Pro edition
Shot List & Timeline.
The demo argues that a shot list turns a photographer into an order-taker for everything except family groups. This is what follows from that: an exhaustive list for the part that needs one, and a timeline for the part that does not.
Family groups
Seven groups, 24 minutes of shooting, and realistically 34 on the day.
| Group | Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Couple with both sets of parents | 3 min |
| B | Couple with partner one’s immediate family | 3 min |
| C | Couple with partner two’s immediate family | 3 min |
| D | Couple with grandparents | 3 min |
| E | Couple with siblings only | 2 min |
| F | Couple with the wedding party | 4 min |
| G | Everyone — one wide frame | 6 min |
- Name a wrangler from each family. Someone who knows faces and will shout is worth more than any list.
- Build the list so people are released as you go — grandparents first, everyone-frame last.
- Budget three minutes per group and then add ten. Nobody has ever finished early.
- Anything not on the list happens at the reception, informally, and usually looks better.
- Divorced parents: tell the photographer beforehand, in writing, once. It is not awkward for us and it prevents the only genuinely awkward moment of the day.
The day, as offsets
Every row below is relative to the ceremony, shown against a 2pm start. Move the ceremony and the whole column moves with it — which is the point of writing a timeline this way.
| Offset | 2pm start | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| -240 | 10.00am | Photographer arrives, details and preparation Shoes, rings, invitation suite, dress hanging. Twenty minutes, done early and calmly. |
| -180 | 11.00am | Preparation, both parties The reason for a second photographer. Two rooms, one hour. |
| -75 | 12.45pm | Into the dress / final looks The most photographed ten minutes of the morning. |
| -60 | 1.00pm | First look, if you are having one Buys back forty minutes later. Entirely optional and not worse either way. |
| -30 | 1.30pm | Venue and detail frames, empty room The only chance. Once guests are seated it is gone. |
| -15 | 1.45pm | Guests arriving Where the unposed pictures of your friends come from. |
| 0 | 2.00pm | Ceremony No flash, nothing in the aisle, two positions agreed with the officiant. |
| +30 | 2.30pm | Confetti or exit Ninety seconds. Worth planning; impossible to redo. |
| +40 | 2.40pm | Family groups The list above. Twenty-five minutes if the wrangler is good. |
| +70 | 3.10pm | Couple portraits, part one Twenty minutes near the venue while drinks happen. |
| +150 | 4.30pm | Room reveal and speeches Details before doors open, then speeches from two angles. |
| +260 | 6.20pm | Golden hour, ten minutes out The frame most couples end up printing. Leave the party; you will not regret it. |
| +330 | 7.30pm | First dance and into the party An hour of dancing is plenty. After that it is the same frame darker. |
- Everything above is an offset from the ceremony. Move the ceremony and the whole day moves with it.
- Sunset is the only fixed point in the day. Look it up for your date and build backwards from it.
- A first look is a scheduling tool, not a sentiment. It buys forty minutes and costs you the aisle moment.
- Leave twenty minutes unallocated. It will be used, every time, by something nobody predicted.
Five questions for any photographer
- Ask how many weddings they shoot a year. Over about thirty and the edit queue is the constraint, not the shooting.
- Ask to see one full gallery, start to finish — not a portfolio. Portfolios are the best five frames of five years.
- Ask what happens if they are ill, and get the answer in the contract.
- Ask whether the person you are speaking to is the person shooting.
- Ask what licence you receive, using the word licence.