4 Tips to Save Time on Your Wedding Day

 

Wedding days can be LONG – as the one vendor who arrives while you are getting ready in the morning and doesn’t leave until after you leave, we, as wedding photographers, probably know this more than most!

 

As you start to plan out your special day, you might soon realize just how long that day becomes.

 

If the Wedding Photography Collection you purchased comes with a limited number of hours, you might be debating whether it’s worth it to add on more time with your photographers, or if there are things you can cut from your wedding day timeline to make it work with the number of hours you’ve purchased.

 

 

While this decision is entirely personal and might be based on a number of other factors, we’ve put together a couple of sneaky tips and tricks to help save you time on your wedding day!

 

 

1)  Streamline & Prioritize the Getting Ready Photos

 

How many photos do you need when you’re getting ready?  On the wedding day, our wedding photography studio tends to photograph ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that goes on by default – but is this necessary?

 

Our default Photography Timeline was built based on photo requests from brides we’ve been working with for the past 10 years.  Just because a previous bride might have requested a certain photo, does it mean that it’s a photo that will be important to you as well?

 

 

If considering cutting back hours, we encourage our brides to prioritize and focus on the moments that matter the most to them.

 

While we photograph everything on the wedding day, our photography studio is know for our portraiture.  During the Getting Ready Process, we love to capture glamorous bridal photos and studly groom images!  When we’re working with the bride & bridesmaids or groom & groomsmen, we love to create Vanity Fair inspired images showcasing the group hanging out in their element.

 

Between your photographers’ professional coverage and the present day capabilities of your friends’ cell phone cameras, what do you wish for your photographer to prioritize during this segment of the day?

 

2)  Limit the number of Wedding Day Locations

 

Every time we leave one space to go to the next, we require an extra 15 minutes to break down & pack up our equipment, run down the hallway, take the elevator, lug said 70 pounds of photography equipment to our car, load the car, travel to the next location, find a place to park/ pay for parking, unload 70 pounds of equipment, run to the next space to meet you, set up our equipment, and then we can take photos again!  Oh yeah, there’s also unexpected delays like traffic.

 

By limiting the number of venues used in your wedding day, the less time we spend traveling.

 

 

In short, fewer locations = less travel time & more photo time!

 

3) Group reception activities together

 

There are two ways to schedule your reception events (ie: first dances, cake cutting, toasts, bouquet/ garter toss, etc) – You can spread them out throughout the evening or schedule them back to back.

 

This decision might very well depend on the amount of time you have allotted for this portion of the day.  After cocktail hour (1 hour) & dinner (1 hour) is done, how much actual reception time do you have left?

 

 

If you have 3 or 4+ hours left after cocktail hour & dinner, you have a longer reception!  Spreading out your events throughout the evening is a nice way to break up your time.  Rather than having 4+ hours of endless dancing, you have an event to look forward to every hour or so.

 

On the other hand, if you have 1-2 hours left after cocktail hour & dinner is said and done, spreading out your events throughout this 2 hour window will result in a break every 10-30 minutes.  You’ll have just enough time to start a conversation with a friend before being whisked away for the next event.

 

If you find yourself with 1-2 hours left for your reception, we highly recommend scheduling your events back to back (where it makes sense).  This ensures you’ll have at least an hour – hour and a half of uninterrupted dancing time, and uninterrupted time to mingle with the family and friends who came to your wedding.

 

 

Examples of grouping like events together would mean that your first dance, father-daughter dance, and mother-son dance happen back to back.  If you held off until scheduling these dances for after dinner, you could also add in the cake cutting & toasts immediately after.  As an added bonus, you & your guests would also get to eat dinner immediately after cocktail hour.

 

4) Stage an early send off/ No send off

 

The last tip we have for you to save time on your wedding day is to stage an early send off or go without one.

 

If you don’t care much for send off photos, you can cut your photographers’ coverage at some point during the evening once enough reception photos have been covered.

 

If you would prefer to have these send off photos, you also have the option of staging a send off earlier in the evening.

 

 

During a typical reception, the crowd tend to thin out as families and elderly guests start to leave.  Staging an early send off will often act as a cue for these people to leave at that time, leaving the fun party animals behind to dance the night away!

 

If you have a smaller guest count to begin with (less than 100), staging an early send off will ensure there are more people to see you go & you’ll have send off photos with the majority of your guests.

 

Summary

 

At the end of the day, you always have the option to add on more time with your wedding photographers.  However, if you would like to stay within your purchased number of hours, you have several options available to you if you’re looking to save time on your wedding day.

 

 

1. You can streamline & prioritize the photos taken during the getting ready portion of the day.
2. You can limit the number of locations to reduce travel time.
3. You can schedule your reception events back to back.
4. You can stage an early send off, or cut it all together.

 

I hope these tips and tricks help!