Photography timeline planner (beta)

By Daniel Faint Studios | Sunshine Coast Wedding Photographer | Brisbane Wedding Photographer

In my opinion the biggest thing that impacts the vibe of your wedding day (other than the right photographer!) is your timeline. I love helping my couples ensure they can have the least stress possible on their wedding day, and found myself often answering a lot of the same questions about timing so I decided it would be the perfect thing to create a tool for!

To use the tool, input your ceremony date, start time (just guess if you don’t know yet), and reception time (again, just guess, or use the default option). Expand each section and carefully select all the items you think are relevant for your wedding. Don’t forget to enter in any travel times! It will automatically look up the sunset time, and create and update your timeline for you to the right side of the page (or down the bottom if you’re on mobile).

If you have any feedback on the tool or any suggestions to improve it, please reach out!

A few notes before using:
– This tool is predominantly photography-focussed, to help you work out the timings of things. It is not an exhaustive timeline including things like hair and makeup times etc. That’s the job for an amazing wedding planner.
– The default values in the tool are my recommended times for most weddings. Feel free to adjust them as necessary, but if you find you’re adjust them more than 15-30 minutes, you may want to re-think timings of some things.
– This tool is new and may still have some bugs. Please check the output to make sure it’s correct!

Interactive wedding day timeline planner

WHEN IS YOUR WEDDING?
Enter a date to calculate sunset
GETTING READY
Groomsmen getting ready photos
Suiting up, details, pre-ceremony shots
60 min
Travel to bridesmaids location
Photographer travels from groomsmen to bridesmaids
min
Bridesmaids getting ready photos
Hair, makeup, dress, detail shots
90 min
First look
Couple sees each other before the ceremony — intimate, relaxed, and great for photos
20 min
Travel to ceremony
Everyone makes their way to the ceremony location
min
CEREMONY AND GROUP PHOTOS
Ceremony duration
Processional, vows, rings, and recessional
30 min
Mingle with guests after ceremony
Couple moves through the crowd before family photos
15 min
Family and group photos
Immediate family combos and large group shots — have a list and a wrangler ready
30 min
Breather after family photos
Freshen up before the portrait session
15 min
BRIDAL PARTY AND COUPLE PHOTOS
Travel to portrait location
If portraits are at a different spot from the ceremony
min
Bridal party portraits
Full party, sub-groups, individual pairings
30 min
Couple portraits
Just the two of you, unhurried and romantic
1hr
Sunset portraits
Slip away from pre-drinks for golden hour
10 min
Breather before reception entrance
Collect yourselves before the grand entrance
15 min
Travel to reception venue
If portraits and reception are at different locations
min
RECEPTION

I've made some of these options orders adjustable as this ordering is often different. Note this is a typical layout — there's no right or wrong when it comes to ordering, every wedding is different. The guard of honour is recommended around 9:00 pm before guests start to leave — dancing expands or contracts to fill the gap.

Grand entrance
Bridal party intro, couple announced in
10 min
Entree and speeches
Welcome, parents, bridal party toasts
45 min
Main course
Dinner service
60 min
Cake cutting
Cake cut, dessert service begins
10 min
First dance
Couple's first dance, optional parent dances
10 min
Dancing and celebration
Dance floor opens — auto-fills to land guard of honour at 9 pm
2hr
Guard of honour
Sparklers, guard of honour send-off — recommended at 9 pm, the party can continue after
15 min
time
what's happening

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