How to Schedule Your Wedding’s Photography Coverage

I believe that every professional associated with your wedding should be helping you plan it. I mean for most people theirs is only the first wedding they have had an active hand in planning. For me the very next wedding I’m involved in will be my 506th wedding. Clearly I’ve got a little insight into best practices and what will and won’t work. If I don’t give you the advantage of that insight I’m doing you a disservice.

The number one mistake people make in considering their photography coverage is that they set a wedding plan as if nothing can or will go wrong. Given the fact that over 90% of weddings run at least a half hour late it is challenging when you plan your wedding in such a way that you don’t have a few extra moments to accommodate whatever comes up. The number one way to help yourself is to leave 10 minutes free in every hour. That free time will get absorbed and help your wedding run like a Rolex.

Before you even think about your schedule you need to put into your plan that each location change will take your photographer 15 minutes to set up equipment and 15 minutes to break it down. A practiced and professional photographer can work much faster than that but if you plan for 15 minutes then you’ve accommodated any problems that can occur.

So we’ve got 

• 15 minutes to for photographer set up

• 15 minutes for the photographer to break down

The first question you have to answer is do you want one photographer or two photographers? These days its very fashionable to consider multiple photographers but honestly very few weddings actually need more than one photographer and an assistant. There are typically two factors to consider when thinking of how many photographers you want:

• A photographer with a good shooting plan and an assistant can easily get pictures of 75 people per hour. And most everyone want at least 1 good picture of every attendee. So if you have a lot of guests (more than 100) or a short event (say 4 hours) to be sure you get a picture of everyone you may need a second photographer.

• If you want both parties to have complete coverage of getting ready and have it occur at the same time then you need two photographers. Honestly its much simpler and cost efficient to arrange your schedule for the day so one photographer covers both. For example I can shoot a grooms preparation in 25-30 minutes tops. This gives the bride some private time to prepare for her big shots like donning the dress, the shoes, etc. And this kind of planing can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

So let’s assume the bride and groom are getting dressed at the same place and we are up to:

• 15 minutes for photographer setup

• 30 minutes for groom prep pictures

• 60 minutes for bride prep pictures

Next question is do you do your formals before or after your ceremony. As a professional I don’t have a preference and either works. The only opinion I’d offer is based on time and location. The natural light might be better at a certain time so I’d make a suggestion based on that. Let’s assume in this example its after the ceremony.

I always suggest that my couples add a little time for photos around their planned ceremony and they manage it accordingly. For example if you want to start at 2:30 then put a start time of 2:15 on your invitations and you’ve built in some cushion for people who run behind. So let’s say the ceremony is planned at 45 minutes, I’d schedule an hour for it. So now we look like:

• 15 minutes for photographer setup

• 30 minutes for groom prep pictures

• 60 minutes for bride prep pictures

• 60 minutes for ceremony

So let’s assume the ceremony and reception are at the same place, no travel time between. But if you were traveling you want some extra padding in the schedule to accommodate people who take wrong turns and the photographer packing everything up and setting it all up again at the next location.

As far as formals the best time to shoot them is before the ceremony or right after the ceremony. This timing assures that no one has really had a lot to drink and that your guests don’t interfere in the process too much. You’ll want to schedule 5 minutes per shot you have on your shot sheet. If your wedding party is very large (bigger than 12) or you or in a very busy location (golf course on a Saturday) then you’ll want to schedule 7.5 minutes.

I know that seems like a lot of time but let’s consider it. You’ve got 12 people trying to do a picture. You have to get them posed, properly spaced and in an order that is visually appealing. You have to get everyone to not be slouching, not be talking, looking in the same general direction and semi smiling. And the killer almost every time is all eyes open. The problem is compounded at a busy property because now I’ve got to manage all twelve of you and keep my eye on our background for errant golfers, staff, etc.

This seems like a lot of time I know. But this is one of the these places where its better to schedule the time and not need it than it is to try and skimp on time and need it later.

If you want lots of formals my suggestion is to break them up so that you do all the big group stuff first, then you can always spirit the happy couple away later for any formals they want to do by themselves without disturbing the party.

• 15 minutes for photographer setup

• 30 minutes for groom prep pictures

• 60 minutes for bride prep pictures

• 60 minutes for ceremony

• 60 minutes for large group formals

• 30 minutes later for bride and groom formals

We’re in the home stretch now so only a few last details to consider. How much more time do you need? Well your final two considerations are have you gotten a good picture of everyone and are your major activities covered. The simplest way to get good pictures of everyone is to do a good old fashioned table walk. A table walk is where the couple and the photographer go to every table and get a posed picture with each group. If you are going to table walk my suggestion is to do it at the beginning of the reception rather than the middle. My reasoning is again no one has had too much to drink and no one has gotten completely comfortable yet (i.e. ties off, dress askew). Every one still looks super neat and presentable. Also everyone is still around. Typically a sizable chunk of folks leave after dinner, particularly the older folks.

In all but the largest weddings you can do a table walk in about 45 minutes. This is one of the places where having a photography assistant is worth its weight in gold! Allow me to explain. The assistant goes to the first table and helps them prepare to have their picture taken. Then the bride, groom and photographer arrive and take the picture while the assistant moves on to prepare the next table. You get two three minutes of small talk and the assistant comes back to move you to the next table as the maid of honor tells the first table they can start the buffet line or the waiters arrive with the food. Rinse and repeat. With out that extra body it takes a lot more time to do this.

• 15 minutes for photographer setup

• 30 minutes for groom prep pictures

• 60 minutes for bride prep pictures

• 60 minutes for ceremony

• 60 minutes for large group formals

• 45 minute table walk

• 30 minutes later for bride and groom formals

• 30 minutes for bride and groom dinner

Notice I’ve slid a couple of elements around. The bride groom and photographer can sneak off for some photos right after the table walk. Your guests have food and drink and have all been personally greeted so they are content for the moment and won’t miss you. Its an excellent time to sneak away. Then you guys come back and eat. It gives the photographer a moment to eat as well and then they can shoot candids of the guests while they know you guys are occupied.

As far as the rest of the evening my last two points of advice are that you can save yourself some money by planning your coverage to go to the end of your last activity (usually the bouquet toss or cake cutting) rather than the end of your reception. And that you should try to have your scheduled events (first dances, cake cutting, etc) with a little space between them to give yourself and your guests time to relax and mingle.

So a final example schedule is 

• 15 minutes for photographer setup

• 30 minutes for groom prep pictures

• 60 minutes for bride prep pictures

• 60 minutes for ceremony

• 60 minutes for large group formals

• 45 minute table walk

• 30 minutes later for bride and groom formals

• 30 minutes for bride and groom dinner

• 120 minutes reception event coverage

• 15 minutes for photographer breakdown

Thats 8 hours which probably makes you say “whoa” but think about it. If you have 90 minutes of photos of bride and groom preparation, a one hour ceremony and a four hour reception you’ve accounted for 6 .5 of those hours right of the bat and thats without any issues coming up. You are better served to create a schedule that has plenty of time for life to happen rather than creating one that is so tight its impossible to maintain. Thats why all of our sessions include 10 hours coverage, we want to be sure you get every picture you want and then some.

Anyway this is just an example, but it gives you a very good idea for how to plan to cover your wedding with photography service. Thanks for reading, see you next week.