Here’s something I wish more couples knew while wedding planning: your wedding day does not need to feel like one giant photoshoot. Yes photos are important to me but whats more important is that what I’m capturing is you actually enjoying your day.

Yes, you’re investing in beautiful wedding photography and of course you want incredible photos. But you should also get to actually experience your wedding day.

You should have time to sit with your best friends while you’re getting ready. Hug your grandma without worrying about what’s next on the timeline. Drink the cocktail and look around at all the details you spent months choosing. Eat your dinner while it’s still hot. Dance with your people. Take in the fact that you just freaking got married.

The best wedding photography timelines leave room for all of that.

As a wedding and elopement photographer, and someone who also comes with a 10 year wedding planning background, I look at timelines a little differently. I’m not only thinking about where we can fit photos. I’m thinking about how the entire day flows, where the light will be, how long things realistically take and how we can create space for the moments you can’t plan.

Here are some of the biggest things I want couples to think about when planning their wedding photography timeline.

1. Start With How You Want Your Wedding Day to Feel

Before we start talking about first looks, family photos or sunset portraits, I want to know how you want your day to feel.

Do you want a slow morning getting ready with your closest people?

Do you want to attend cocktail hour?

Do you want plenty of time on the dance floor?

Are sunset photos really important to you? (selfishly this is my favorite part of the day 🫢)

Do you want lots of beautiful editorial portraits, or are you more excited about candid photos of everyone you love?

There isn’t one perfect wedding photography timeline that works for every couple.

Your timeline should be built around your priorities and the experience you want to have.

2. Figure Out How Much Photography Coverage You Actually Need

One of the biggest questions couples have is, “How many hours of wedding photography do we need?”

And the answer really depends on your wedding.

Six hours might be perfect for a smaller, intimate wedding where everything is happening in one location. Eight hours can give you more breathing room for getting ready through the reception. Ten hours or more might make sense if you have multiple locations, a larger wedding, lots of traditions or want your photographer there from the beginning of the day through the party.

Don’t choose your photography coverage simply because a certain number of hours sounds standard.

Think about what parts of your story you actually want documented.

3. Decide Whether a First Look Makes Sense for You

I love a first look, but I also don’t believe every couple needs one.

A first look can completely change the flow of your photography timeline. It gives us the opportunity to photograph the two of you before the ceremony and often allows us to complete wedding party and some family photos beforehand too.

That can mean more time enjoying cocktail hour and hanging out with your guests after you’re married.

But if you’ve always dreamed of seeing each other for the first time walking down the aisle, DO THAT.

We can create a timeline around either choice.

Your wedding photos should never come at the expense of a moment you’ve dreamed about.

4. Give Your Getting Ready Time Some Breathing Room

Getting ready is one of the easiest places for a wedding timeline to start running behind.

Hair takes longer. Someone can’t find their shoes. A bridesmaid still needs makeup. The flowers haven’t arrived yet. Someone suddenly realizes nobody knows where the rings are.

It happens.

This is why I always recommend giving yourself more breathing room than you think you need. When your hair and makeup team ask when you need to be ready. Tell them one hour earlier. I like to give my brides and bridal party 1 whole hour of space between Hair and Makeup complete to get dressed. Trust me. You want to do this.

Have your important details together before your photographer arrives. Think rings, invitations, jewelry, shoes, perfume, vow books and any meaningful family heirlooms you want photographed. I suggest doing this the night before so its one thing off the list in your brain so you can sleep better.

And don’t underestimate your getting ready space.

Natural light, clean backgrounds and enough room for everyone can make a huge difference in your photos. But also it will help the way you feel. No one wants the added stress of feeling crammed in a dark room. Sometimes the beautiful Airbnb down the road is a much better option than the tiny bridal room with no windows.

5. Be Strategic About Family Photos

Family photos don’t need to take forever. I pride myself in getting them done in 15 minutes tops.

The secret is planning them before the wedding day.

Create a list of the family combinations that are actually important to you and make sure those people know when and where they’re needed. I suggest creating the list and then actually share it with everyone on the list. If they know ahead of time they will greatly appreciate it.

My biggest tip for the list is to create it on your notes app (if you have an iphone). And then you can share that note with family and your photographer. Simple, easy and on everyones phone. Just be sure you have the view only marked so Aunt Barb doesn’t accidentally erase the whole list.

Your photographer should also know about any family dynamics ahead of time. Divorced parents, strained relationships, grandparents with mobility issues or anything else that might affect how we organize everyone.

The more we know beforehand, the smoother this part of the day can be.

And then everyone can get to cocktail hour.

6. Don’t Forget About Travel Time

This one gets underestimated ALL THE TIME.

Google Maps might say your ceremony location is only ten minutes away, but wedding day travel doesn’t work like normal travel.

People have to gather their things. Bouquets have to come with us. Dresses have to be maneuvered into cars. We have to park. Everyone has to get out and walk to the location.

Ten minutes can very quickly become twenty or thirty.

If your wedding includes multiple locations, build travel time and a little extra buffer into your wedding timeline.

You will never regret having a few extra minutes.

7. Think About the Light

Beautiful photography isn’t only about having a beautiful location. Light matters.

A LOT.

Your ceremony time, the direction your ceremony faces, the season you’re getting married and the time of sunset can all affect your wedding photos.

This doesn’t mean you need to plan your entire wedding around your photographer.

But if you have flexibility, talk to your photographer before locking everything into the timeline.

Sometimes moving something by thirty minutes can completely change the light we have to work with.

And if you love those glowy golden hour photos, we can intentionally carve out 15 or 20 minutes around sunset to sneak away.

Which brings me to one of my favorite tricks…

8. Break Couple Portraits Into Smaller Moments

You do not need to disappear from your wedding for an hour to get amazing portraits.

I actually love breaking portraits into smaller pockets throughout the day.

We might take some after your first look, grab a few right after the ceremony, just the two of you in the reception space before guests come in and then sneak away for when the light is incredible.

This gives you different lighting, locations and feelings in your gallery without turning your wedding into a photoshoot.

It also gives the two of you a few quiet moments together throughout the day.

Those little breaks can end up being some of my favorite parts of a wedding.

9. Build Buffer Time Into Your Wedding Timeline

Yes we are talking about buffer time again. Because it’t that important.

Please don’t schedule every single minute of your wedding day.

Something will take longer than expected.

And that’s okay.

The problem isn’t when something takes an extra ten minutes. The problem is when there isn’t an extra ten minutes anywhere in the timeline.

Buffer time gives us room to adjust without you feeling rushed or stressed.

And sometimes nothing goes wrong and we end up with extra time.

Amazing.

Now you can have a drink, sit down, hang out with your people or just breathe for a second.

10. Tell Your Photographer What Matters to You

I don’t need a Pinterest board with 147 photos you’d like recreated. Yes some general idea of what you want is great, but no respectable photographer myself included wants to recreate someone else’s work.

What I do want to know is who and what matters to you.

Tell me your favorite features of eachother.

Tell me about the necklace your grandma gave you.

Tell me your dad is probably going to cry when he sees you.

Tell me your college friends haven’t all been together in five years.

Tell me your mom spent months making something for the reception.

Tell me about the people you absolutely need a photo with.

Those things help me understand what I should be watching for throughout your day.

11. Leave Room for the Photos We Can’t Plan

This might be the most important one.

Some of my favorite wedding photographs aren’t photos we could have ever put on a shot list.

They’re the little things happening while everyone is focused somewhere else. And moments that you would never know happened unless it was photographed.

Your mom watching you get dressed.

Your grandparents holding hands during your ceremony.

Your best friend tearing up across the room.

Your dad watching you dance.

Your friends absolutely losing it on the dance floor.

The way your new husband looks at you when you aren’t paying attention.

Those are the moments I am constantly looking for.

And that’s another reason I don’t want every minute of your wedding day consumed by a rigid timeline or endless posed photographs.

We need room for real life to happen.

Your Wedding Isn’t a Photoshoot

At the end of the day, I want you to have incredible wedding photos.

Obviously.

But more than that, I want those photos to remind you what your wedding actually felt like.

My job isn’t to pull you away from your wedding all day so we can create beautiful photographs.

It’s to help you build enough intention into your wedding photography timeline that we have time to create the portraits you want while leaving plenty of room for you to be present with the people you love.

Because your wedding day will go by ridiculously fast.

You deserve to actually be there for it.

And I’ll be there documenting it.

Planning Your Wedding?

Hi… I’m Samantha Josette, a San Luis Obispo wedding and elopement photographer photographing celebrations throughout California, the Central Coast and destinations around the world.

I photograph couples who care about beautiful imagery but care even more about having a wedding day that actually feels like them. Intimate or big. Laid back or luxurious. Local or somewhere halfway across the world. Luxury is always welcome around here, as long as it’s true to you.

And when you work with me, you’re getting more than someone who shows up with a camera. With my background in wedding planning and design, I’m there to help you think through the timeline, the light, the locations and all those little details that help your day flow.

If you’re planning your wedding or elopement and this sounds like the kind of experience you want, I’d love to hear what you’re dreaming up.

Let’s make beautiful photos and make sure you actually get to enjoy the day they’re documenting. Inquire Here. Can’t wait to chat.