Perfectly Planned Superstition Manor Wedding

There’s nothing better than a stress-free wedding day – one where everything runs on time, and the celebration runs just like you planned.  The question that gets asked the most, is:

How many hours of wedding photography do you need to create the perfect wedding day timeline?

Every wedding is different, but most weddings can be broken up into getting ready, the first look, the ceremony, family portraits, and the reception. Let’s take a look at how long on average each part of the day will take.

Getting Ready

A safe assumption is that each bridesmaid will take about an hour and a half to get ready, while the bride should have about three hours, just in case anything doesn’t go according to plan. However, if you only have one person doing hair and makeup, add a little extra time to everyone’s preparations as a buffer. 

Getting ready may not seem like a huge deal, but it takes a significant amount of time, and couples often don’t schedule enough time in their wedding day timeline for hair and makeup. If this part of the day takes too long, it can mess up your entire timeline and throw off the whole day, which is definitely the last thing you want! At Superstition Manor, there are four bridal suites and three groom suites, so it makes getting ready with a lot of people a breeze!

 

The Most Essential Detail of Your Wedding Day Timeline – The First Look

If you choose to have a first look with your partner before the ceremony, allot about 30 minutes for photos. Your first look should be an intimate, special moment, but it also doesn’t need to be long.  When it is just you, your soon-to-be-spouse, and the photographer, this moment can be very special. Try to keep parents or the wedding party from hanging around.  This can be distracting or taking away from the moment.

If you choose not to have a first look, you could use the time to get formal pictures of family and wedding party separately. This will allow more time for more pictures of just the two of you after the wedding.

 

The Ceremony

The length of your ceremony is entirely up to you and depends on what traditions you choose to include. Regardless of the length of your ceremony, when you are making your wedding day timeline, consider adding 15 to 20 minutes of buffer time, just in case your officiant is running late or something else goes wrong. 

Post-Ceremony Family Portraits

After the ceremony is over, guests will head to the reception venue. This allows the couple, the wedding party, and family members to pose for some quick formal portraits.

How long these portraits will take?

The number of people involved and whether or not you had a first look, are the two variables that will help you decide.   

If you do not have a first look, all couple portraits will take place post-ceremony.  If this is the case, consider allocating about two hours for those images to be taken. That may seem like a long time, but you’d be surprised how much time it takes to get everyone together and posed.

However, if you only need a few wedding party photos and images of your immediate family, you may only need an hour for these formal pictures.

The Superstition Manor wedding venue is laid out perfectly for this! Guests can be enjoying cocktail hour while formal pictures are taken on a different side of the property.  

 

Once the ceremony is over, it’s time for the fun part! It’s time to relax and get some amazing wedding pictures of just the two of you.  When creating your wedding day timeline, think about what time sunset is.  The light will be beautiful, and this will give you another opportunity for some quiet moments with your new spouse.

Normally photographers like to have about half of the cocktail hour for sunset pictures.  Then the couple can choose to join their guests– and enjoy those specialty cocktails and appetizers that they picked out.  Or some couples hide away and spend some time with each other before the craziness of the reception!

This couple chose not to do a first look. However, because we had done most of the formal pictures before the ceremony, we were able to take a short drive to the base of the Superstition Mountains for some epic wedding pictures.

The Reception

Finally, the celebration!!!  Your photographer doesn’t need to be there for the full four or five hours. Think about the big events you don’t want to miss. Moments like the special dances, toasts, and cutting of the cake are all key photographic moments. After the main events, your photographer will get a few shots of everyone grooving on the dance floor. You can usually end your coverage an hour or so before the reception ends. 

Stay in conversation with your photographer when creating your wedding timeline

To make sure you get the coverage you want, talk to your photographer about what moments matters most. Do you only want images of the ceremony? Do you want to capture every second of your day? Your photographer can work with you to create a perfect wedding day timeline.

Here is a great resource to help you get started in planning your wedding day.

Highlights of Superstition Manor

With breathtaking views of the Superstition Mountains, Superstition Manor is one of the valley’s premier wedding venues in Mesa, Arizona. It sits on over 11 acres which allows for a variety of weddings and events.  From Tuscan to rustic, you will be able plan your perfect wedding. We can’t wait to be back! For more information on Superstition Manor, CLICK HERE.