A wedding-day timeline with room for portraits

Start from the light

We look up sunset for your date before anything else. The best portrait light is about an hour and a half before it, and that’s usually when guests move from drinks to dinner.

Borrow twenty minutes

We ask for twenty minutes then, not an hour. Your guests barely notice, and you get a break from hosting.

Leave the rest loose

Speeches run over, the band starts late. We plan around two fixed points, the ceremony and the portraits, and follow the rest as it happens.

What it looked like for Mara and Joel

Sunset in Germantown on June 20 was at 8:36. The ceremony was at four, guests sat down at six, and we walked into the rows at five past. By twenty past they were back at the table, and the light did the rest.

If your day is in winter

Sunset can be before five. Take portraits before the ceremony, or plan a first look, and keep the evening for the people.