Whether you are having a First Look or saving your Portraits for after the ceremony, making sure you have enough time for Portraits is SO crucial to not only having a smooth wedding day but having a good amount of portraits as well! I’ve had many couples save only an hour for almost ALL of their portraits, and while it’s doable, it’s also very chaotic and not ideal. Your wedding portraits of just the two of you will be AMAZING if we are given the right amount of time! And so in today’s post, I’m breaking down the IDEAL amount of time we need for all wedding day Portraits so YOU can plan accordingly 🙂

Getting Ready Photos – 2- 2 1/2 Hours!

This all depends on WHERE you’re getting ready. If you’re getting ready either in the same location as all other wedding day events or very nearby, than 2 hours is typically enough. If not, I make sure to leave enough time for us to travel to wherever we’re going to be. But the most important thing is making sure there’s enough time for me to capture your all your wedding day details. Setting up the dress and hanging it in a nice spot, ESPECIALLY with the Bridesmaids dresses, takes 10x longer than you would think it does (maybe 10 minutes! lol) and setting up ring shots takes a bit of time. Not only that, but getting into your dress can take much longer than you expect as well! Giving all of your bridesmaids enough time to get dressed so we can do a first look with them… all of these things take a lot of time and I want to make sure my Brides NEVER feel rushed on their wedding so leaving enough time for all the getting ready moments is important. This goes for our grooms too! Though they may have less details, the grooms typically have to be at the church much earlier than our Brides or travel further than our Brides so leaving them enough time to get dressed for portraits and then to get to the First Look or Ceremony spot is very important!

Bride & Groom Portraits – 1 – 1 1/2 Hour!

We work best when we are NOT scrunched for time. It’s much much easier for us to take your portraits without worrying we won’t get you finished in time for your reception. That’s why First Looks are so ideal for us, honestly! It gives us the most amount of time with our Brides and Grooms and we KNOW you are about to get a TON of portraits of the two of you. And if you aren’t doing a first look, than making sure there is a 2 -3 hour gap in between your ceremony and cocktail hour is just as amazing!! We LOVE when our couples tell us the ceremony ends at 4 but cocktail hour isn’t until 6, is that ok? YES!! That means we don’t have to rush through ANY portraits and we can get you to ALL of your cocktail hour! Best news EVER! Make sure you plan accordingly for portraits, ESPECIALLY if you are not doing a first look!

Family Portraits – 30 Minutes!

Believe it or not, we have taken multiple MASSIVE groups of family portraits (I’m talking 50 extended family members in one photo) and then immediate family portraits in 30 minutes. We’ve done it MULTIPLE times. We are PROS at family portraits now. It used to be a part of the wedding day we dread but now, it’s a breeze. And honestly, it works best when all of your family is AWARE that they are needed for portraits! Whether it’s before or after your ceremony, making sure all of your family is on the same page will make everything go ten times faster – TRUST ME. Tell everyone ahead of time exactly WHEN they are needed and if it’s possible, designate one family member or bridal party member to corral everyone for portraits will save so much time and make it FUN instead of something you dread 🙂

Bridal Party Portraits – 30 – 45 minutes!

We LOVE photographing Bridal Parties because they are usually all in the best mood and so excited for our Brides and Grooms! Bridal Party pictures can take up to 45 minutes, and that honestly depends on how big your Bridal Party is! We usually start with the Bride & Groom and the entire Bridal Party and then we split them up! I take the portraits of my Bride and her bridesmaids (first all together and then a photo of the Bride with each individual Bridesmaid) and while I do that, Jose takes the portraits of the Groom and his Groomsmen (same thing. First, all together and then the Groom with each individual guy). If possible, we also get the photos with the flower girls and ring boys at this time! We will always take group portraits of the Bridal Party with and without them! When we have enough time for these portraits, we are able to do a lot of FUN poses! If we’re crunched for time, it doesn’t leave us enough time to mix things up and give you some really unique Bridal Party photos!

Save

Save