Setting up your wedding day timeline can be just as confusing as trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. How do you know what amount of time is needed to get everyone ready? How do you know if it’ll take 20 minutes or 45 minutes to get everyone through a buffet line? How early should the wedding cake be set out on display?
No one timeline is the exact same. Similar, yes. Asking in social media forums for someone to send their timeline for a 4pm ceremony and wedding may not yield the most accurate results for you. When designing your timeline for the day, I recommend mentally walking yourself through each hour of the day and taking the scenarios below, into consideration:
- How early do we have access to the venue?
- This will play into decorating, where the bridal party will be getting ready, etc.
- How long does my MUAH (makeup and hair) need, per person? And how big is my bridal party? Do they need longer for bridal hair and makeup?
- Also important- how many MUAH artists are scheduled? Larger bridal parties will need more than MUAH to ensure everyone is ready on time.
- Is there travel time between ceremony and reception sites? If so, is construction or heavy traffic a concern?
- Don’t forget to take local happenings into account when calculating travel time. For example, I live in a college town. Traffic on football Saturday is atrocious! It would potentially add 30+ min to travel time across town. Are there festivals happening that will close roads? Is the most direct route between two locations down to one lane for construction?
- Are we doing first look photos? Or taking all photos between the ceremony and reception?
- More on this, coming in workshop #15!
- What length of time will the ceremony take?
- Ask your officiant for a copy of their script or how long they anticipate the ceremony lasting. Don’t forget to incorporate time for your vows. Some clients prefer short and sweet. Others may host a traditional Catholic ceremony, for example, that lasts 45+ minutes.
- Do I want to spread out any of the traditions or activities I’m incorporating (dances, toasts, cake cutting, etc.) throughout the night, or do them all early?
- Some clients prefer to do everything early, allowing older guests such as grandparents to still be present for everything even though they may not stay all night. Whereas others opt to spread things out so that guests don’t leave after they’ve seen your fist dance and had their slice of cake.
- If dinner is buffet style, is it a double-sided buffet, single sided, or being served from behind the buffet by staff?
- Double sided buffets will allow for the group to move through the line more quickly. Self-serve single sided will require more time. Just some food for thought (I love a good dad-pun).
- Is your cake frosted in butter cream and won’t withstand outdoor heat (if that applies to your scenario)?
- This also applies to any deserts you may have that need to remain refrigerated to avoid either melting or spoiling. Someone may need to be designated on the timeline to set those items up later, especially if your wedding is outdoors and heat/humidity are a factor.
While the list above isn’t comprehensive, they are the top factors that I most often need to consider when designing timelines. Unique activities you’ve planned, the size of your group, having a second shooter for photographs… it all factors in.
Not in the mood to figure out your timeline? Click on the “Schedule a Workshop” page and schedule your personalized timeline workshop! You answer the questions, I create it for you.
Helping YOU say ‘I-DO’,
Your WedUcator