Brides often get so wrapped up in planning the details of their wedding, they forget the importance of their wedding day timeline! This timeline is what will keep everyone organized and on time for all of your wedding day events. Without one, hair and make up could fall drastically behind schedule, family portraits could be delayed… the list goes on and on. Just imagine how chaotic your day would be if you didn’t know where to be and when.

This is a tricky subject because it’s based on more than just the ceremony and reception start time! Your timeline is also based on how many members you have in your bridal party, how many family formals you want, how far you have to travel from location to location, and it’s even more based on what time the sun sets! There are so many details to consider when making your timeline! For all of my brides and grooms, I offer to make their wedding day timeline for them. This frees up a lot of time and eliminates unnecessary stress for them! If you aren’t sure where to start, ask your photographer for help! They’ll be more than happy to assist you with your timeline!

From my experience, there are 3 things every bride needs to know about her wedding day timeline to ensure a smooth, conflict free wedding day!

1. The Ceremony Start Time
Every part of your wedding day is going to revolve around this time! The ceremony time will dictate what time you have to start getting ready, what time formals will start, and what time the reception will end. Before you set a time for your ceremony, consider all aspects of your wedding day to make sure you have enough light for your portraits.

For example, if you want an 6pm ceremony in the winter, you’ll need to be okay with taking your wedding party, newlywed, and family formals before the ceremony, otherwise you won’t have enough natural light for formals afterwards. Another example is wanting a sparkler send off! If your ceremony time is scheduled for 12pm in the summer, it won’t be dark enough to have a sparkler send off after the reception. I highly suggest considering all aspects of your day before you set your ceremony time and speak with your photographer about all of your options to ensure you get the wedding day you’ve been dreaming of!

One quick tip for every bride and groom is to NOT set a “false” start time on your invitations! I know it can be tempting to schedule your ceremony with a start time that is 30 minutes earlier than you actually plan to start your ceremony. You want all of your friends and family to be on time, but setting a false start time will only irritate your guests. Your guests know how important this day is to you. They won’t be late. Most guests arrive 30 minutes before the ceremony time anyways!
2. Nothing Ever Goes As Planned
Well, this might be a bit of an exaggeration. Saying that nothing ever goes as planned is a little much. But truly, on your wedding day, there will be a lot of hiccups and unexpected bits that you didn’t anticipate. Be sure to leave an extra 5-10 minutes here and there in case something gets behind. When planning how long you and your bridesmaids will spend getting ready, expect each bridesmaid to take 1 hour to get their hair and make up done. P.S. This is a great time to add in a few extra minutes per bridesmaid!

Don’t forget to consider how long it will take to get from the prep location to the ceremony! If it takes you 10 minutes to get from here to there on a Monday, make sure you double that amount of time to make up for traffic on a Saturday! Having extra time in your schedule never hurts!  But you may regret rushing to your ceremony if you’re running behind on make up or get stuck in traffic.

3. Formals Will Take 1.5 Hours

A super common misconception is that formals will take only 30 minutes. Regardless of if you are doing formals before or after the ceremony, expect it to take around 1.5 hours. You will spend around 20-30 minutes for family formals. Don’t forget to include transition time: the amount of time it takes to rally up and dismiss family AND the bridal party. Next you’ll spend about 20-30 minutes on wedding party formals. Lastly, you’ll want to spend about 30 minutes on newlywed portraits, although this will likely be your ONLY time alone together. I kid you not! Brides and grooms don’t get much alone time on their wedding day until the day is actually over! So, most photographers suggest spending 45 minutes on newlywed portraits.

Totaling this up, you’ll spend about 1.5 hours. That’s a LOT of time to spend on formal photos. To make formals go smoothly and quickly, give a detailed shot list of groupings to your photographer beforehand.

There is SO much to consider when creating your ideal wedding day timeline, so please ask your photographer for help. They will have done this plenty of times and will know what will work best for your specific wedding! The key to a smooth wedding is a good timeline! Leave your comments below for next weeks topic! If you’re planning your wedding, I hope this helped you organize your perfect wedding day timeline!