Bride Series: Wedding Timeline
Before our first consultation meeting, we always ask our clients their ceremony and reception times. The reason we ask for this is because 100% of our brides and grooms (so far) are getting married for the first time and have no idea what their wedding day will look like. Sure, they have been in 50+ weddings before their own but they were not the focus of the day. We would love our brides and grooms to relax and celebrate their days, we want them to have a stress-free wedding. And above all, we want them to have wedding photos of them being themselves and all in love. A stress free day will help us greatly achieving this goal. We have been able to create a suggested timeline to our brides and grooms so far and it has worked really well. For today’s post, we thought it would be perfect to share our train-of-thoughts in creating and customizing these timelines for our brides and grooms:
First look is considered taboo in some cultures. Some considered it to bring bad luck to the marriage. However, researching through different readings, we found out that the north-american culture is only following through their unique traditions. In the past, groom waited to see the bride until she walks down the aisle because that would be the first time for him to see her in his life. Match-making was heavily involved in the early 1900s and seeing the bride before the ceremony makes the experience less special.
Knowing this has encouraged us to let our brides and grooms have the options of not continuing this tradition anymore. I mean, if you are match-made and haven’t dated/seen each other ever, we’d understand why you would like to continue following the tradition. If not, we’d like you to consider the option of getting 75% of your photos done before the day even started. Yes, you heard that right. If you choose to the first look, we’ll be able to document your special moment of seeing each other for the first time (and not being watched by 100+ guests), followed by your photos with your bridal party as well as your wedding portraits while your suit is still fresh from the bag and your makeup is still in tact from the tears and sweats.
Another reason why we encouraged this is because we want you to be able to enjoy the celebration right after the ceremony. Your family and friends want to hug you and be around you after. We want you to let them celebrate with you and not being kidnapped to do some wedding portraits in the meantime. If you have cocktails in between, your bridal party will thank you later for letting them enjoy the time and not being away from the celebration!
Things happened during the day. Sure, we are able to take your beautiful wedding portraits in 45 minutes. But if there is traffic or if it rains and we need to find a second location, we might end up with 5 minutes and you won’t be able to wind down from the happenings. Also, in general our couples are not professional models who will automatically relax in front of the public’s watch in posing for their wedding photos, it takes 15-25 minutes until you are used to this attention and be able to focus to be yourselves. Give yourselves time, give us time and let’s work the magic! 🙂
We have had bridesmaids of our previous clients became our brides and we love that! Working with similar-minded people is our favourite! We have noticed that during our client meetings with these wonderful people, they have mentioned how they love their friend’s/sister’s wedding photos so much and they wished they knew why we laid on the ground/climbed a tree and took pictures during the wedding. Knowing the end-results of the process will be helpful. This is where we ask for your favour to spread the words/blog posts/recent weddings/sessions we have done to them before the wedding day. They will then be familiarized with how we work and the end results of our unique behaviour/approach. 😉
In creating timeline(s), we add 5 minutes extra on each event. The reason behind this is for you to be able to take a breath on the day. Trust us, 5 minutes is nothing. But 5 minutes after each event will sustain you throughout the day. We have never had bridezillas or groomzillas in our lives and we thank this secret of adding 5 minutes after each event on the timeline.