When you are planning a wedding, all of the decisions you have to make can seem daunting! A lot of your timeline is determined by your photographer, but some decisions are made even before you hired them. That’s why I wrote this blog! To help you make those hard decisions and prepare you if you’re looking for raw, emotional wedding day coverage.

The Perfect Ceremony Time

As a Long Island wedding photographer, I’ve seen a lot of different scenarios, and I think I’ve narrowed down the best time to get married.

If taking place outside, will be around 30 minutes in duration, your ceremony should take place about 2 hours before sunset to allow for ideal lighting. 2 hours is perfect if you plan on doing a first look, and 2.5 hours is better if you don't - this way there is daylight left after the ceremony for photos. Of course, if your ceremony will be 45 minutes to an hour, you may want to consider planning for a little extra time.

If you're unsure of what time sunset is, google: Sunset (Insert Date and Location). For example, Sunset July 7th 2023 in Brooklyn, NY is 8:29pm. So the perfect ceremony time for an outdoor wedding with a first look would be 6:30, 6:00pm if you don't plan on doing a first look. The reason this matters is so the sun won't be so harsh on you in your ceremony photos.

Preparations For Raw & Emotional Wedding Photography

If you’ve found my website, you probably love authentic, raw, emotional photography. It’s important to remember that as photographers we don’t create moments, we document them. So if you want raw, emotional & wedding photography, your day needs to reflect that! Remind your loved ones that it's totally okay to be emotional in front of the camera. Often times I'm ready to capture a beautiful moment of mom or someone crying, and they see the camera, wipe their tears and smile directly at me, when in reality I wanted to capture that raw emotion. In addition, especially for the most important people to you - it is really important for them to put their phones away. When you look back on your wedding photos, you're going to want to see faces, not phones. So your loved ones getting up and taking photos and videos the whole time isn't going to allow for me to capture a beautiful photo of them admiring the wedding couple and enjoying the ceremony.

I HIGHLY recommend designating a specific person, like a close friend or cousin who isn't in the bridal party, to take photos and videos on their phone. Someone you trust to stay out of the way of the professional camera, this way mom, dad and other important family members can rest assured knowing they will have that cell phone video, and they can leave their phones in their pockets.

I hope you enjoyed these tips! If you are looking for a wedding photographer who helps with all of your wedding timeline needs and captures beautiful emotion on your wedding day, you can reach out to me here!

Brianna & Robert’s Watermill Caterers wedding in Smithtown, NY was absolutely beautiful. Everyone was present in the moment and truly enjoyed the ceremony.