Planning your wedding day timeline

Start with two fixed points

Every wedding timeline hangs off two times that don't move: when the ceremony starts, and when the sun goes down. Everything else gets placed around those. The ceremony time is yours. The sunset I look up for your exact date, and I build the portrait block backward from it.

I say this up front on the weddings page and I'll say it once here: 2026–27 is my first wedding season under the Wollenburg Media name. I book one lane or the other, photos or a film, never both on the same day, because you walk down the aisle once and I cannot be behind two cameras for it. Whichever one you booked me for, the timeline below is the same, and it is the timeline I would want the other vendor working from too.

Getting ready

Plan for me to be there about an hour before you need to be dressed. That's enough for the details (the dress, the rings, the shoes, the invitation suite, anything you want remembered), the last bit of hair and makeup, the quiet frames with the people in the room, and getting into the dress or the jacket.

Things that make this hour go well:

• A clean room with window light. Open the curtains and pile the bags, water bottles, and hangers in one corner or the next room. It takes two minutes and it shows in every frame.
• The details in one place. Rings, invitations, jewelry, shoes, perfume, anything meaningful, gathered in a box before I arrive. I photograph those first while hair and makeup finish.
• Dressed 30 minutes earlier than you think. Hair and makeup run late more often than not. Ask the artist for a finish time, then tell everyone a time half an hour before it.
• For film: if there are letters or gifts being exchanged, do them in this hour, on camera, with the room quiet. Those clips are the ones people rewatch.

I start with the details while hair and makeup finish, then move to whoever is closest to ready.

First look, or the aisle

This is the decision that shapes the rest of the timeline, and it's yours. I'll shoot it either way. Here's the honest tradeoff.

A first look means you see each other privately before the ceremony, with just me far enough back that it's your moment. It gives you calmer portraits before the day gets loud, lets us do most of the family formals before the ceremony, and means you actually get to be at your own cocktail hour. Budget 20 to 30 minutes for the look itself and a few portraits right after.

An aisle reveal keeps the first sight for the ceremony, in front of everyone. The trade is that the couple portraits, the wedding party, and the family formals all have to happen after the ceremony, which usually means you miss cocktail hour and the portrait block gets squeezed if the ceremony runs late. It works. It just needs the extra room built in, and a coordinator who will hold the line on the formals.

Family formals, honestly

This is the part of the day that eats time. Not because the photos take long, but because finding Uncle Dave takes long. Two things fix it:

• Make the list. Every grouping you want, written down, biggest groups first so people can leave as they're done. Ten to fifteen groupings is normal. Send it to me the week before.
• Assign a wrangler. One person from each side of the family who knows everyone by name and isn't afraid to shout. Not you. Not a parent who is in every photo. A cousin, a sibling, a family friend.

With the list and the wrangler, formals take about 30 to 45 minutes. Without them, they can take twice that, and every minute of it comes out of your portrait time or your cocktail hour. Tell the people on the list where to be and when, on the day, by text. Don't rely on the announcement.

Wedding party

Fifteen to twenty minutes is plenty. Full group, each side, something relaxed, and a few frames of you with each of your people if you want them. Right after the first look, or right after the ceremony if you're waiting for the aisle.

Golden hour: build in 20 minutes

The last light before sunset is the best light of the whole day, and it's when the portraits that end up on your wall get made. I look up sunset for your date and ask for 20 minutes starting about half an hour before it. That usually lands during dinner or just after, so it means slipping away from the reception for a bit. Nobody will notice. The food is out.

Put it on the timeline as a real block, with a name, so the DJ and the coordinator don't schedule the toasts on top of it. It's the one block I'll ask you to protect, because it's the one you can't get back.

The reception flow

The reception takes care of itself as long as the scheduled moments are in a sensible order and I know when they are. Send me the DJ or coordinator's run of show. The rest is candid and I cover it as it happens.

A flow that works well either way:

1. Grand entrance straight into the first dance, while everyone is already watching
2. Welcome or blessing, then dinner
3. Toasts during or just after dinner, while people are seated and facing the right way
4. Golden-hour portraits, slipped in around here
5. Parent dances, then the floor opens
6. Cake, bouquet, anything else, before the dance floor gets going
7. The exit, if there's one, at a time you actually tell people

For the film, the toasts are the thing. Ask the people speaking to hold the microphone close and stay in one spot. It's the part of the film you'll want most.

A sample timeline

This is a sample, not yours. It assumes a 4:00 ceremony, a first look, and sunset around 8:00. Your times will move with your ceremony, your venue, and the sunset on your date. We place the blocks together on the call, and your planner or coordinator adjusts from there.

• 12:30 I arrive. Details, then getting-ready coverage.
• 1:30 Dressed. A few quiet frames with the people in the room.
• 2:00 First look. Couple portraits right after.
• 2:30 Wedding party.
• 2:50 Family formals, from the list, with the wranglers.
• 3:30 Tucked away. Guests arrive. I shoot the ceremony space empty.
• 4:00 Ceremony.
• 4:30 Any remaining formals, then cocktail hour. You get to be at it.
• 5:30 Grand entrance, first dance.
• 5:45 Dinner. Toasts during.
• 7:30 Golden-hour portraits, 20 minutes, protected.
• 8:00 Parent dances, floor opens.
• 8:30 Cake and anything else planned.
• Coverage end Set on the call, written into the contract.

Waiting for the aisle instead? Move the couple portraits, wedding party, and family formals into the hour after the ceremony, and tell the caterer cocktail hour is a real hour. Everything else holds.

Things that quietly help

• A written family-formals list, sent to me the week before
• One wrangler per side of the family, named on the timeline
• Golden hour on the timeline as its own block, with a name
• The DJ or coordinator's run of show, sent to me before the day
• Getting-ready room tidied, details in one box
• A vendor meal for me, served when the head table eats, so I'm back before the toasts
• A point person on the day who isn't either of you

What happens after

If you booked photography, every delivered photo is retouched and you get an online gallery you keep. If you booked the film, it is cut to be rewatched. The delivery dates go in the contract before any money moves, so you're not guessing. Half holds the date, the rest is due at delivery.

The venue walkthrough before the wedding is part of the plan. We walk the ceremony spot, find where the portraits will happen, and check the light at the time it matters. Anything about your day that doesn't fit the above, we solve there or on the call.