As a wedding or elopement photographer, helping your clients create a timeline for their special day is a great way to add value, maintain control over your workflow, and ensure the day goes smoothly for everyone involved.

By creating a timeline, you’re not only offering a premium service that justifies your pricing but also ensuring you have the time needed to capture all the important moments.

In our experience, how your timeline ends up looking will be personalized to your brand and how you work – it can be a very simplified document, or go all out with a ton of detail. We’ll talk more about this later in this guide in our strategy section!

But first, let’s dive into why creating a timeline is important and how to do it…

Why Creating a Timeline is Beneficial – Improving Client Experience

Creating a timeline for a wedding or elopement offers several advantages for both you and your clients:

1. Adds Value: Offering to help with timeline creation can differentiate your services and allow you to charge higher prices.
2. Gives You Control: By guiding the timeline, you ensure that you have enough time to capture everything, from the prep shots to the couple’s portraits.
3. Reduces Client Anxiety: Many couples feel overwhelmed with planning their day. A timeline helps them visualize the flow and reduces anxiety.
4. Builds Confidence: When clients see that you have a structured plan for the day, it reassures them that you’ve got everything under control.

Personally, I love simply having the ability to see the structure and flow of the event I’ll be photographing. Some days are going to be really low key and laid back, but timelines become even more important on days that are more hectic and involve a lot of logistics (like driving from place to place in a city).

Key Considerations When Creating a Timeline

When putting together a timeline, it’s important to understand your photography requirements and standard time allotments.

Early in my photo career I would let clients (and planners, wedding venue coordinators, etc.) more or less dictate the flow of the day without any input from me. These days, I create a “photo timeline” so I can be sure I’m interjecting the things I need in order to get the photos my clients want – this includes carving out time for portraits, making sure timing for golden hour shots is in place (and reception events are timed with this in mind), and so on.

Every photographer’s workflow is different, but here’s a common breakdown of how much time you may need for different parts of a wedding day:

• Prep: 1-2 hours
• First Look: 30 minutes
• Family Photos: 30 minutes
• Wedding Party Photos: 30 minutes
• Couple’s Portraits: 30 minutes

Keep in mind – these suggested times also build in “buffer” in case other things run later. In practice, something like a first look doesn’t usually take 30 minutes itself, but if someone is running late…you’ll thank yourself for having extra time built in.

So remember…your specific needs may vary, but having these rough guidelines will make it easier to template your timelines and maintain consistency.

Budgeting Extra Time

Adding this section here to reinforce the important of a “time buffer.”

It’s always a good idea to budget extra time in case things run late. Weddings are notorious for things not always running smoothly and on time, and having more time built in makes it easier for you as the photographer to adapt.

Clients will also appreciate your ability to manage time effectively while also allowing for flexibility!

Setting Expectations with Clients

Of course, it’s one thing to have a wedding photo timeline, it’s another thing how it’s going to actually be used day of.

So with this in mind, setting clear expectations around the timeline is essential – especially prior to the event.

For example, in my business, I make sure to discuss timeline expectations during the consult, through a wedding guide, in the questionnaire, and again during the planning call. I specifically make clear why I use a timeline and how it will help their day run more smoothly.

This approach keeps things simple and easy for clients to follow.

By setting these expectations early, it’s much easier for clients to submit a rough timeline that aligns with what I need.

Two Strategies for Creating Wedding Timelines

When it comes to actually creating the timeline, there are two main strategies you can use, depending on your business model and the level of involvement your clients want.

Strategy #1: You Make the Timeline

In this approach, you take control of the timeline creation:

• Use a wedding timeline template as a base
• Collect key information from the client using a questionnaire or during a meeting (or both!)
• Update the template to reflect their specific timings, events, and preferences
• Share the finalized timeline with the client

This strategy gives you full control and ensures that your needs as a photographer are met. It also simplifies things for your clients, making the process feel smooth and effortless.

Strategy #2: Your Client Makes the Timeline

In this approach, you guide the client in creating their own timeline:

• Explain how to create the timeline
• They make it, and you review it afterward

This method can work well for clients who want to have more control over their day but still need your input to ensure all photography requirements are met.

Working with Other Vendors

Your photography timeline may require adjustment based on the input from other vendors, such as the wedding planner or venue coordinator.

It’s essential to work collaboratively with these decision-makers, while still being clear about your own needs to ensure that the timeline supports effective photography coverage.

Final Thoughts

Creating wedding timelines is an invaluable service that enhances the client experience while ensuring you have the time and flexibility to capture the best moments of the day. Whether you take control of the timeline or guide your clients in creating one, clear communication and collaboration with other vendors will ensure a smooth and successful wedding day.