Are you getting married on the beach?
No doubt you are swooning over Pinterest-perfect must-have wedding photos of brides and grooms at each stage of their wedding day, but how are you going to get those gorgeous wedding photos for yourself?
After finding the best wedding photographer for your style and budget, you will need to set a photography timeline that allows them a realistic opportunity to be creative and deliver on their promises.
A lot is riding on this!
But don’t panic. We are here to help.
Lucky for you, we are experts when it comes to destination weddings in Mexico, and are going to share an easy formula for planning the most ideal timeline for your wedding on the beach.
(If you would rather skip through the meat and potatoes, you can find an ideal four and six-hour wedding photography timeline at the end of this article.)
1. Where do I begin building a beach wedding timeline?
Just like your marriage, your wedding day timeline needs to start with a strong foundation. If you don’t have the basic elements in the right place from the beginning, it can leave you on shaky ground later for getting all the photos you want.
This all starts with the sunset because when it comes to photography, light is everything.
Find out what time the sun will set on your wedding day, in your wedding destination. (Easy! Just Google sunset + date + city.)
What is an ideal ceremony start time? Between 1.5 to 2 hours before sunset.
Why?
If you are getting married on the beach somewhere tropical like Mexico, it will be super hot any earlier in the day and this equals sweaty discomfort when wearing anything more than a bathing suit. Also, you do not want to be squinting into the bright midday sun as you say your vows. No Bueno.
What is the ideal reception start time? 2 hours following the start of your ceremony.
Why?
Two hours is the perfect amount of time for your wedding photographer to capture a traditional ceremony, the family photos, bridal party shots, and your Newlywed session.
But! What if you get a ceremony and reception timeline that don’t fit this mold?
Don’t panic.
The first thing to do is to request a change ASAP. If that isn’t possible, then just take the information that follows below and shuffle the typical flow of a wedding day so that you have time to capture all the most important moments. For example, if you are tight for time between ceremony and reception, then schedule your immediate family and bridal party photos before your ceremony.
With your base in place, let’s move onto scheduling each part of your wedding day.
2. How much time do I need for Getting Ready photos?
It’s hard to believe that all this planning will eventually come together on your wedding day, right?
The anticipation makes those final moments before you say ‘I Do!’ the most exciting and emotional.
Capturing the laughter and the tears as you get ready for the biggest moment of your life (so far!) are an important part of telling the story of your day.
This is when your photographer will capture all of the little details that you have put so much thought and energy into:
- your shoes or barefoot sandals
- jewelry
- getting ready robes
- bouquet
- your perfect beach wedding dress hanging up, and then you slipping into it
What is the ideal amount of time for Getting Ready photos? Photography coverage should start 1.5 hours before your ceremony or your First Look is scheduled to begin. We can make one hour of coverage work if you are limited with hours in your photography package, but that is the absolute minimum we recommend for capturing those must-have getting ready photos.
Brides, to maximize your time with your photographer, plan to be hair and makeup ready by the time coverage begins.
Grooms, just make sure to be out of the pool and showered by the time your photographer arrives.
3. What if I am doing a First Look?
Have you decided that would like to do a First Look before your ceremony?
We think it’s a great idea!
The First Look photo session is the perfect answer to a tight timeline, or for the couple who wants to enjoy some of the cocktail hour with their guests, rather than running off for photos.
But beyond the practical reasons, seeing each other before the ceremony is a beautiful, intimate moment, and as wedding photographers, that’s what we live for! Our couples also tell us that having a chance to connect before the ceremony put them at ease and helped them enjoy the moment.
What is the ideal amount of time to plan for in a First Look? 15 minutes is perfect. Just be sure to also give yourselves an additional 15-minute buffer zone to freshen up before your ceremony starts.
4. How long will my wedding Ceremony take?
The big moment! This is what it’s all about! (Aside from the open bar of course…)
From ‘Here comes the bride’ to ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’ this is the most emotionally charged moment of any wedding day.
Most beach weddings in Mexico have a laid-back bohemian feel to them, and with that, many couples have tried to assure us that their ceremony will just be a quick and speedy ten minutes. This might be the case, but what you need to prepare for is the time that gets chewed up following the ceremony.
You will want to take a moment with each other to let it sink in; you’re married! Have a glass of champagne, you have earned it.
Also, your wedding guests will all want to jump in with hugs of congratulations!
How much time should you plan for your ceremony? A traditional wedding ceremony, whether it be symbolic or civil, will take 30 minutes in your wedding day timeline. If you are planning a catholic wedding ceremony in Mexico, allow for an hour and 15 minutes.
Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Getting Married in the Riviera Maya!
5. How much time do family and group photos take?
Are you having a huge destination wedding, or will this be an intimate event?
This will determine how much time you need to allow your photographer to capture the family and group photos.
In this case, size does matter.
When it comes to destination weddings, we quantify the size based on the following guest list numbers:
- Intimate: fewer than 20 guests
- Small: 20 to 35
- Average: 35 to 50
- Large: 50 to 70
- Wow, you’re popular!: 70+
What is the ideal amount of time to plan for family formals? For intimate and small weddings, give your photographer 15 to 20 minutes for family photos. In average to large weddings we will need 20 to 30 minutes.
For huge groups, allow 30 minutes for formal family photos, and then we also recommend trying to get a photo with the remaining groups of guests at your reception – or even better – add a Photobooth to your wedding photography package! This is a super fun way to make sure you get a picture of everyone who attended your wedding.
Regardless of the size of your guest list, to avoid wasting precious photography minutes, we recommend giving your shot list to someone assertive who knows everybody. This person will be responsible for ‘herding the cats‘…and believe us, the cats have a natural tendency to wander off to the nearest bar at their first opportunity!
6. How long do bridal party photos take?
How many bridesmaids and groomsmen will you have?
Here in the Riviera Maya of Mexico, we notice that there is no typical bridal party size. It is just as common for the bride and groom to forgo a bridal party altogether as it is for them to have 8 people per side.
What is the ideal amount of time to capture the bridesmaids and groomsmen? If you are having more than just a best man and maid-of-honor, give your photographer 10 minutes to shoot the bridal party. If your group is on the larger side, then 15 minutes would be safer.
7. How much time do we need for newlywed photos?
Some of you are screaming “I HATE having my photo taken!”
We get it. Some people are comfortable in front of the camera, while others need help looking terrific in wedding photos, and are crossing their fingers that we are able to paparazzi a few good candids along the way. Either way, the most cherished photos of the two of you at your wedding will likely come from this part of the day; your bride and groom photo session.
As wedding photographers, we like to make sure that these photos get prime lighting conditions, and this means we want to shoot Newlyweds during the ‘golden hour‘. The hour before sunset is when the light is soft and buttery smooth, making magical images.
What is the right amount of time for the bride and groom pictures? We prefer an hour with the bride and groom. This gives us an opportunity to be creative, playful and to use a variety of different backgrounds.
The minimum to plan for is 45 minutes, unless of course you also have a First Look scheduled, then you can squeeze your bride and groom photos into 30 minutes.
8. Do I need my whole wedding reception photographed?
It’s party time! Any stress or worry you may have felt leading up to this day is behind you now. It’s time to eat, drink and dance the night away!
When it comes to sticking to your wedding photography budget, this is one of the easiest areas to save money. Sure you can have your photographer stay to capture the whole party, but if you want to balance wedding expenses with telling the story of your day, it just takes a little planning to prioritize the parts of your wedding reception timeline that are most important to you.
How long should you have a photographer at your reception? We can cover the bulk of your reception in about 2.5 hours; your first dance, speeches, bouquet toss, cake cutting and the start of the dance party.
However, the minimum you can get away with is 30 minutes, which is enough time to capture your first dance right after your grand entrance.
Sample 6-hour wedding timeline
Okay, are you ready to put this all together now?
With our destination wedding photography packages, we find that six hours is the most popular option. Here is our recommended photography timeline for a 6-hour photography package, based on a 630pm sunset:
- 3pm photography starts
- 430pm ceremony
- 5 to 520pm family photos
- 520 to 530pm bridal party photos
- 530 to 630pm newlywed photos during cocktail hour
- 630pm sunset
- 630pm reception begins
- 9pm photography coverage ends
Sample 4-hour wedding timeline
Do you want to maximize your time without breaking the bank on photography?
A 4-hour wedding photography package will enable us to tell the story of your day, while you save money. Here is our recommended timeline based on a 630pm sunset:
- 330pm photography starts
- 430pm ceremony
- 5 to 520pm family photos
- 520 to 530pm bridal party photos
- 530 to 630pm newlywed photos during cocktail hour
- 630pm sunset
- 630pm reception begins (with first dance)
- 730pm photography coverage ends
There you have it – Everything you need to know about planning the perfect destination wedding photography timeline for your Mexico wedding!
Final thoughts: Just remember; weddings are dynamic events. It is impossible to control all the elements. Set your timeline, and then be prepared to be flexible. As long as you hire an experienced professional local photographer, you can be confident that they are going to capture the magic, so you can relax and enjoy your Big Day!
If you are still hunting for the best Riviera Maya wedding photographers for your destination wedding, then look no further! We are Fun In The Sun Weddings. Contact us now. We can’t wait to hear from you!
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Want to learn more?
- Go to our Wedding Photography Service Page.
