5 Must-Know Tips for a Seamless Wedding Day Timeline
Botanical microwedding at The Treman Center in Ithaca, NY.
Building out your wedding day timeline is essential to creating a smooth, seamless, and memorable wedding!
It’s a small, but mighty tool for managing any event, especially a wedding. It helps ensure that everything goes off without a hitch, and it keeps both you and your guests happy. ;) From a wedding photographer’s perspective, a timeline is so vital to ensure we have enough time for photos, including details, getting ready, first look, bridal/bridal party portraits, family formals, golden hour photos, and more. But it’s also a good litmus test for determining the general pace of your day.
Will it be nonstop go, or is there an opportunity to build in pockets of time to just breathe?
I’m so passionate about not just generic timelines, but good and thoughtful timelines— ones that I prioritize this as my first action with all brides that inquires with me.
On every consultation call, I offer a free 30-min consultation call, and during that time, we build out a custom timeline for your day— including ceremony start time, getting ready locations, travel time, etc. This leaves you with an intuitive timeline that fits your unique wedding day!
TJ and Lindsey’s first kiss at The Treman Center in Ithaca, NY.
Now let’s get practical. As you’re thinking about your wedding, here’s 5 must-know tips for a seamless wedding day timeline:
1. First, sit down with your fiance and decide on the must-haves for your special day. Do you want a first look? What about a parent dances? A sparkler exit? Knowing these things upfront will be really helpful in formulating your timeline.
2. Next, break your day down into hourly increments! The beauty of working with a planner is that they’ll do this for you (yay for wedding planners!) but it is so critical to have a “run of show” where you can glance at a document and get a complete overview of the day. (Link: If you're looking for a wedding planner, Carla with Details Made Simple is the best of the best.)
3. At this point, you can use your timeline for communicating with your team of vendors, including MUAH completion time, florist delivery, DJ arrival, etc. You can also send the timeline to friends and family members to let your bridesmaids know when to meet for hair and makeup, as an example.
4. From there, it’s critical to use your timeline to dictate the start and end times of photography coverage! Because your photographer is the storyteller of the day… your eyes and ears, and the fly on the wall who’s documenting all the little details… you want to ensure they’re present to during the key moments of your day! Often times, that includes detail shots (your dress, shoes, jewelry, etc.) getting ready photos of both the bride and the groom, a first look, ceremony coverage, and allllll the dancing. So a timeline is super important in ensuring no magical moments are missed!
5. For good measure, below are some good “rules of thumb” from a photography perspective when mapping out your wedding day timeline:
Getting ready shots: Start photography coverage when you’re about ¾ done getting ready!
First look: Reserve at least 30-mins for this, or 40-mins if you’re bundling bridal party photos here, too!
Family portraits: If you have standard shots slated for this, 20-30 minutes is enough time.
Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the importance of First Looks on a blog post about wedding day timelines! First looks offer so many unique advantages and I highly recommend them to all my couples!
From a event flow perspective: Having a first look is a game changer! Since the majority of your photos will be done pre-ceremony, you’ll have more time to enjoy cocktail hour! Plus, your hair and makeup is still in tip-top shape.
From a personal perspective: A first look is offers privacy and intimacy for seeing each other for the first time. No pressure, no stress, no anxiety. Just you and your person, breathing in the calm of the day, and taking a quiet, peaceful moment together before the festivities begin.
That said, if tradition (and seeing your fiancé for the first time on the aisle) is important to you, then stick to your gut feeling!
So there you have it— my 5 must-know tips for a seamless wedding day timeline!
Important note: I cannot recommend enough working with a wedding planner to fine-tune details and make sure your day goes off without a hitch!