Holy crap! It’s almost time for wedding season again! It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 months since I shot a wedding! I haven’t had a break that long in quite a few years… but I have to say it’s been nice to just relax. I am excited to get back into the swing of things though and weddings will be on the blog in the next week!
Today’s Corey’s Talks is about formals. I’ve got this question quite a few times in the past few weeks as my clients for this season are starting to tackle the dreaded timeline and want to know when I should arrive and what they should expect. For every wedding things will always be different but over the past 5 years (and 100+ weddings) I’ve found that generally this is the case… it is MUCH easier to do ALL of the formal portraits AFTER the ceremony! I know, you may be thinking to yourself, wait!? What?!? If we do all of those pictures ahead of time we’ll save all that time after and will be able to get to outdoor pictures/booze on the bus/cocktail hour/reception so much faster, right? Au contraire! Here’s why…
1. Someone is almost always late. It may be a bridesmaid or groomsman but usually it’s the family member that HAS to be in the family portraits but isn’t in the wedding that somehow forgot they had to be ready early and won’t be there in time. This either means not doing that set up at all and saving it for after the wedding or working around that person until they arrive, frazzled and stressed out. The time “saved” by getting this picture (i.e. bride and her whole family) out of the way has now been nullified by the sister not showing up. I know you say this won’t happen to you, but trust me when I say it’s happened more often than you can imagine.
2. Someone isn’t ready. This applies usually to the bridesmaids or groomsan and isn’t quite #1. There’s always that bridesmaid (sorry ladies, it is usually you) that is a bit more high maintenance than others and fusses and fusses with this or that until you, the bride, are waiting on her to get the show on the road. Love them dearly, yes, but we all have that friend, and they usually our are best friends. Then there is things not fitting. There is almost ALWAYS a coat, pant or shoe that doesn’t fit one of the guys. Usually they can make it work but sometimes it means a mad dash to the rental location. Sometimes a bridesmaid busts a zipper. This isn’t meant to scare you (crap, I am scaring you aren’t I?) but to let you know that these things happen and the first thing that I will offer up as a sacrifice is the pre-ceremony formals.
3. Hair and/or Makeup Runs Late. This could go along with #2 but it’s my list and I will list what I want to. If you are having your hair and/or makeup professionally done it often runs late. When making appointments, Brides often goes along with the time the salon quotes them and plans around it. I have NEVER in 5 years had a bridal appointment at a salon end early. Please, please, please pad your time if you are having professional services the day of. I HIGHLY recommend the services but trust me when I urge you to pad that time. Add in at least an extra half hour. It’s easy to have an extra hour to kill but when you are running an hour behind it can create all sorts of drama.
4. If guests see you it can get messy. Even though I try to have my clients hidden away at least 15 minutes before the music starts (generally 45 minutes before the ceremony start time) there is always the eager guests that will arrive even earlier than that. If they see you, they are going to want their own pictures with you. Which leads to kissing you – with their freshly applied lipstick and so forth. Then their friends see you because they’ve kept you past the magic hiding hour and it gets messier from there on out.
5. It takes about 5-10 extra minutes to do ALL the formals later. This may sound bizarre but while you think you are “saving” those 30 minutes of time by doing the formals beforehand, you are really ADDING 25 minutes of time to your day with me. After the ceremony I’ll need to do the same groupings again but with both the bride AND groom. I’ve found it is MUCH easier to do the set up of each group once with the bride and groom and then have one or the other step out for the individual picture with the group.
6. Confusion. I wish I didn’t have to say it but I’m going to be honest with you. It never fails that someone that is needed in the second formal grouping after the ceremony (a parent or sibling is usually the culprit) thinks that since they took the first one with you before the ceremony, they don’t need to stay after the ceremony since it’s already been done. They forget that there usually is a bride/groom AND family shot and they follow the crowd away from the ceremony location. This then results in having to reshoot during the reception or sometimes not being able to capture the portrait at all which makes me sad.
I know that seems like a big wall of text, I’m sorry. Here’s a sample timeline – done both ways – to show you what I mean. Keep in mind this is the basic of basic lists of formals. There’ll be an upcoming Corey Talks for the formals I do generally at every wedding, it’s way more detailed than this I promise.
Formals Before Ceremony
12:00 Photographer arrives – takes pictures of dress, shoes & details
12:15 Bride gets dressed/Groom gets dressed
12:45 Formals begin
– Bride
– Bride + Bride’s Family
– Bride + Bridesmaids
– Groom + Groom’s Family
– Groom + Groomsman
– Groom
1:15 Hide Bride and Groom
1:30 Music begins
2:00 Ceremony
2:30 Exit
2:45 Formals Begin
– Bride + Grandparents
– Bride + Groom + Bride’s Family
– Groom + Grandparents
– Bride + Groom + Groom’s Family
– Bride + Groom + Bridal Party
– Bride + Groom
3:05 Formals End
Formals After Ceremony
1:00 Photographer arrives – takes pictures of dress, shoes & details
1:15 Bride gets dressed/Groom gets dressed
1:30 Music Begins
2:00 Ceremony
2:30 Exit
2:45 Formals Begin
– Bride + Grandparents
– Bride + Groom + Bride’s Family
– Bride + Bride’s Family
– Groom + Grandparents
– Groom + Groom’s Family
– Bride + Groom + Groom’s Family
– Bride + Groom + Bridal Party
– Bride + Bridesmaids
– Groom + Groomsman
– Bride + Groom
3:15 Formals End
The beauty of timeline #2 is that on neither one are you going to be out and about during the time guests are being seated. The groomsman have to usher so they can’t be photographed and the Bride and Groom need to be hidden from guests. In timeline #1 you will be just sitting and twiddling your thumbs where with timeline #2 you will be getting the finish touches done and the dress zipped up so there’s not as much time to get nervous. The guys will be playing a game of poker or watching the final play in the game – a bit more chill than worrying about smiling. During that time I’ll capture the candid moments and the smiles with your bridal party and casual portraits.
Whatever you decide, it is your day so whatever you want to do is your decision. I just like to let my clients know that there is more than one way to shoot formals and my thought is that I like to do them as quick as possible as I know it’s the least favorite time for most people! Since people do not generally love this part of the day, doing it once is often best for everyone involved – especially young ones!
- The Christy House Wedding with Ashley and Stephon - March 11, 2024
- Peninsula Wedding with Colleen and Eric - March 10, 2024
- Winter Inn Walden Wedding with Julia and Walter - February 29, 2024