Day of timeline and first look location help

SB1512

I am about 6 months out and starting to think about my timeline before the wedding and would love some help!  FI and I will be doing a first look.  Our ceremony starts at 6:30, and assuming there is a wedding before us, we cannot arrive at the venue until about 6pm.  If there is no wedding booked, we may be able to get there early, but I'm not sure if there would be a need to.

So, for anyone who did a first look, what time did you have your hair/makeup appointments?  How much time did you have between finishing hair and makeup and getting dressed (my hair/makeup person is not traveling, but her salon is about 15 minutes from my parent's house, where I am most likely getting ready).  How far in advance before you had to be at the ceremony site did you meet up with your FI and his groomsmen to take pictures?  Lastly, I am trying to figure out when we would check into our hotel if we end up not getting ready there.....after first look pictures and before we head to the ceremony site?  Or, if we decide to do pictures closer to our venue, check into hotel, then take pictures, then head to venue?

Lastly, a first look location.  Our venue is grassy hill lodge in derby, and our hotel wil either be in shelton, stratford or orange (haven't pick yet).  it looks like I will be getting ready at my parents house in wallingford, and FI will be at his parents house in north haven.  I'm looking for photo sites either in the north haven/wallingford area, or closer to our venue/hotel.  I have been thinking maybe doing photos at Choate Rosemary Hall (my mom works there and it's on beautiful grounds) and downtown wallingford, but I'm def looking for other ideas, and indoor locations in case it's raining! 

Thanks!

MoonlightSilver

For me, photos were super super important, and I wanted lots of time to get them done before our ceremony- which was at 6:30 like your ceremony is (and we also couldn't use the venue before hand, since it's a public aquarium!). 

9am - hair appointment (for 7 people, including me)

11:30/noon ish - done with hair, pick up lunch at a nearby diner

noon - eat lunch in hotel room

1pm - makeup artist shows up

2pm - photographer / videographer shows up

2:45 ish - head to first look location

3pm - First look, family pictures, wedding party pictures

4:30 ish - send family and wedding party away, pictures of bride & groom

5:30 ish - travel back to wedding venue to hide!

6:25 ish - get in line for ceremony

6:30 Get married

That was our day! We started pretty early for such a late ceremony time, but it made it SUPER relaxed, since we had hours and hours to get ready, take pictures, etc. I didn't have to worry about rushing everything. 

As far as checking into the hotel, we actually had my mom do that for us. After she took family pictures with us, she and my brother took our suitcases to the hotel we would be staying at and checked us in. One less thing for me to worry about.

I'm not sure which route you'll be traveling, but you might want to check out Southford Falls in Southbury for a First Look location. They have a beautiful pond, waterfall, field and wooded area. 

SB1512

Thank you!  I have definitely thought about Southford Falls.  I've never been there, but I have seen pictures.  Would we be able to get nice shots without having to hike around in the woods?  That is also a great idea about asking someone else to check us into the hotel, I'll keep that in mind.  My hair and makeup are the same person, and I have 3 BM's, so 4 of us and total that the salon will be taking care of (but, I don't think any of my BM's are getting their makeup done, only hair), so hopefully I can push the salon appoinment back until a bit later in the morning.

Also, our contract with our photographers says we can have them for unlimited hours.  I really want to make sure I get those getting ready photos, but do you think they would get annoyed by potentially there being some downtime (ie: probably having some sort of lunch spread at my parent's house that we could eat before getting dressed) and driving from the getting ready site to the first look location?  I mean, I'm sure it comes with the territory, but I figured I'd ask.

MoonlightSilver

You can definitely get lots of nice pictures without hiking around. The waterfall is visible from the road, so you'd just park in the parking lot and walk down a grassy path to the falls, or  over the bridge (which separates the pond and the start of the falls) to the field on the other side. Google maps lets you do street view so you can see how easy it is that way. 

Our photogrpher didn't seem to mind that he was with us over half the day. You can certainly ask yours and make your plans based upon their response. But really, if they work with unlimited hours, then they are used to this all day wedding thing! Just make sure you feed them!