GETTING READY

With all Getting Ready’s, our team generally arrives when the bride is about 75% completed with her hair and makeup. With our approach we want to be able to capture you as authentically and as natural as possible. By arriving by the 75% mark, we won’t have to stage you with hair and makeup and capture it as the moment unfolds. With the groom’s party, it’s much easier to capture them as it doesn’t take too long for them to get ready. We generally have our secondary team members take part in capturing the groom, but will switch off every now and then + if needed.

• 6 – 10 AM – Bride + Bridesmaid’s get ready

  • We always suggest for the bride and groom to have their detail items / accessories ready for us upon arrival. See below for examples

    • Bride: Rings (Engagement + Wedding Band, Garter, Shoes, Flowers, Hair Pieces, Earrings, Necklaces, Invitationals, Bracelets)

    • Groom: Ring, Tie, Shoes, Watch, Cologne, Belt, Socks, Wallet, Bowtie’s, Cigars, etc.

• 10:30 AM – FJM Photo + Video team arrives to capture Bride + Groom party

  • We’ll interchanging between both parties. If the bride and groom are in separate areas to get ready, we’ll have our secondary team members take care of the groom.

  • BONUS: We absolutely LOVE when couples write letters to each other. This allows for us to capture another important piece of audio that you will remember. Please wait for us before reading!

• 12:00 PM – Getting Ready completed / everyone is dressed

• 12:00 – 12:45 PM – Bride + Groom First Look + Parents First Look + First Touch

  • Depending on whether or not you plan on seeing your other-half at the altar, we encourage first looks/touches as it allows our couples to connect privately beforehand as well as giving us a chance to capture intimate pictures / videos in a calm and relaxed way. The reactions are always beautiful and we love seeing the pre-ceremony jitters come out!

  • A first look is on average around 15 mins long including set up, waiting, and having the couple spend some quiet time together.

• 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM – Head on over to venue for ceremony or finalize any last-minute morning preparations.

  • Here, our team will generally head out to the ceremony venue if there is not much activity going on before the ceremony to become familiarized with the venue and set up audio / stations for the ceremony. This is very important as the ceremony is one of the key moments of the day and we want to be as prepared as possible!

CEREMONY

• 2:00 PM – Ceremony Begins

  • Depending on whether or not it is a religious or standard ceremony, the length will vary. We have experienced ceremonies that range from 1 hour long to as short as 15 minutes. On average, a ceremony duration will be about 30 minutes. Please let us know how long your ceremony will be so we can better gauge your wedding day. We’ll use an average ceremony duration for this timeline.

• 2:30 PM – Ceremony ends / Post-Ceremony photos at the Alter begin

  • Here we will gather family, friends, and other loved ones to come to the front and take pictures / video. We always recommend having a list of groups / family members are present to call forth in order to smoothly speed things up. If not, you may find yourself scrambling to find appropriate groups as they may have dispersed all around. This section will usually last about 20 – 30 minutes.

COCKTAIL HOUR / POST-CEREMONY SHOOT

• 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Cocktail Hour begins / Post-Ceremony Couple and Bridal Party session begins

  • One of our favorite parts of your day! This is where we’ll be able to spend the most time with you as a couple and capture those special moments that you can’t wait to look back at! It would be ideal if the location that we’re shooting is within or in a nearby vicinity as the reception so we can make sure we’re not rushing from Point A to Point B to Point C. If you have more than 1.5 hour allotted, that will help us with our flexibility with time.

    • Here, we will start with the bridal party first. As they say, first in – first out! We want the bridal party to relax and enjoy their time during cocktail hour so we’ll be quick and efficient to wrap things up with them before having you two spend time with each other alone!

RECEPTION

• 5:00 PM / 6:00 PM – Reception Starts

  • Now, the reception will vary in duration as well depending on the number of activities and segments happening. We’ll share the most common activities that we’ve experienced with our couples below:

    • Bridal Party is introduced to the dance floor

    • Bride and Groom enters with the Grand Entrance

    • Bride and Groom does First Dance (5 Mins)

    • Mother + Son Dance (3 – 5 Mins)

    • Father + Daughter Dance (3 – 5 Mins)

    • Dinner is served (30 – 40 Mins)

      • Depending if you’r wedding is in the first half or the last half of the year, the sunset time will vary. If sunset falls around 6 – 8 PM, we’ll ALWAYS encourage our couples to sneak out with us to capture photos / videos during their sunset couple session. These moments are always to die for and if we have the opportunity to do so, they never come with any regrets looking back at the final product. 🙂

    • Toasts and Speeches begin (20 Mins)

      • Once everyone is settled and eating, this is a great time for any toasts / speeches to begin. We always recommend limiting speeches to no more than 2 – 3 minutes. Anymore longer than that and it could potentially delay the timeline which affects our coverage time.

    • Garter Removal (3 – 5 Mins – Optional)

    • Bouquet Toss (3 – 5 Mins – Optional)

    • Cake Cutting (5 Mins)

    • TIME TO DANCE!

      • Generally, we always tell our couples that the first 20 – 30 minutes of open dancing is always the best as everyone is itching to get off their seats and jump into the dance floor. Therefore, that is to us, the best time to capture the MOST ENERGY from everyone.

      • Following those 20 – 30 minutes, guests start to trickle out and that’s usually when we tell our couples that our coverage ends.

PHOTO / VIDEO COVERAGE ENDS

• GRAND EXIT

  • Just as much as we love grand entrances, we also love grand exits. Some of our couples have had sparkler exits and even lightsaber exits! How crazy is that?! Because this part is (usually) done after the dancing, it is up to you to decide whether or not you’d like for us to take part in this. We’ve had couples move this part to before the open dance so that they are able to capture it on photo / video.