When to do “day of” wedding shoot

Hi,


I work in film & TV - if you do photos on a separate day you’ll be hoping to match every detail on the day of. Which may not sound difficult but sometimes things just don’t go the same or it can add stress.
Taking photos on the same day means everything is captured as it was and you can rest assured knowing there’s no discrepancy between photos from a different day. You capture everything in that moment on the one day. It might also be more expensive to do your hair & makeup twice.
Ways to save time for photos: create a shot list with your photographer in advance. Keep copies of this list so no one can forget it and stick to your list. They should be able to estimate the time it requires and you can add extra time for makeup touch ups & bonus shots. 2-2.5hrs should be plenty - also I felt people get impatient at my sisters wedding, just waiting for their turn. So her photographer did big group shot, family/wedding party shots, then just the couple. This kept things moving and guests got to relax and snack.
Also if you wear your outfits before you’ll need to have them steamed/ironed again for the big day.
Hope this helps

I personally would do your photos the day of your wedding. Photographers do amazing jobs at time management and you would be surprised at how quickly they can get through wedding photos so that the bride and groom can have there own time with photos. We had a 2 hour window between the end of our ceremony and reception entrance and it was plenty of time for family photos and wedding party photos plus not to mention other photos that out photographer had ideas for. We also had taken a half hour right before 8 pm where my husband and I snuck off and did our golden hour photos with the sunset with our wedding party

Hi Caitlyn,

Is your concern that it will take too much time? Are you having to travel to a different location to do photos? What time is your ceremony and your reception?

I cannot speak from experience but personally I don't think I would want to do a week before, I feel like that would change kind of seeing each other again on the day of? I get doing a first look but I would still want to keep it all the wedding day just cause it's so special and exciting and I would not want to take away that energy by seeing each other all done up a week before, but that's just me!

My friend took 3 hrs. in between ceremony and reception to do photos and mind you it was a long time but I wouldn't feel bad, it's your day!