First Wedding Alone

[metric_photography]

Hey guys-- I am working with the bride to set up an itinerary for me on the day of the wedding. She is only thinking 1/2 hour for pics of her and another 1/2 hr for pics of him before the ceremony. I think I at least! need an hour with each of them. The ceremony is going to be about 30 minutes and then we will do pics after. Any thoughts on timelines? I would like to spend more time with the bride to take pics of her dress, etc.

[candleman]

If you aren't covering the "getting ready" and only doing portraits when she's ready... WTF are you going to do in an hour? 30 minutes is more than enough time for a few decent portraits and one of the dress.

If you're shooting details like shoes, flowers, cufflinks, then you may want to add a bit of time for that..

I better go get coffee
/grumpy morning

[bhursey]

I do 3+ hours before and 1 hours after at least. You have the getting ready, the brides made, grooms men groom and bride mixing, and you have parent and sibling shots normaly I do those before with each the groom and the bride before then every one after...

30 min are they insane?!?!?!?! I did group shots with a 30 min deadline. Let me just tell you it does not work..

[candleman]

Originally Posted by bhursey

I do 3+ hours before and 1 hours after at least. You have the getting ready, the brides made, grooms men groom and bride mixing, and you have parent and sibling shots normaly I do those before with each the groom and the bride before then every one after...

30 min are they insane?!?!?!?! I did group shots with a 30 min deadline. Let me just tell you it does not work..

agreed if you're doing the make-up, getting ready, candids and details.
I normally do that in 2-3 hours and it includes portraits of B&G individually.

if you're only asked to do a few portraits of B&G individually before the Ceremony... yeah.. 30 minutes is enough for half a dozen keepers. Just don't change your lighting too much.
I gues OP needs to be clearer on what he/she is expected to actually do.

[metric_photography]

Originally Posted by candleman

agreed if you're doing the make-up, getting ready, candids and details.
I normally do that in 2-3 hours and it includes portraits of B&G individually.

if you're only asked to do a few portraits of B&G individually before the Ceremony... yeah.. 30 minutes is enough for half a dozen keepers. Just don't change your lighting too much.
I gues OP needs to be clearer on what he/she is expected to actually do.

I just got an email from the bride and this is what she said she wanted for the getting ready part:
My dress and shoes not on *
Me getting dressed/ all dressed*
Me and mom*
Me and dad*
Me with family*
Me and grammas*
Me and bro*
Me and wedding party (girls)*
Me and bouquet*


I will also have to go to see the groom and take pics of him getting ready and his mother putting the flower on his lapel etc. Looking at her list, this will definitely be an hour long, if not longer! Apparently where she will be and where he will be is only 5 minutes apart and he will be at the ceremony venue getting ready (a backyard).

I don't know how I will have time to finish off with her and the bridesmaids and then go and take pics of the groom in less than 30 minutes before the ceremony starts!

[metric_photography]

Originally Posted by bhursey

I do 3+ hours before and 1 hours after at least. You have the getting ready, the brides made, grooms men groom and bride mixing, and you have parent and sibling shots normaly I do those before with each the groom and the bride before then every one after...

30 min are they insane?!?!?!?! I did group shots with a 30 min deadline. Let me just tell you it does not work..

Thanks for your reply. This is exactly what I was thinking. When I was a 2nd for a wedding, the primary photographer was there before I got there, spending time with the bride and taking pics. The wedding is in the summer, but I am getting a bit stressed about this lack of time. I emailed her and let her know that it will be at least an hour each side before the ceremony.

Any thoughts?

[autofocus]

I would want more time to do all that...is she paying you by the hour?..and is that the reason for keeping it to 30 minutes?

[candleman]

30 minutes isn't enough for all of that.
not.possible, (well, it is possible, just highly doubtful and it wouldn't be easy)

[bhursey]

Also always something goes wrong really 2 hours before are a minimum. And that figure is with 2 photographers.. Normaly I do the bride getting ready the second photographer does the groom getting ready. Because they normaly happen at the same time. I build the time in my contract. So if they dont want to give me that time I say ok i cant do your wedding then.. The last wedding im glad I did. The make up artist took way to much time on the girls so we were an hour behind. And the maid of honor got burnt by an iorn so that was 30 more min. Luckly I also have a clause in my contract that says I am not responsible for missed shots because of things out of my controle..

So if they keep on pushing the 30 min thing say you cant do the wedding. You have to be tough and stand your ground.. From experince 30 min does not work. I wouldent say its imposible but you and the bride wont be happy with the results. So much stuff is hapening so quick your gonna be freaking out and not thinking creativly..