Day Of – Wedding Timeline
Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, not to mention one of the busiest. After all the planning you’ve put into this special day, the mere thought of another schedule or checklist might make your head spin. But your wedding day schedule is one of the most important items you will need before you walk down that aisle. If you haven’t hired a wedding planner, you will need to create a time line, to make sure everything has a proper order. It’s never too early to start thinking about how you want the day to flow and start plotting out your day from the time you wake up until the last guest leaves the reception. A good wedding day schedule will help the day run smooth and hopefully on time!
You probably have portions of your wedding day schedule already mapped out. For example, what time the Ceremony, Cocktail and Reception will start. Now you just have to fill in the blanks. Start thinking about all the events you want to take place on your special day. Don’t forget to fill in the times of your wedding day appointments – hair and makeup, photography sessions for the ladies and men, what time each of your vendors will need to arrive, DJ, Minister, Florist, Cake etc. What time you or your planner is going to arrive to check on your vendors to make sure they are executing every detail you contracted them to do. The more detailed your time line is the better, but make sure the necessary people receive a copy.
Now that you have an idea what to include you can start to pencil in the rest of your day. Plan your day at least hour by hour or in half-hour increments depending on how detailed you want to be. Try to give yourself 15 minutes of lag time between the next event, things do happen and you don’t want your schedule so off track that you can’t catch back up. Also don’t forget to incorporate travel time if you’re ceremony location and reception location are different, there is always traffic when you have to be somewhere at a specific time.
The “Day Of” Schedule
Here is a sample outline of what should be included in your timeline. Use this as a guide to help you create your own schedule for your big day. Keep in mind you will want to send out this itinerary at least a week in advance to all your vendors. Be sure to make copies for your groom, bridal party and parents.
9:00 AM Morning Wake up Call
9:30 AM Eat breakfast
10:30 Am Hairstylist appointment
12:00 PM Makeup appointment
12:00 PM Vendors arrivals (limo, florist, musicians, officiant, DJ, etc.)
1:00 PM Bride’s attendants arrive
1:00 PM Get dressed
2:00 Pm Photography sessions
3:00 PM Groomsmen arrive
3:15 PM Guest Seating
3:30 PM Groom and best man arrive
3:30 PM Leave for ceremony
3:50 PM Bridesmaids and bride arrive
4:00 PM Processional
4:30 PM Recessional
4:30 PM More Pictures
5:00 PM Cocktail Hour
6:00 PM Grand Entrance
Etc………
Add as many details of your ceremony and reception as you can. Remember this is what everyone will follow to ensure everything goes as planned and on schedule. Happy Planning!
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