How to Create a Wedding Day Timeline
DAY OF WEDDING TIMELINE | WEDDING PLANNING TIPS | VENDOR DAY-OF TIMELINE
Along with all the excitement of planning your dream day comes the task of creating a detailed timeline to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. If you’re wondering how to do that, we've got you covered! We’ve compiled some tips on how to create a wedding day timeline and what to include in it. So read on for all the information you need!
List Out The Day’s Events
The first thing you and your partner should do when creating a timeline is to brain dump all of the parts of the wedding day you want to include. That means far more than just the ceremony, reception, and cocktail hour! Do you want to do a first look? Are parents giving speeches at the reception? What about a bouquet and garter toss? Walk yourselves through your wedding day from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, and write down everything you can think of.
Talk to Your Wedding Venue
If you’re getting married at a traditional wedding venue, it’s very likely that you already agreed to some aspects of the timeline in your contract. And even if you don't think you did, it’s always good to talk to your venue coordinator to double-check. Most venues will have a designated time that music has to be off at the end of the night, and this is a great time to work backward from. Other good questions to ask are if any spaces need to be flipped and how long that will take, whether you can get ready on-site, and what time your vendors can arrive to start setting up equipment and decorations.
Figure Out How Long Things Will Take
There are tons of general wedding day timelines you can find online - but beware! A lot of these use standardized times for parts of the wedding that might not work for yours! For example, I’ve seen tons of wedding timelines allowing a full hour for a ceremony, but if you’re having a simple civil ceremony yours may take as little as 15-20 minutes! Depending on how many bridesmaids you have getting their hair and makeup professionally done, those services might take several hours!
Another important vendor to talk to about timing is your photographer. If you aren’t doing a first look, you’ll likely want to allow a good portion of your cocktail hour to take couple’s portraits. However, if you also want to take all of your family photos during this time and you have a large family, you may need more than an hour-long cocktail hour! Go over your shot list with your photographer in advance of your wedding so you two can figure out the perfect amount of time to get every photo you want.
Consider Transportation and Add Buffers
Once you have all of the above information, it’s time to start putting your timeline together. And don’t forget how long it takes to get from one place to another! The last thing you want on your wedding day is to be late for your ceremony because you're stuck in traffic! Also, remember to account for some unexpected hiccups in your day by adding some buffer time between events! Adding 15-20 minutes here and there will allow you a moment to breathe and prevent the entire day from going off course if one thing is running a little over.
Review & Share With Your Vendors!
When you and your partner have finished creating your wedding timeline, it can be super helpful to hand it off to a trusted friend or family member for a second look. Sometimes they can catch things that you may have missed, and they can also help bring an outsider's perspective. I once worked a wedding with a 9 pm dinner time - the couple always ate late so they didn’t think anything of it, but their wedding had tons of children who were due for bedtime before they had even eaten!
As soon as you and your partner have agreed on the final version of the timeline, go ahead and send it out to all your vendors. If you’re feeling super organized, you can even make different versions with highlighted portions that pertain to each vendor. This will help make sure that everyone is on the same page well before the wedding day, and your vendors can help to make everything go smoothly. It also allows them plenty of time to reach out to you if they have any questions or concerns about their portion of the timeline.
Wedding day timelines can be a little daunting to create, but they are definitely worth the effort. Not only do they help keep you organized and on track throughout your big day, but they also ensure that every small event flows smoothly and that all of your vendors are on the same page. And if planning out every moment of the big day isn’t really your thing, a wedding planner can most definitely help to create the timeline on your behalf!
