Each week as I talk with new couples I hear comments like “We haven’t attended many weddings. We have absolutely no idea what a wedding day looks like.” Because I hear this so often I thought that creating this post might be helpful to couples planning their wedding.

Kristina and I have filmed somewhere around 1,000 weddings. No that’s not a typo, we really have filmed that many weddings. With that much experience I can confidently say I have a pretty good grasp on the inner-workings of what makes a wedding day run smoothly. That’s one of the reasons we work with each of our couples to create a timeline for their wedding day. A timeline that not only maximizes their investment in wedding cinematography, but maximizes the fun for their wedding. Now things don’t always go exactly as planned, but I firmly believe that failing to plan, is planning to fail 🙂

So having said that, I wanted to share what a typical wedding day looks like. Naturally, weddings days can vary but most wedding days follow one of two typical paths, both with traditional stops along the way.

I believe the major element in a wedding day that separates one day from another is whether the bride & groom choose to do a First Look and see each other before the ceremony or not. Including a First Look as part of your day truly does change the anatomy of a wedding day, I’ve created two sample wedding day timelines just to give you an idea of what a typical wedding day (might) look like:

Sample Timeline With a First Look

12:00 Trinity Wedding Cinema coverage begins
12:00-12:30 Film Bridal Details
12:00-1:00 Film Bridal Preparations (ie makeup and hair)
1:00-1:30 Film Groom Preparations and Bride/Bridesmaids candids
1:30-2:00 Bride Dresses
2:00-2:15 Depart for First Look
2:15-2:30 Bride and Groom First Look
2:30-3:00 Bride and Groom Candids
3:00-3:45 Full Bridal Party
3:45-4:00 Depart for Ceremony
4:00-5:00 Pre-Ceremony – film ceremony details, prepare equipment
5:00-5:30 Ceremony
5:30-6:30 Cocktail Hour
– Full Family Session (photo)
– Additional Bride and Groom Candids
6:30-7:00 Reception- Intros, First Dance and Toast(s)
7:00-8:00 Dinner
8:00-8:15 Father/Bride and Mother/Groom Dances
8:15-End Party Time*

Sample Timeline With No First Look

1:00 Trinity Wedding Cinema coverage begins
1:00-1:30 Film Bridal Details
1:00-1:30 Film Bridal Preparations (ie makeup and hair)
1:30-2:00 Film Groom Preparations and Bride/Bridesmaids candids
2:00-2:30 Bride Dresses
3:45-4:00 Depart for Ceremony
4:00-5:00 Pre-Ceremony – film ceremony details, prepare equipment
5:00-5:30 Ceremony
5:30-6:30 Cocktail Hour
– Bride and Groom Candids
– Full Bridal Party/Family Session (photo)
6:30-7:00 Reception- Intros, First Dance and Toast(s)
7:00-8:00 Dinner
8:00-8:15 Father/Bride and Mother/Groom Dances
8:15-End Party Time*

*In here somewhere the cake cutting and possibly garter/bouquet toss will occur.

Every wedding day has special moments that make it truly one-of-a-kind. Those little things will be what makes your wedding day personalized to you! That is precisely the reason that I work with each of my couples in the weeks leading up to their wedding, to make sure that we have a detailed timeline in place to encompass all of the unique ways that their wedding is “them”.

There are several factors that come into play on a wedding day that affect the timeline and flow of the day. These can include:

• Travel time: How much time will it take to get from where the bride/groom is getting ready to the ceremony location? From the ceremony to the portrait location? From the portrait location to the reception?
• Same location: Maybe everything is taking place on the same property – everyone is getting ready there, they’ll simply walk down to the ceremony, we’ll do candids there, and then walk up to the reception.
• Time restrictions set in place by the church or venue: Sometimes a church will only hold a wedding at a certain specific time. Though less often, we have seen venues which also will only begin a reception at a certain time. This is usually due to other events being held earlier in the day.
• How long your photographer need for portraits: This is driven largely by big your bridal party is and how many family formals they have to take. Obviously, the larger the bridal party is and the longer the list of family formals all play into needing more time on your wedding day.

Most likely this is your first time planning a wedding. So my last piece of advice is that if all of this is overwhelming to you, I would highly suggest hiring a wedding planner. There are amazing planners out there who will walk with you, and help you with every aspect of planning your wedding. You can rely on their expertise and they will make the whole planning process so much simpler!