How to Prepare for Wedding Photos: 4 Ways to Keep Your Wedding Day Timeline Running Smoothly
Your wedding day shouldn’t feel like one long photo shoot.
My goal when creating your photography timeline is to make sure we have time for the photographs that matter without photography taking over the day itself. A little organization ahead of time makes a huge difference. Here you’ll see how best to prepare for wedding day photos.
Here are a four things you can do to prepare for wedding day to help everything run smoothly.
1. Build Your Photo Timeline Before the Wedding
A Photo Timeline Helps Keep Your Day Organized
I help my couples create a photography timeline based on the overall wedding-day schedule and whether or not you’re planning a first look.
A first look usually allows us to complete more portraits—including wedding party and some family photos—before the ceremony. Without a first look, we’ll plan enough time immediately following the ceremony to get those important photographs without making you feel rushed.
Once we establish the timeline, make sure everyone involved in family photos knows exactly when and where they need to be.
You don’t want to spend 15 minutes of your wedding day searching for Uncle Bob because he wandered off to cocktail hour.
2. Keep the Family Photo List Simple
Avoid Awkward Questions By Having a List
Before the wedding, I’ll ask you for a list of the specific family groupings you want photographed, along with any family dynamics I should know about.
This is important! Divorces, remarriages, strained relationships, deaths in the family or other sensitive circumstances are helpful for me to know ahead of time. It allows me to organize your photos thoughtfully and avoid putting anyone in an uncomfortable situation.
But when it comes to your actual family-photo list, less is usually more.
Every additional combination means finding people, arranging them, taking the photo, moving people out, bringing new people in and doing it all over again.
Ten “quick” combinations are rarely quick.
I recommend concentrating on immediate family and grandparents. If extended-family photos are important to you, consider doing one large extended-family photograph for each side rather than creating numerous combinations of aunts, uncles, cousins and individual families.
For example:
- Couple + Partner A’s entire extended family
- Couple + grandparents
- Couple + Partner A’s immediate family
- Couple + Partner A’s parents
- Couple + Partner A’s siblings
- Repeat for Partner B
We can always grab more casual photographs with extended family members during the reception.
The goal is to get the important family photographs while everyone is already gathered—and then get you back to your wedding.
I will also do all large groups of extended family before immediate family. That way, we get the biggest group of people photographed and can send them on their way to the reception.
3. Tell Your Family Where to Be
Keep Family Informed of When and Where They Need to Be
Once we’ve finalized your family-photo list, share the plan with everyone who needs to be in those photographs.
If we’re taking family photos before the ceremony, tell them exactly where to meet and when.
If we’re doing them immediately after the ceremony, ask everyone on the list to stay put rather than heading to cocktail hour. Consider having your officiant announce this before dismissing people from the ceremony.
Having everyone ready is one of the easiest ways to turn what could be 30–40 minutes of organizing people into a much faster, smoother process.
4. Put Your Details in One Box
Make Getting Ready Easy for Us Both
If you’d like photographs of your wedding details and invitation suite, gather everything ahead of time and put it into one clear Rubbermaid-style container.
Keeping all those little details in one spot helps me be more efficient at creating flat-lays to photograph and keeps all the things you’ll need for your day in one place.
That might include:
- A complete invitation suite, including envelopes
- Rings and other jewelry
- Shoes
- Perfume or cologne
- Vow books
- Extra ribbon
- Fabric or lace snippets from dress alterations
- Extra stationery or paper goods
- Sentimental items you’d like photographed
- Any other small details that are meaningful to you
If possible, ask your florist for a few loose flowers or greenery that coordinate with your arrangements. Those little pieces are perfect for styling flat lays.
Keeping everything together means I can arrive, grab the box and get to work instead of asking you or your wedding party to hunt down earrings, shoes or an invitation while you’re trying to get ready.
The Big Picture
The best wedding-day photography timelines aren’t necessarily the ones with the most photographs scheduled into them.
They’re the ones that leave room for the day to actually happen.
A thoughtful timeline, a streamlined family-photo list, prepared family members and one little box of details can save a surprising amount of time—and give you more of your wedding day to spend celebrating with the people you invited there in the first place.
Because your wedding day should feel like a wedding, not a checklist of photographs.
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