and a few portraits (optional)
14:15	Leave for the ceremony (20 minutes' drive plus buffer)
15:00	Ceremony
15:40	Congratulations and confetti outside
16:00	Family photos, roughly 30 minutes
16:30	Drive to the reception; drinks start for guests
17:00	15 minutes of couple portraits, then join the drinks
17:45	Dinner; speeches between courses
20:00	Golden-hour portraits, 15–20 minutes
20:45	Cake and first dance
21:00	Party; photographer stays until about 22:00

With a first look, the 16:00 family block can move before the ceremony, and you gain half an hour with your guests after it.

Where guests fit in

A timeline like this leaves long stretches when your photographer is busy with you: family photos, portraits, the golden-hour walk. Those are exactly the moments your guests are enjoying the drinks and taking their own photos. If you plan to collect guest photos with a shared gallery, put the QR code or link on the tables before dinner and have your toastmaster mention it once early in the evening, so the pictures from those stretches end up with you.

Before next week

Write your own version of the table above, then send it to your photographer and ask what they would change. Next week, part three turns the family-photo block into a list: who goes in which group, in what order, and who keeps everyone moving.