How to Plan an Elkin’s Estate Wedding

So, you’ve booked Elkin’s Estate. now How to Plan your Elkin’s Estate Wedding (even if you don’t have a planner).

How to Plan an Elkins Estate Wedding: A Photographer’s Guide to the Day

Elkins is one of those venues where having a little extra planning can make a huge difference. The property is massive, there are beautiful photo opportunities everywhere, and there are a few things about the space that can really work in your favor when building your wedding day timeline. As an Elkins Estate wedding photographer, these are the things I’d think about first.

1. Plan your ceremony 1–2 hours before sunset

One of my favorite ways to plan an Elkins Estate wedding is to have the ceremony about one to two hours before sunset. This gives you beautiful light for portraits afterward without making your guests wait forever for the reception. Not to mention the way the sun travels will make your ceremony very bright if you do it too early in the day if you have your ceremony in the outside location.

Even better, Elkins Estate is perfect for a first look. There are so many beautiful places around the property where you can have one, which means we can choose a spot that feels private and looks beautiful without having to travel far.

A first look also gives us the chance to get a lot of your formal photos finished before the ceremony. That means more time to actually enjoy cocktail hour, hang out with your people, and get to the party. Personally, I highly recommend first looks for all of my weddings.

2. Give yourself at least 40 minutes for formal photos

Elkins Estate is big. Bigger than it even looks in photos. It is an incredible space, but you really need to take that into consideration when planning for photo moments.

I recommend allowing at least 40 minutes for formal photos, especially if you want to take advantage of more than one area of the property. We aren’t just walking ten feet from one backdrop to another. There are gardens, architecture, balconies, beautiful interiors, and plenty of little spots worth stopping for.

And one of the best things about Elkins is that bad weather doesn’t mean bad photos. There are so many beautiful indoor spaces that we can still make a really varied gallery even if it’s raining.

4. Take advantage of the getting-ready spaces

One thing I love about Elkins Estate is that you don’t have to wait until the bridal suite is available to start getting beautiful getting-ready photos.

The makeup room in the basement is incredible and beautifully lit, so you can still have photos with your bridesmaids getting ready in the morning. Then, once the bridal suite is available around noon, you can move upstairs for those fun pajama photos, putting on your dress, and all the little moments that happen right before the day really gets started.

And did I mention the bridal suite is pink?! It photographs so well. The light in there is absolutely gorgeous.

5. Plan for at least two photographers

For planning an Elkins Estate wedding, I really recommend having at least two photographers, and for larger weddings, a third can be incredibly helpful.

The property is simply too large for one photographer to truly capture everything happening throughout the day. While I’m photographing you getting ready, another photographer can be with your partner. While I’m taking portraits, they can be documenting your guests, the property, or all the little things happening around you. Elkins gives you so much to work with, and having a team means we can capture more of it without you feeling like you have to be everywhere at once.

6. Consider doing family photos before the ceremony

If you’re having your ceremony close to sunset, I strongly recommend doing family photos before the ceremony.

The trees around Elkins are beautiful, but they’re also big, which means the sun can disappear pretty quickly once it gets lower in the sky. Getting your family photos done earlier gives us better light and keeps you from spending your entire cocktail hour taking formal photos.

It also means we can save more of that beautiful evening light for the two of you. You get your sunset portraits, you actually get to enjoy cocktail hour, and then you can head into your reception without feeling like you’ve missed half of it.

7. How do you get beautiful wedding photos without spending your whole day taking pictures?

When figuring out how to plan your Elkin’s Estate wedding photos, the most important thing I’d tell any couple is you don’t need to spend your whole wedding taking photos to get beautiful photos.

The trick is building the photography into your timeline instead of trying to squeeze everything in at the last minute.

I’ll give you direction when we need it, especially during portraits, but I’m not going to keep you standing in front of a camera all day. We can use the architecture and gardens for a few really good portrait locations, photograph your people naturally throughout the day, and take advantage of the moments that happen without much direction at all.

The goal is for you to have a beautiful gallery and actually remember being at your wedding.

8. How to Plan your Elkin’s Estate Wedding: Photography Timeline

Every wedding is different, but here’s an example of how we structured Sean and Kathryn’s Elkins Estate wedding:

11:00 AM | Venue details + drone

12:30 PM | Details and getting ready

12:45 PM | Pajamas + bridesmaid photos

1:00 PM | Getting dressed

1:15 PM | Bridesmaid first look

1:45 PM | Dad first look

2:00 PM | Sean and Kathryn’s first look

2:15 PM | Couple portraits

3:00 PM | Wedding party photos

3:45 PM | Family photos

4:30 PM | Hideaway / final prep and ceremony details

5:00 PM | Guests arrive

5:30 PM | Ceremony

6:00 PM | Extended family + cocktail hour

6:15 PM | Golden hour portraits

7:05 PM | Reception entrance

7:15 PM | First dance

7:20 PM | Cake

7:25 PM Dinner Served

8:00 Speeches

8:30 PM | Mother-son dance

8:35 PM | Father-daughter dance

8:40 Open Dance Floor

9:00 Second Dress Change

10:00 PM | Pretzel truck

11:00 PM | After-party

The biggest takeaway isn’t that you need to copy this timeline. It’s that there’s a lot happening at Elkins Estate, and giving yourself enough breathing room means you don’t have to choose between great photos and actually enjoying your wedding.

13. What should you prioritize if your wedding photos are important to you?

If I were planning an Elkins Estate wedding and photography was a priority, I’d focus on three things:

Have a first look.
It gives you so much more flexibility with the rest of the day, especially at a venue as large as Elkins.

Give yourself enough time for formal photos in multiple locations.
There is way too much beautiful architecture, gardens, and light at Elkins to rush through one quick portrait session.

Leave time to actually enjoy your wedding.
I want you to make it to cocktail hour. I want you at your reception. I want you on the dance floor with your friends. Your timeline should make room for the photographs and the actual experience of being there.

14. How to Plan an Elkin’s Estate Wedding without a planner

You don’t necessarily need a full-service planner to have a smooth wedding day, especially because Elkins Estate has an incredible staff. Their bridal attendant is incredibly on top of things, and their team knows how to keep a large wedding moving. At Sean and Kathryn’s wedding, they were able to quickly serve more than 200 guests dinner without the reception feeling stalled.

If you’re planning without a planner, I would put extra thought into the vendors who will be communicating with everyone on the wedding day. Your DJ or band can play a much bigger role than just keeping the dance floor going. You want someone who communicates well with your photographer, venue, caterer, and other vendors and can help keep the evening moving.

I’ve worked with EBE Talent at Elkins and they’ve been incredible at this. Having a DJ or band who is organized, communicative, and paying attention to the timeline can make a huge difference when you don’t have a planner coordinating every little thing.

If you’re looking for a photogarapher with experience photographing an Elkin’s Estate wedding, contact Hailee.