How important is it to stay on schedule during your wedding day?

Every wedding is different. After working in this industry for about 6 years, and after filming over 200 weddings, I don’t think I have had two weddings that were exactly the same. Sure you have similar weddings at the same venues, but the couples are always unique.

Setting a realistic timeline is so important. A lot of times the bride may be planning the wedding herself, and she may have certain preconceptions of how long certain events may take. The most common mistake is not leaving enough time for hair and makeup. While every wedding is different, 90 percent of wedding days are held up due to hair and makeup.

As a videographer, one of the nicest shots for me to capture is shortly after the bride has put on her dress and members of her bridal party are helping with her final prep. This can be a very beautiful moment, but if the bride takes too long it may not happen. My setup at the church takes me 30 minutes. I need to properly setup my cameras on tripods, and setup my 3 audio recorders.

Your photographer can stay a bit longer, because they do not have to set anything up for the ceremony. In contrast, If putting on the brides dress gets pushed back I will need to head to the ceremony and attempt to capture something with her in the dress during the cocktail hour.

This is why I always meet with all my brides 1-3 weeks before the wedding to discuss the timeline and make sure it will be realistic. I try to not take up any extra time for video, but there are moments that should be considered.