Every wedding vendor you’ve hired is asking for a wedding timeline. It’s starting to feel like a homework assignment you’d rather not be bothered with. “It’s my wedding! It’s not supposed to be this stressful!” You’re right! Planning your wedding should be a joyous occasion so I put together this blog post to help you through the craziness of making your wedding timeline.
Everyone’s asking so keep reading to learn how to make a wedding timeline.
Things to Consider When Creating Your Wedding Timeline
The time
What time does your ceremony start? What time will the venue let you in? How long does it take to drive from the ceremony to the reception?
These are all questions you’ll want to consider when creating your timeline.
The season/weather
Will it rain? Will it snow? Will there be a hurricane?
Answering these questions can help you choose the perfect venue and help guide your wedding timeline. For example, if it’s going to be raining all day you might need to build in a little travel time so you can go to an indoor spot for your portraits.
The sun position
Is the sun going to be behind you blinding all of your guests? Is the sun going to make you and your future spouse squint in every photo? Does the sun set at 5pm instead of 9pm because it’s winter?
The time it takes to complete a task
Your everyday makeup may only take to 10 minutes to apply but your wedding day makeup artist is going to need way more than 10 minutes to apply makeup that’s going to last through a day full of crying, cake in the face, and more crying.
Check with your vendors and ask them how much time they need for things throughout your day so you don’t end up feeling rushed.
Things to realize when you’re creating your wedding timeline
You might miss your entire cocktail hour
You carefully chose the tastiest cocktail hour spread and now you may not get to enjoy it with your guests. Have a bridesmaid or groomsman get you a plate of the food you’ve been dreaming about. Cocktail hour is the best time to take family and wedding party portraits after the ceremony – especially if you absolutely do not want to see each other before the wedding ceremony. It gives your guests something to do while you’re busy with photos.
You might have to wake up at 5am even if your wedding starts at 4pm
Wedding days are extremely long. Even though you’re not walking down the aisle until late afternoon you still may need to wake up super early that morning. From getting your hair and makeup done with the wedding party to finalizing any final touches, wedding days start early and end late. Just make sure you get a good breakfast.
You might owe money to your vendors after your wedding
The DJ, photographer, videographer, planner/coordinator usually work on an hourly basis with little room for setbacks. If your ceremony is supposed to start at 3 but due to unforeseen circumstances it starts at 4:30, that could set the entire timeline back an hour and a half meaning you could owe your hourly vendors for the extra 1.5 hours that they stay.
For most vendors it costs more to pay for an extra hour that it would have been to just book them beforehand for more time. For example, if you book your photographer for 6 hours and due to set backs they have to stay for 8 hours – their 8 hour package is significantly cheaper than their 6 hour package plus 2 a la carte hours.
To prevent this scenario of owing your vendors more than you booked them for, build in some extra time in your timeline that you can shed if needed, be prepared to not get all that you asked for, or be mentally and financially prepared to pay the extra fees.
How To Make A Wedding Timeline
Finalize the order of events
First, write down the order of events. Don’t think about times just yet. Write down the events in order and also include the placeholder “travel” if moving locations is between events. For example:
Getting Ready At Mom’s House
Travel (to church)
Ceremony
Cocktail Hour
Family Formals (during Cocktail Hour)
Wedding Party Portraits (during Cocktail Hour)
Travel (to reception)
Entrances
Dinner
Toasts
Cake Cutting
First Dances
Open Dance Starts
Bouquet Toss
Sparkler Exit
Lock in your ceremony start time
I suggest planning the whole day around your ceremony start time. If your ceremony starts at 3:30pm, lock it in to your timeline and don’t change it.
Based on the order above, from there you would calculate the travel time to the ceremony location (church in the example) from the getting ready location (Mom’s house). Add a 20 minute buffer just in case there is traffic or if getting ready takes longer than you thought. More about buffers next.
Add in durations and buffers
Talk to the vendors who are time sensitive. Ask your officiant how long the ceremony will be (or tell them how long you want it). Ask your photographer how long Family Formals will take. Ask your makeup artist how long makeup will take.
Add the durations of the events into your timeline and also add 15-20 minute buffers so that you’re prepared and still on time if something gets set back.
Tell everyone
Send your wedding timeline to all of your vendors and your wedding party. Make sure to tell everyone where they should be and when ahead of your wedding day. This way on your wedding day you can just enjoy!
