Most people have no idea how long it should (or does) take to get professional hair/makeup done for 4 people. Or how much time a photographer needs in the reception room, alone, to get details before the guests come and put down jackets, dirty napkins, etc. Or how long group shots take. Or the fact that they should have a 30 minute ‘cool down’ time before their ceremony, so they can soak it all in.

Wedding timelines are super important and yet, at the same time, overwhelming and daunting because no one taught us in grade school that your flowers should arrive before you even put on your wedding attire so I can get good detail shots of them. And I still don’t know all the state capitals. Ya, what happened there.

And yes- there are a million ways to do your wedding day. You can have your ceremony after dinner. You can have brunch instead of a afternoon wedding. You can get ready together. So yes, these things WILL change your timeline. But there are a lot of basic things that stay the same.

I’m NOT a wedding planner. Nope. But I want to share what I have found works, things to think about, and tips to make things go a little bit easier. Your timeline is what will keep all your vendors on track, you wedding flowing, and deserves some special attention and energy. Create and give all your wedding vendors a timeline. Give your attendants/close family that need to show up for special things a timeline customized for them.

Start your timeline from your wedding ceremony time and work back. Then work from the ceremony on. Remember, photography is all about the light. Timing for photos is very individual based on time of year.

So let’s start: For this example wedding timeline, let’s say the wedding ceremony starts at 5pm. This is the first 1/2 of the wedding timeline.

• 4:30- Block off 30 minutes before your ceremony to chill, hide from early guests, and soak it all up. The ceremony site should be 100% setup as I’m taking detail shots at this point.
• 3:40- I need at least 45 minutes to do couple shots. If you would like to go to multiple locations or stray away from the venue, add an extra 30 minutes to an hour. I love love love going to multiple locations for couple shots. Talk to me about the time of year your wedding is so we can plan on shooting during the most beautiful light.
• 3:10- Tell all your family to arrive 10 minutes before to ensure everyone is there. Tell them they have to be on time because we have no wiggle room. They should have their jackets, shoes, everything on and ready to take photos. Purses, glasses, cameras and other things should be already put down and away. In 30 minutes, we can shoot around 12 different groupings of people. Give everyone involved a copy of the group shot list so they know how many photos will be taken and in what order. This *really* helps.
• 3:00- First look. Some of my favorite photos. About 95% of my couples do a first look before the ceremony so we have plenty of time for couple shots and I can capture the look of you two seeing each other for the first time waaaay better than I ever could at the ceremony. It’s priceless. The first look should be wherever we are going to do couple’s portraits so build in travel time if you’re not getting ready at the venue.
• 2:30 – If you’re wearing one, start putting on the dress. 30 minutes allows you to zip up the dress, put on shoes, jewelry, etc. Suit-wearers usually need about 15-20 minutes. If you have a lace up/corset back, you need at least 45 minutes *just to put the dress on* and then 15 minutes for shoes and accessories.
• 2:15- All attendants should be completely dressed and ready to help put on the dress/suit.
• 1:30- If you have them, flowers arrive. I need detail shots of any flowers for the couple.
• 1:00-1:45- I’m getting detail shots of the dress/suit/wedding attire, shoes, veil, etc
• 1:00- Start hair and makeup for the bride, if there is one. All attendants should have their hair/makeup done before the bride if done professionally. If there are two brides, talk to your hair/makeup person about if they feel they need more than one person doing hair/makeup. Hair and makeup takes at least 45 minutes each per person (meaning 90 minutes per person to get their hair/makeup both done). I cannot emphasize enough allotting enough time for this – a good hair and makeup person needs this amount of time. If you have more than 4 people who want their hair and makeup done, you should 100% hire a separate hair and makeup person. For grooms, allot 30 minutes for taking a shower, washing your face with anti-oil wash (I have products I love that really help make dudes shine free for the day), do your hair, put on chapstick (who wants dry/cracked lips in their pics?), and dust on some loose powder on your T zone.

Next week? The second half of the general timeline!

The best advice I can give to someone who is camera shy or just nervous about the shoot in general is to do an activity. Keeping busy and having fun not only keep you from dwelling too much on the camera, they also always make for great shots. And there is no shortage of fun things to do!

For shoots I have: gone on a hay ride, fed goats, had tea in the middle of a NYC sidewalk, had a picnic by a river, gone to a tree farm and found a christmas tree/chopped it down, I have made s’mores by a campfire, set up a tent, and lots more!

What about a horse back riding lessons, skating, hiking, baking a cake, going to a carnival, setting off to the beach for a swim, going on a lake canoe, having a coffee date, hanging out at your favorite bookstore, exploring a new museum…yes, apparently I have some ideas!

But doing an activity with your partner, whether or not your camera shy, is a great way to get engagement photos that really capture your personality as a couple and provide a great backdrop for lots of laughing/smiles/enjoyment.

And props don’t hurt either! Doing an activity often times goes hand and hand with props. Think a bit about what you want to bring because it does make a big impact on the photos. Heading on over to a flea market is a sure fire way to get some great ideas and pick up a few props. Or head over to World Market, Home Goods, or Marshalls. You can find amazing props for $10 or less.

Ok, you’re all excited for your engagement session. You are dyyyying to have one. You know where you want the shoot. You’re almost almost there people. Now what’s a person to wear? My engagement sessions are 2 hours, so that usually allows for one outfit change. So I suggest one more casual/fun outfit and one more dressy outfit. Ok, that’s great. But what to wear? AHH. Here are some tips:

• Go bold or go home. Bold colors. Bold jewelry. Bold choices are best. Yes, black is slimming *yawn*. But you know how much more fun photos are with a bright purple dress?? Or a big, chunky necklace? Don’t wear itty bitty prints or jewelry. They just disappear into a mush in your photos.

• Wear a similar aesthetic but do not wearing matching clothing. Are you trying to scare me?? You can wear the same color . And you should have the same ‘feel’.

• I’m not trying to scare you *oh God here comes the but* but in my experience, if someone is unhappy with their photos, 9 times out of 10? It’s because they don’t like their clothes. Maybe they thought that dress was amazing but when they saw the photos? It looked baggy. Or wrinkled. Or just not right. And you know what? It’s really freakin’ hard to know what looks good on you. I don’t. So this winter, I hired a stylist. Yup. Ohhhh, I’m from Hollywood now! I just asked her to come up with three outfits I could go to cocktail parties, network, or meet a client in. She told me I don’t look good in gray (ooppsss….80% of my wardrobe is gray), don’t wear the mustard yellow I sent to her as my favorite shirt pick. Ha! And she told me to go towards corals/navys/purples/greens- colors I ran away from like the plague! I thought they would make my pale skin look too washed out or red!! But you know what? I tried on the outfits. Holy shiot. I was blown away. I was WRONG. And I plan on hiring her again to help me pick some outfits for an anniversary shoot with me and my wife. And shocker- it’s not expensive. At all.

• And a word about makeup: everyone listen up. If you don’t ever ever wear makeup (boys included) please for the love of all that is holy, wash your face with a matte face wash. Oil is my enemy. Photoshop can’t help you with an oily face. Then slap on some chapstick and some loose powder on your t-zone. That goes for everyone. If you want to wear a bit more makeup or looooove you some makeup, this would be a good day to have your makeup trial. This way, you get professional makeup for your photos and you get one more thing checked off your wedding to-do list. Remember, the camera takes away a lot of makeup, so if you’re thinking ‘Is this too little?’ it is. And honestly, I know many makeup people who will do your hair and makeup for a lot less then you would think. I always recommend it.

There are some many fabulous locations to shoot engagement pictures at. The first question I normally ask is: Do you want a nature-y feel or urban feel? Yes, these two genres are very simplistic way of breaking down every possible location, but it gives everyone a starting off point.

So if you would answer Nature-y think about:

• Do you want an actual garden? A public park? A beach? A picnic? A lake? A field filled with hayrolls? A horse stable? A hayride? A wool festival with sheep (I kid you not, there is a sheep festival coming up and I’m sooo there)?
• Are you willing to hike? Or do you want to wear your killer heels in the woods- so we can’t go too far. Are you willing to get wet from the ocean waves? Are you willing to build a fire? Set up a picnic scene? Get your butt dirty sitting in some fields?
• Do you want nature but with architecture to back it up? Like your good with a field but hey, it’s gotta have a barn. Or yes, you want a garden, but you want lots of secret nooks with an old stone building to explore.
• Do you envision yourself surrounded by flowers? Or fall foliage and leaves? Or winter snow?

So if you would answer urban think about:

• Do you want a small town charm with lots of local shops you go to? Do you want a big city with lots of opportunity to switch up where we go and the mood you want?
• Do you want graffiti? Broken down buildings? Modern architecture? Iconic city buildings? Historic buildings? Brightly colored background? More urban gritty background? Do you want to explore a museum? Or be in the middle of a crowd? What about going off of transportation: trains, subway, etc?
• Does the area allow commercial shoots? Are you willing to deal with lots of people watching you? Are you ok with going into alleys that smell? Or being near broken glass? Or sitting on the road? Or waiting that few minutes to wait for tourists to pass by?
• Is there an event you want to base your shoot off of: a valentines pop-up market, a spring festival, a flea market?

For location, think about the mood you want to create and also what makes you happy. Are you book nerds that would love to shoot in a library? Or would you like to veg on the beach with a good water fight? Or do you love exploring and are open to going to new locations and playing it by ear?

Timing

Timing is everything when it comes to your shoot. Literally, I’m at the sun’s mercy. There are very specific hours of the day that lend themselves to that yummy gold light you see on my blog. So sunrise or sunset are basically your two options. Now before you scream “OMG, no freakin’ way am I EVER going to do a sunrise shoot. What crack is she on?” Sunrise has a lot of advantages. The big one: less people. If you want to shoot at a popular, urban locations (or peak times, like the beach in the summer) but don’t want 3565 other people in your pictures, watching you, and generally making us wait to get in a good spot, sunrise is perfection. How magical is NYC at 6:30 am with a handful of people walking around! But whether you choose sunrise or sunset, the timing of those two events differs by location and time of year. So talk to me.

When to Book

I generally advise, if at all possible, to do engagement shoots at least 7 months before your wedding. Since I do have couple’s book me with less time than that till their wedding, obviously this is flexible. Turn around time is 5 weeks, so if you need shots for your Christmas card or save-the-dates, keep that in mind. I shoot engagement sessions Monday-Thursday, so if you can’t get out of work before 5 ever ever ever, a shoot in June, July, or August is ideal because the sun is setting later. And if you have your little heart set on a particular season or date to coincide with a festival or flower blooming, you should set that up ASAP. And if your really set on a fall shoot? You better speak now of forever hold your peace. Fall is by far the busiest wedding season for me. I’m running around trying to remember to eat, sleep and bathe! So I take only a few other shoots at that time so I’m not overextended.

I love engagement photo sessions and encourage all my clients to have one. In fact, before this year, I had never done a wedding without one! Yes, who doesn’t want hot shots of themselves without all the wedding gear? But really, engagement sessions are a whole lot more than that – which is why I love them and think they are the key to good wedding pictures. Yup, your engagement shoot will have a very big impact on your wedding photos.

First off, if you hire me to be your photographer, you have probably either come over to my studio or watched my crazy antics on skype. Either way, you have gotten to know me. But I AM a photographer – your photographer. And how I work with a camera in front of my face is something you can learn about and know what to expect for your wedding day. You’ll get used to my sound effects when I love a photo. Or how I react when I find a perfect place to shoot. You’ll learn how I work! Which is perfect for camera-shy people or people who aren’t used to prancing around town with a photographer- which, um, I think is everyone besides models and movie stars. Almost without fail, at the end of a session or when a couple gets their engagement photos, they say “Wow, that was so much more fun then I ever thought it would be.” And that’s the point. I’m not going to beat you with my tripod. I’m here to make you relax, laugh, and enjoy some time with your partner (oh, yeah, and get those hot shots).

Now while your relaxing and getting to know me- I’m getting to know you. And not just the fact you like baseball and kittens. I’m getting to know how the both of you interact with each other. News alert: Every couple is different. Shocking, I know! And each couple has a natural way of interacting with each other, both in terms of body language and personality-wise. Maybe you guys are super mushy and love you some good kissing shots. Lots of them. Or you both like to laugh a lot and always seem to bring out the funny side of each other. You like to hang off trees (don’t laugh, I had an amazing groom who literally hung off trees for the engagement shoot) or just be really playful with each other.

Whatever it is that makes you two tick? I’m finding all that out at the engagement shoot. It gives me a good chunk of time to work out what poses you fall into. What poses we try and then laugh at because it just doesn’t fit you. At your wedding, I will most likely not have the luxury of 2 hours just to play and shoot with you. We will be on a timeline. So the engagement shoot is when I work all that out- so on your wedding day? I knock it out!! I know you guys and how you move and what you do- so I’m already banging out the shots I know will flatter you and make you happy in the short amount of time I have to shoot you on your wedding day.

And after the engagement shoot is just as important. There seems to be an interesting thing that happens to couples. They see the engagement images on my blog and say ‘Wow, those people are really good looking/funny/smart/whatever. I like Kelly’s work but I’m never going to look like that.’ Um. Bullsh*t. All the couples on my blog are just that- couples. I’m not hiring a team of makeup artists, prop rentals, stylists, models from far off lands and lighting gods. So when couple’s actually receive their images, it’s like a little lightbulb goes off. They look goooood. And you know what happens then? They feel super confident I’m going to nail it on their wedding day. They can relax.

And it’s also a time to give feedback. Maybe you thought wanted a super urban, gritty, model-esque shoot but when you got the images- you changed your mind. You want some more kissing shots! You want a romantic feel! And you know what? You now know what you want for your wedding shots. This is the time to tell me what you really want and give me constructive criticism so I can ensure we are all on the same page with your photographic needs.

Peoples, I went to art school. There is no amount of constructive criticism that is going to hurt my feelings. I actually love it when I get real feedback. Why? Because 1. I want to make you so happy you can’t wait to share every picture from your engagement shoot to every family member/friend/dog who walks by 2. I want to get better. Period.

So if you ever wonder why I am such a blabber mouth when your sitting on my couch for a meeting and I’m talking on-and-on-and-on about engagement shoots? This is why.