Ditching the timeline for a truly documentary wedding photography experience.
This might be a hot take, but hear me out - you should ditch the photo timeline. Traditionally, photographers, wedding planners, and just about anyone else involved in weddings would tell you that you need a timeline for the day-of (if not the entire weekend). While that’s not entirely untrue, I think there’s a better approach if you want to really sink into the experience of the wedding. Ditch the timeline.
Do you love candid, natural looking photos? Does the idea of being posed and photographed sound incredibly uncomfy? Do you want your wedding day to feel intentional and joyful instead of stressful and rushed? Then I think ditching the wedding day timeline is for you.
Now let me be clear, there are a lot of people involved in weddings that will need a timeline; the venue will need to know when to get chairs/tables set up, the catering will need to know when to start getting food ready and served, and the bartenders will need to know when to start pouring champagne for toasts. Timelines are made for them. However, in this day and age, I think to properly embrace the chaos and fun of a wedding day, we need to leave photography timelines in the past. If you love documentary style images, if you want to be truly present on your wedding day, then we should get rid of shot lists and expectations and trust the photographer to be there when the moment is right. You’ll be so glad you did.
Eliminate some stress from your day.
As a documentary style wedding photographer, I have removed time constraints from my wedding packages for this exact reason - photo timelines are stressful. I don’t feel like we need to be cramming the experience of a wedding into one 8 hour time frame if it is meant to be longer. Alternatively, I don’t think we need to be pushing 8 hour packages onto folks who really just wants a relaxed day’s worth of photos, or something split into two parts, or even folks who just want to host a short backyard shindig. Eliminating time constraints like “family photos have to start at 1 so we can be done by 2 so we can rush to wedding party photos” helps eliminate the pressure of fitting everything in and makes space for just enjoying the flow of things.
Let the moments happen.
Couples are often drawn to my work because of my relaxed and candid style, and the reason that translates so well is because my clients are willing to let go of super structured weddings and let the day unfold as it’s meant to. When a wedding day is staged in a particular way, it starts to feel like more of a production than an experience, which makes it hard for the natural emotions to happen. Often I encourage people to do private vows for the same reasons - sometimes the pressure of feeling can make it hard for the real emotions to come through. Letting go of the expectations and just being in the moment is ideal for everyone involved! You purely enjoy the day and your photographer gets to document everything as it unfolds. Voila -magic.
An example of a timeline without the ‘timeline’ —morning: getting ready starting 8 am.
coffee/tea/food. make sure you eat.
hair & makeup. obviously if you have a hair and makeup team or are getting services for an entire wedding party, this will be broken down a little more for them.
photography arrives around 11 or Noon. often my clients don’t care for the full getting ready experience to be documented however if you want that, you just let me know. especially if you and your partner choose to get ready together!
be dressed and ready to roll by 1ish.
mid-day: photo stuff happens.
first look and/or private vows followed by some portrait time. note that I always want this part to feel both intimate and comfortable. the point of a first look/private vow moment is to really just let your guard down and soak up the feeling of the day, so I won’t be shouting poses at you or forcing any sort of narrative - it’s your day.
wedding party and/or family joins around 2 or 3 for some group shots. this doesn’t have to be stiff, it can also be candid and fun! the less we force the shot lists to happen and just let the groupings form naturally, the more documentary this section becomes. while I understand wanting to make sure everyone knows when to be where, this part can be loose.
ceremony begins at 4:30pm - sneak away by 4 to get ready and catch your breath! I always like to get to the ceremony space before everyone else and with some time to spare so I can capture guests arriving and the decor.
early evening: cocktail hour + reception.
go join your cocktail hour! you paid for this.
snag any additional group photos you didn’t get earlier (flag me down if I’m not right there!)
reception time means dinner, toasts, dancing and fun! trust I will get all the photos you need, and again flag me down if you want to grab a photo with someone! I am there for you.
no dedicated “off the clock time” so you won’t have to be checking in. unless there is a specific send off at the end of the night, then once I feel like the day is sufficiently documented and your wedding story is sufficiently photographed, I will touch base, give big hugs, and be on my merry way.
If you’ve read this far and you’re feeling a little less pressure to plan your wedding day down to the minute - good. That is the goal. I promise you, your wedding day is going to go as it is meant to, with or without a plan. The best way to enjoy it is to just, well, enjoy it. Let it ride, trust the incredible vendors you hired, and celebrate the fact that you’re marrying the love of your life. At the end of the wedding day, that’s all that matters. You found your person.