How to Build a Wedding Photo Timeline That Actually Works
Almost every wedding timeline problem is the same problem. Photos got assigned an amount of time that was decided by how long people assumed photos take, rather than by when the light is good and how far apart everything is.
You can fix that in about twenty minutes, and once it is fixed most of the day stops feeling tight. Here is how we build a photo timeline with our couples, and how to build one whether or not we are the ones shooting your wedding.
Start from sunset and work backward
The single best decision you can make is to work backward from sunset instead of forward from getting ready.
The soft, low light in the last hour before sunset is worth planning your entire day around, and in Alaska it behaves unlike anywhere else. A June wedding in Anchorage gives you usable light until nearly midnight, which is a gift: you can eat dinner, dance for an hour, and still step outside for portraits in beautiful light. A late September wedding is a different animal. The sun is gone before most receptions get going, so couple portraits have to happen earlier in the evening and that has to be built in from the start.
Look up sunset for your actual date before you set your ceremony time. It is the one number that changes everything downstream.
A timeline that works most of the time
This is a starting shape, not a rule. Adjust it to your day, your venue, and how much travel is involved.
- Getting ready, about 90 minutes of coverage. We arrive while hair and makeup are finishing. Have your dress, rings, invitation, shoes, and anything sentimental gathered in one place so we are not hunting for them.
- First look, 30 minutes. Optional, and worth reading the section below before you decide.
- Wedding party photos, 30 to 45 minutes. Faster with a smaller group, slower if you are moving locations.
- Buffer, 20 minutes. Not optional. This is the block that absorbs the late boutonniere, the traffic, the aunt who needs one more photo. If nothing goes wrong you get twenty minutes to sit down, which no one has ever complained about.
- Ceremony. However long yours runs.
- Family photos, 30 minutes. Straight after the ceremony while everyone is still in one place.
- Couple portraits, 30 to 45 minutes. Placed against the light, not against the schedule.
- Reception. We shoot the speeches, the first dances, and enough of the party that it looks like a party.
The first look question
We do not push either way. Both are good, they just produce different days.
A first look means you see each other privately beforehand, usually with us far enough away that it is genuinely just the two of you. It buys back roughly an hour after the ceremony, which is an hour you spend at your own cocktail hour instead of in a field taking photos. It also takes the edge off the nerves, and the photos from the ten minutes after a first look are consistently some of the best of the day, because you have finally stopped waiting.
Skipping the first look means the aisle is the first time, which is genuinely powerful and worth protecting if that moment matters to you. The tradeoff is a busier hour after the ceremony, and on a short-daylight date it can mean losing the good light. If you skip it, we build the timeline differently and we tell you what that costs.
Family photos, and how to make them painless
Family photos are the part of the day most likely to run long, and it is almost always for the same reason: nobody knows who is supposed to be in the next shot.
Send us your list ahead of time, grouped the way you want them shot. Something like: both families together, your side, your parents, your parents and siblings, then the same on the other side. Fifteen to twenty groupings runs about thirty minutes if everyone is present.
The one thing that makes the biggest difference: pick one loud person on each side who knows everybody, and tell them in advance that their job is to round people up. A confident aunt with a list will save you fifteen minutes, and we are not being cute about that. Also tell the whole group where to stay right after the ceremony, because family photos slow down the second half of them wander off to the bar.
What we need from you, and when
- Six to eight weeks out: your venue addresses, your other vendors, and a rough shape of the day. We will build the photo timeline with you from there.
- Three weeks out: your family photo list and anything specific you would hate to not have.
- The week of: the final timeline, whoever is coordinating, and a phone number for someone who is not you.
That last one matters more than it sounds. On the day we should be calling your coordinator or your best friend, not you.
Weather, because this is Alaska
It is going to do something. Plan for it once, then stop thinking about it.
Rain is not a problem for photos and often makes them better, since overcast light is soft and even. Have umbrellas, ideally clear ones, and pick a covered spot in advance so nobody is making that decision in a panic at 4pm. Wind is the bigger issue, particularly around Girdwood and anywhere near the water, so if your hair plan depends on stillness, have a backup. And if you are shooting in the mountains in September, bring layers for the wedding party, because it goes cold fast once the sun drops behind a ridge.
We shoot in whatever the day gives us. We have photographed weddings in rain, in wind, and in weather that made the plan meaningless. It works out. The couples who enjoy those days are the ones who decided ahead of time that they would.
What we are doing while you are getting married
For weddings there are two of us, every time. Ben is behind the camera photographing the day as it happens. Moriah handles the things that make those photos possible: posing, the detail nobody else notices, keeping the timeline honest, keeping people relaxed. She often has a second camera going too, which means two angles of the moments that only happen once.
We work in a documentary style, so most of the day we are hanging back and letting it happen. The parts we do set up, like family photos and your portraits, are built to feel unposed. About five minutes in, most couples stop registering that we are there.
When something goes sideways, and something usually does, that is ours to absorb. You should not be told about it. The best compliment we ever got was from a bride whose day came apart in three separate ways and who said we were the part that made it easier.
A short list of things that quietly help
- Do an engagement session first. It is the rehearsal, and it makes the wedding day noticeably easier for both of you.
- Put your rings, invitation suite, and anything sentimental in one box the night before.
- Feed your wedding party. Hungry people photograph badly and move slowly.
- Build in ten minutes alone together after the ceremony. Every couple we suggest this to says afterward it was their favorite part of the day.
- Tell your DJ or coordinator when the light is good, so nobody schedules cake for the exact window we planned your portraits around.
- Eat. Actually eat. It is your dinner too.
After the day
You will get a sneak peek within about a week, which is usually what you want while you are still on the couch recovering. Full galleries follow within a few weeks, high resolution with a print release. We give you the real timeline up front and we stick to it.
If you are working through your timeline and want a second set of eyes on it, send it over. We do this constantly and we are happy to look at it even if we have never met.
