A wedding timeline can look perfectly reasonable on paper and feel completely different once the day begins.
This is especially true in Costa Rica. Resorts can be large, getting from one location to another takes longer than expected, weather can shift, and our tropical sunset doesn't wait because hair and makeup ran 20 minutes late.
After more than 20 years of photographing weddings throughout Guanacaste, there is one thing we always come back to: a good timeline should give you enough time for beautiful photographs without making your wedding feel like one long photo session.
Here's what we would think about.
Give yourself more time to get ready than you think
If hair and makeup is scheduled to finish at 2:00, we wouldn't plan to begin portraits at 2:00.
There is always something else. Someone still needs to get dressed. Flowers arrive. Jewelry needs to go on. Mom isn't ready yet. Someone is looking for the vows.
None of this means the wedding is running late. It's simply what getting ready actually looks like.
We would much rather build an extra 20 minutes into the timeline than have everyone watching the clock before the ceremony has even started.
Have your details ready when we arrive
If you'd like your invitation suite, rings, shoes, jewelry, perfume or family heirlooms photographed, gather everything in one place before we arrive.
The same applies to the groom: blazer or suit, shoes, watch, cufflinks, and boutonnières.
It's a small thing, but it saves us from using photography time searching hotel rooms for a missing invitation envelope or the second wedding ring.
Our recommendation: Put everything you would like photographed into one box or bag the night before. We'll take it from there.
Decide how you feel about a first look
This decision can change the entire timeline.
A first look allows us to photograph the two of you, the wedding party and sometimes immediate family before the ceremony. That can leave considerably more freedom afterward.
But we don't believe everyone should have a first look. If seeing each other for the first time at the ceremony is important to you, keep that moment. We will simply plan differently and make sure there is enough time after the ceremony for the photographs that matter.
Our photography team will adapt to what is important to you, not the other way around.
Don't underestimate transportation
This is a big one in Costa Rica.
A ten-minute drive on Google Maps does not equal ten minutes in a wedding timeline.
Everyone needs to gather, get into the vehicles, load dresses and flowers, travel, unload and walk to wherever they need to be. At larger resorts, even moving between your room, first-look location and ceremony can take time.
We've photographed enough weddings at properties throughout Peninsula Papagayo and Guanacaste to know that “it's all at the same resort” doesn't necessarily mean everything is five minutes apart.
Build that time in. You'll be glad you did.
Plan your ceremony around the light
This is where we would be particularly careful with a Costa Rica wedding timeline.
Our sunsets happen relatively early, and once the light starts changing, it changes quickly. If your ceremony finishes very close to sunset and you haven't done a first look, we may suddenly have family photographs, wedding-party photographs and your portraits all competing for the same small window of light.
We never want your first moments after getting married to feel like a race against the sun.
Our recommendation: Before confirming your ceremony time, talk to both your planner and photographer. Your month, venue, ceremony location and whether you're doing a first look should all be part of that decision.
You should get to enjoy cocktail hour too
We don't automatically assume that cocktail hour belongs to photography.
Yes, we may use part of it for family photographs and portraits. But if the timeline has been planned properly, you shouldn't need to disappear for the entire thing.
You invited everyone you love to Costa Rica. You should actually get to spend time with them.
Sometimes that means doing more photographs before the ceremony. Sometimes it means keeping the family list organized and realistic. Sometimes it means taking 15 beautiful minutes together instead of turning portraits into an hour-long production.
More photography time doesn't automatically mean better photographs.
And once the party starts, let it start
We care enormously about the photographs, but we don't want photography to run your wedding.
Once dinner, speeches and dancing begin, our approach becomes increasingly observational. We want the people, reactions, conversations and slightly chaotic things that happen when everyone stops thinking about the schedule.
There will always be another photograph we could take.
But truly, we'd rather have you on the dance floor enjoying the day you have been planning!
What could a Costa Rica wedding timeline look like?
We hesitate to publish a “perfect timeline” because there isn't one. But this gives you an idea of how we might structure a wedding with a first look included:
Important to consider: Getting ready starting time will depend with the amount of people who will be getting ready with you on this day!
1:30 PM — Photography begins + details
2:45 PM — Final dressing
3:15 PM — First look
3:30 PM — Couple + wedding party portraits
4:10 PM — Couple steps away as guests arrive
4:30 PM — Ceremony
5:00 PM — Family photographs
5:15 PM — Couple portraits
5:40 PM — Join cocktail hour
6:30 PM — Reception
But please don't copy this timeline and send it to your planner. The right times will change depending on the month, sunset, size of your wedding, ceremony length, family list, venue and how you actually want to spend the day. Definitely something that your wedding team (including photographers!) will consider and give you the best recommendation!
A wedding at Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo may move very differently from a private villa celebration in Tamarindo or a wedding at JW Marriott Guanacaste.
And that's exactly the point.
Our biggest recommendation
Don't try to fit the maximum number of photographs into your wedding day. Build a timeline that protects the photographs that matter while leaving enough space for the wedding to actually happen.
Some of our favorite photographs come from the parts nobody scheduled: your dad walking into the room while you're getting ready, friends finding you during cocktail hour, five quiet minutes together after the ceremony, or everyone finally losing themselves on the dance floor.
A good timeline gives those moments somewhere to happen.
And that's ultimately what we're trying to protect.
