Here are the questions I ask to figure out how much time we need?

1. Do you want photos of you getting ready? If you do, we need about 15 minutes before you get into your dress, to show some last touches of you putting lip gloss on, the dress hanging, your shoes, some artistic images of the rings, invitation, bouquet, you looking at your wedding dress and then bridesmaids or mother or friend helping you in your dress. About 10 minutes you in your room, with your dress on, maybe looking out of the window, sitting in a chair, or on your bed. This takes about 30 minutes total. Then we take photos of everybody in your family with you, individual shots and some fun group photos. We plan about 2 minutes per person. However the more time we have the more creative we can get. 20 minutes to half an hour is all we need. Then we take about 20 minutes to get some nice photos and fun photos of the groom and his side of the family. A total of 90 minutes before the ceremony starts is enough. If you don’t want any photos of your getting ready, it’s still a good idea to take family photos before so you have more time after the ceremony. Just calculate about 2 minutes per person.

Most ceremonies take about 20 minutes to half an hour. Except for Catholic ceremonies.  After the ceremony we some group photos of everybody and then photos with the couple. Again 2 minutes per person is a good way to calculate it. Even if you don’t think you want photos with everybody there, they came a long way and they want photos with you.  After we are done with all the important family photos we take about half an hour to get romantic photos of just the two of you. The best light for this is half an hour to 45 minutes before sunset.

If you want photos of your reception, we usually get some nice overview photos, that show the setting and artistic detail photos. We don’t like to show people eating, but take photos of the cake and some setting shots during this time. After dinner we get a few shots of the toasts, first dance, father daughter dance, bouquet toss, lots of candids, cake cutting. You can save time if you do a cake cutting for just the photo and do the dance earlier. The best way to determine how much time you need for the reception photos is to lay out a time line when the important things happen. Receptions are tricky with light and I don’t recommend relying on friends to take your reception photos.