Photo list and time

We allocated 1 hour for each of Grooms families getting ready shots and photos as the group shots after the wedding took about 45 minutes with all the families seperately and together along with guests that stuck around and wedding party before and after the wedding. In total we had about 3 hours plus half hour just for us during dinner sunset pictures. Rest of the time was wedding and reception along with cake cutting, mother/son dances, speeches and first dance. We had 12 hours considering what we paid and got for the deal.

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Ok in that case I think you've allocated too much time for those photos. I'm not sure if you've broken down all the time increments but that's an hour and a half for the girls, an hour and a half for the guys plus an additional 45 minutes for the entire wedding party. Since you're not doing getting ready photos give yourself an hour, maybe an hour and a half max for all wedding party photos.

One hour is probably good for all family photos and that's about what you have listed above. Like Hank said, definitely have one or two people as wranglers. They should have your list of shots and can get everyone necessary into place.

Most wedding photography packages are about 10 hours and will include travel time to and from different locations. So what I would do is think about how late you want your photographer there and work backwards. If you want them to stay until 10pm to get speeches, cake cutting, some dancing, etc then you'll want them to start around noon. There's obviously flexibility there and some packages will be longer or shorter. But I think you should try to nail down your photographer sooner rather than later because they determine so much of the timeline.

You'll likely want them there for at least a few hours of the reception to capture what I mentioned above - let's say 3-4 hours minimum because you need to account for dinner which will take about 60-90 minutes. If you want photos of your exit you'll want to increase this amount of time to when you plan to leave.

You also need to dedicate time to your couple photos. If you don't have a photographer to give you their opinion I'd set aside at least 2 hours to be safe. I know some can do it in less time but you don't want to skimp on this if you end up with someone a bit slower or if you want multiple locations. We did 3 hours for our first look and all couple photos but that included about 30-45 minutes of travel time and I wish we would have given ourselves a bit more time because we were rushing.

Ceremony itself will be about 30 minutes unless you're doing something really elaborate - your officiant should be able to give you a time estimate.

Then you need to account for all travel time for your photographer and any time they will spend waiting for things to happen. So for example you're not going to leave your getting ready area and go door to door straight into the ceremony. You'll want a few minutes to collect yourself, use the bathroom, touch up your makeup and hair, etc. So give yourself 5-10 minutes of buffer room any time you're changing locations.

You might also want detail shots of certain things. I'd throw in an extra 30 minutes to an hour for everything - rings, outfits, reception and ceremony space.

So that's roughly:

1-1.5 hours wedding party

0.5 hours ceremony

1 hour family

2 hours couple

3-4 hours reception

0.5-1 hour detail shots

TOTAL (not including travel and buffer time) = 8-10 hours

Keep in mind that this could be totally different if you don't care about reception photos. If what's most important to you is photos of you and your wedding party then by all means take some of the reception time and move it to wedding party. I've just outlined what I think a more typical wedding timeline would look like. But I'm also not a photographer - this is just following what I've found through my own research.

Whoever you end up having as your photographer, whether you hire a new one or have a friend/family member do it, I highly suggest having a wrangler (or two). It should be someone who is familiar with everyone on the list so they know exactly who to nab and when. It'll make everyone's lives so much easier.

As Christiana mentioned, all photographers work differently so allotted time for pictures can differ. My photographer said she needs roughly 2.5-3 hours for photos, but that includes any time it takes for us to walk to new locations and also gives her a bit of a buffer so we aren't scrambling or feeling rushed

View quoted message Well unfortunately my photographer has gone out of business with my deposit. So at this point don't know what I am doing but need this worked out before I get set a ceremony time.

I would send your photographer a list of all of the shots you want to get and ask them how much time they will need for everything. It's hard for someone else to know because each photographer works differently and some are quicker than others.

I also don't think it's necessary to schedule out every single combination of people. You can just allot a certain amount of time for bridal party photos rather than bride and all bridesmaids, bride and bridesmaid #1, bride and bridesmaid #2, etc. You'll never be able to actually follow that timeline and ensure you're keeping to it so you may as well just combine it all into one and have your shot list handy so you don't miss anything.