Building a Wedding Day Timeline
When you're just starting to build a schedule, here are the first 3 things you should be thinking about right away:
​
1) Your ceremony starting time. Everything revolves around it. You'll put this on your schedule first and build the rest forwards and backwards from it. For the sample below, we will use 5:00 PM.
​
2) Whether or not you're doing a first look. Either way, we strongly recommend that you do as many posed photos of the families and bridal parties before the ceremony. That avoids an extended cocktail hour, and you aren't putting extra stress on yourself after the ceremony. If you do have a first look, you can schedule every group photo beforehand (make sure all of the important people arrive early enough for this). If you don't have a first look, we recommend three separate photoshoots: one for the bride, one for the groom, and one after the ceremony during cocktail hour.
​
3) Give yourself more time than you think you need. If you're trying to decide whether something is going to take 20 or 30 minutes, choose 45. On EVERY SINGLE WEDDING we have attended, the schedule falls behind. It's not a question of "if;" it's "how much." The only thing that (almost) always sticks to the plan is the starting time of the ceremony itself.
​
With those 3 frameworks in mind, here is the template that we use to build our wedding timelines! Before entering any times, be sure to enter in any additional activities that you plan to do, that are not already there. For example, if you plan to play the shoe game during the reception, write that down with a guess as to how long it will take including setup and transition times.
Feel free to copy and paste whichever template is the best starting point for you into your own document:
___: Girls Arrive, Start Hair & Makeup (At least 4 hours before putting the dress on.)
___: Groomsmen Arrive & Get Ready (1-2 hours before groom & co photoshoot)
___: Photographers Scheduled Arrival (Can be at the same time as the groom’s arrival. Girls’ prep photos usually only start to get good towards the end of their prep. But that’s just our two cents. We are happy to arrive whenever you would like us to!)
___: Bride Puts On Dress (15 minutes)
___: Photo Shoot: Groom & Co (15 minutes; this can overlap with the bride putting on her dress.)
___: Photo Shoot: Bride & Co (30 minutes)
___: First Look for Dad & Anyone Other Than the Groom (10 minutes each)
4:15 PM: Buffer for Catch-up (45 minutes - please have this on the schedule!)
5:00 PM: Ceremony Begins (often 30 minutes)
___: Sunset (Look this up and put it on the schedule.)
5:30 PM: Ceremony Ends
5:30 PM: Cocktail Hour
___: Bride & Groom Portraits (10-20 minutes)
___: Family & Bridal Party Photos, All Together (15-30 minutes)
___: Grand Entrance (5 minutes)
​
___: Reception Begins / Food Line / “Photo Booth” Line (20-40 minutes)
___: Speeches/Toasts / Bride & Groom Eat (15 minutes)
___: First Dance / Special Dances (15-30 minutes)
___: Cake Cutting (10 minutes)
___: Fake Send Off (10 minutes)
(Just a suggestion. This is a good idea that allows you to get the “photo moment” before people start leaving.)
___: Dance Floor (maybe 2 hours, or as much time as is desired and/or permitted)
___: Photographer Departs (Maybe 1 hour after dance floor opens; the best photos are at the beginning, and that leaves plenty of time for ample coverage.)
___: End of Day (keep in mind any policies from the venue)
​​​Once you have filled in your own time slots, the next step would be to confer with your photographer (us!) and wedding planner to make sure everyone is in agreement on the durations and sequence of the events. ​​​After that, someone (either you or the wedding planner) needs to reach out to vendors such as the DJ, caterer, etc., and allow figure out when they would like to arrive in your proposed schedule. When you get their feedback, add their arrival and departure times as well.
​
We hope this is helpful! Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like our help. We are here to serve you!