Help! How much time to allow for photos after ceremony?

[star18]

Hi,

 

We are getting married in February at Dreams and I just want to know how much time to allow for photos after the ceremony? We want to do some group, family, bridal party, couple and individual shots. It was suggested to have the ceremony at 5pm, does this leave enough time for photos?

 

Thanks

[Marical3]

Hi and Congrats on your Wedding. I am also a 2011 bride!!! Well my WC and photographer said between 45min - 1 hour. It really all depends on you and your scheduling for the wedding. Are you having a cocktail hour? Usually photos are taken during the cocktail hour. You have to sort out what time dinner will start and so on and that will give you your time frame. You can also shorten your time a bit if you are going to have pictures taken the day after. Good Luck!!!  

[melodyv]

Hi there,

We too are getting married in February.........our ceremony is at 5:30 followed by a cocktail hour for our guests,  I'm told that the sun is setting by 7pm in the month of February so we should be able to get some good shots, should be 45 minutes to an hour.........hopefully!!!

[JR14]

Well... I was originally planning on a 5pm wedding as well, thinking that I'd be timing the end of the ceremony perfectly for pictures at sunset.  When I told my photographer this, he said there's no way we could get all the shots + sunset beach shots I wanted, so he suggested the alternative was to take photos before the ceremony.  A lot of people do this and you can often tell in their slideshows where they have a shot of the bride walking up behind the groom and then capture the moment he first sees her.  Very touching!  but since I want that first and only moment of the FIRST LOOK be of me walking down the church aisle, so I bumped my wedding up to 3pm, then have 2hrs for pictures, cocktails and then dinner.

 

Also depends on how big or small your group is, mine will be huge but if yours is fairly small then 45min might be enough time for you!

Hope that helps

[adcarter41]

That's a good question. I've been wondering the same thing. I don't want to spend too much time on pics though because I don't want to miss out on the fun!

[NateBroshot]

When I figure out how much time to allot for photos after the ceremony I always work backwards from the exact time of sunset.  

 

So let's say Sunset is at 7pm exactly.  I would go in this order after the ceremony.  Family, bridal party, couple photos.

 

6:35pm start bride and groom photos

6:25pm all bridal party together (bride, groom, groomsmen, and bridesmaids)

6:10pm start family  (assuming immediate family and grandparents)

 

I don't know how long your ceremony will take but if you start at 5 I imagine that you will have plenty of time.

 

There are obviously a few variables after the ceremony, like, Do you want a group shot of all your guests together? Do you have split families, i.e. parents divorced?  Do you want photos with a dozens of aunts uncles and cousins?  Those will all obviously add time.

 

Another thing I like to take care of before the ceremony is photos of just the bride by herself, and photos of just the groom by himself, as well as photos of the bride with her bridesmaids and the groom with his groomsmen.  

 

I think as long as you have a photographer who is a great communicator and good at directing people a 5pm or 5:30 start time should be plenty of time.

 

Star18, JR14, and adcarter41, if you guys want to post some more info about what you're thinking you'd like for photos I'd be happy to come up with a potential timeline that I know would work well for my clients.

 

Good luck!

 

[star18]

Thanks for the info!

[NateBroshot]

¡No Problemo! : )

[helenluv2]

It took me about an hour or hour and a half

[AGreene]

Hi, we are getting married at Velas Vallarta on the 20th of January, 2011. We are having our ceremony at 3, so are expecting it to be done around 3:30. Then we are planning on family shots around the hotel grounds. Then we are heading to downtown to take some fun pictures, and then back to the hotel for pictures on the beach at sunset which I believe is around 6:40 on our day, so are planning on having our reception at 7, in order to give us lots of time to get from the hotel to downtown and back, as well as have time for pictures and not feel totally rushed while doing them. And if we end up having lot's of time it will be good as we won't feel rushed and will have plenty of time to get all the shots we want, and maybe even have some time to relax!