Creating a Wedding Day Timeline for Photographers with Alissa Cincotta
Ah, the wedding day timeline. If you’re a wedding photographer, you know all about the never-ending battle on what should happen on a wedding day. The bride wants one thing, the planner wants another, and the reality is this: The wedding photographer spends the most time with the bride and groom on their wedding day and should be in charge of building the flow for the day. Our JOB is to capture moments throughout a wedding day, and who understands the standard moments better than a wedding photographer?
Wedding days, as Sal always says, are a series of mini emergencies. It’s just the reality of the business. It’s your job to set yourself up for success when it comes to the way a day lays out. So let’s dive right into all of the details that go into creating a successful wedding day timeline for your couples.
Plant the seed about the importance of time for creatives at the initial consultation.
When our couples meet us for their initial consultation, we are asking all of the important details about their day: ceremony time, location, specific requests for creatives, reception time and location, and so on. There is, however, one specific question we open up with:
“What is it that drew you into our work?”
This question is so important as a baseline for your timeline with the couple. Nine out of 10 times for us, the answer is the same as they point to the large cinematic and dramatic portraits hung throughout our sales room:
“We love all of your epic shots. It all looks straight out of a movie and your couples all look like models.”
THIS is our key indicator that the couple sitting in front of us is our client. Why? Because they understand that what we do isn’t just clicking the shutter button on a camera. There is art in what we do, and these people can see it, value it and appreciate it. Bingo.
