How long to get dressed?

achiduck

So I'm starting to work on a basic timeline. How long did it take you and your girls to get dressed and do the "getting ready" photos?

AdeleDazeem

Hair started at 3pm.  The woman did both me and my sister.  She was done by 4:30pm.  The woman then did my make up and was done by 5pm.  We had plenty of time and nothing was rushed.

Photographer appeared at 5pm.  I was dressed and photographed by 5:20pm. 

We only had one person working on two people.  It will take considerably longer if you have one person for many more people.

Benny618

You should ask your hair and make up people how long they need for each girl, and then add on wiggle room to that.  They should know how long they need for each girl, and with the wiggle room you won't have to rush in case they spend a bit too long on someone.

Meegles4

We got to the church at noon, the ceremony started at 2. I don't think it took longer than half an hour for me to get dressed, and I had a corset back that had to be laced. Some of my girls came dressed, and some got dressed while I was getting dressed. The photographer just sort of wandered and captured things, so we didn't really do any posing here that would add extra time. This also doesn't include hair/make-up, which was done prior to us arriving at the church.

So, 30 minutes w/o hair and make-up, maybe 2-2.5 hours if you're including that.

But, if you're worried about a timeline, I might build a little extra time in there just for you to relax, maybe have something to eat, etc. before getting the ceremony started.

achiduck

I've already talked to hair and makeup about the length of time required for that. I was more curious about how long it took once the bride and BMs actually stareted getting dressed.

I've asked my photographer how long she'll need for first look, WP photos, and family photos so now I'm trying to put it all together.

I want to make sure I leave enough time, plus a bit extra for incidentals.

Maggie0829

Well we didn't do "get ready" photos so I may not be any help with that.  But, hair and makeup for 4 girls took about 4.5-5 hours (about an hour or so per girl).  We then trucked our butts down to our ceremony/reception venue where we sat around snacking on veggies and cheese for an hour or so.  To get dressed took my girls about 20 minutes (only had 2 and both had corsets to be laced up), for me it took me about 5 minutes to get zipped and buttoned up.  Then we had som pre-ceremony shots done and then I stood around until about 4:15 when I finally said "I don't care if we are early, let's get this show on the road!"  I was excited and nervous and just really wanted to finally get married LOL!

But I would talk with your hair and makeup person and I would also talk with your photographer about how much time they would like to shoot you and your girls getting ready.

KellyBrian2013

My photographer arrived after hair/makeup was already done. She took a few photos of the dress, shoes, and accessories before I put them on (while BM's were getting their sashes put on). She shot some of me getting in the dress and the shoes, and that took maybe 10 minutes; she just did it as I was getting dressed naturally. I didn't really care about a ton of getting ready shots (I had my professional-grade camera with me all morning, though, so we took our own) so we went straight into bride's side photos which took a little under an hour.

In that time we did:
bride with parents (bio & step)
bride with sibling
bride with grandparents
bride with aunts & uncles (both sides, mom and dad's)
bride with cousins (both sids, mom and dad's)
bride with each individual bridesmaid
group bridesmaid shots (jumping, walking, posed)
bride alone

Groom took approximately 45 minutes with similar photos with his family (minus aunt/uncle and cousin pics because that would have been 70+ additional people LOL) and the groomsmen.


However, I will note that my photographer was AWESOME and really took charge, so everything went quickly and smoothly. When my MOH got married (3 weeks before me), her photographer was S-L-O-W, so if she had tried to do the number of photos that we had wanted with her photographer, it would have taken hours. So you sort of have to know your photographer, too.

itzMS

Each of us had our own hair/makeup artist (large salon) and that took 2 hours (8:00A-10:00AM). Getting dressed took around 30 minutes. Ceremony started at 11A.

ITA with the other posters that the photographer is the best person to ask as to how much time he/she needs to get the number of images you desire.

OliveOilsMom

My photographer asked that all the BM be dressed by the time she arrived.  As soon as she got there, she took some detail photos.  Then had me start getting into my gown.  I also had a corset back and my mom is a perfectionist!  So I would say the pictures of me getting dressed and then the pictures of just me immediately following dressing took about 20 minutes.  Then I started pictures with family and BP.  Total, my photographer arrived at 3 and was off to the church by 4:15. 

LDubHawksFan

When I picked up my dress, the lady said it would probably take my mom or MOH 30 mins to get my corset all stringed up, so I'm accounting for that, plus maybe 10 extra mins for other shots, like getting my shoes on, my BMs posed around me getting ready, etc

Tabbie11

Depending on the dress of course, the actual getting dressed part shouldnt take long. I started to think of logistics etc., and someone gave me a good piece of advice, once you draft your timeline and make sure you have everything, back it up half an hour. The actual getting dressed won't take me long, my dress zips and buttons but I want to make sure there is extra time for tears, laughs and touch ups! I'm giving myself a minimum of an hour.

Summer2011Bride

We got our hair and makeup done at 9, then had an hour or two to go home and relax, which I liked.

Our photographer requested we be at the church by 12:30 (ceremony at 3) because I wasn't seeing H beforehand, so he had to take all our WP shots separately before the ceremony. The girls' pics were done by 1:30 and then he started the guys. So for 1.5 hours we sat around eating, talking, and generally being goofy before the ceremony began.

LeiselEB

Hair and makeup took a while, so double check with your people for that about how long they take. Getting my dress, shoes, jewelry and veil on took all of 10 minutes, if that. So the photographers were there for maybe 20 minutes of "getting ready/getting dressed".

We had our photographers arrive just as we were expecting to be done with hair and makeup, then they got a few shots of the makeup being finished, and went straight on to getting dressed pictures. I felt that maximized the amount of time we had to get photos taken before the ceremony with my bridesmaids and family. I know some people have their photographers hang out during the whole getting ready process and it just seems like a waste of their time.

kipnus

My photographer showed up at my parents' house at 12:30 to start taking "getting ready" pics. At this point, my sister had started curling my hair, but I was a bawling mess, and not ready for photos. She took some detail shots and then we played a few rounds of my favourite card game to get calmed down. 

By 2:15, my hair and makeup were done, I was dressed, we'd had a light lunch, and she'd gotten photos of me with my parents, siblings, aunts, cousin, grandma, and best friend. I did my own makeup, so it only took about 15 minutes. My sister spent about an hour on my hair. My dress only took a minute to put on, and then jewelry was another minute or two. Our ceremony started at 3pm.

I should add that my dress was really simple, no train or corset, just a zipper up the side.

gurrlballa10

Photographer arrived at the hotel quite at 1:30 and started taking pictures.  We had two MU/H ladies and it took about 5 hours to get 10 people done, so we had pictures going at the hotel from 1:30-4:30.  The BM all got dressed at the hotel and then I got dressed at the venue.  Took about 10 minutes for me.