Creating the Perfect Timeline!
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Creating the perfect timeline is key to making the day stress-free and successful. Here are a few tips to help you create the best timeline for your special day:
Determine what activities you want to include in your wedding, such as a first look, ceremony unity service, grand entrance, first dance, cake cutting, or a grand exit.
Put the activities in order from start to finish and decide approximately how much time you think you will need for each one. It's always best to add 5-10 minutes as a just in case as extra wiggle room.
Consider any travel time that may be necessary. Are you traveling between your getting ready location to the ceremony or from the ceremony to the reception. Make sure you give yourself enough time to account for traffic. As you determine the time it takes to get to and from your locations keep in mind that amount of time it takes to get everyone in the car as well.
Once you have determined the order of activities and how much time you will need for each event, it is time to put it all on a timeline. Make sure you know when you can enter your wedding venue and when you need to be cleaned up and out! This will give you a good starting time and ending time.
Start with HAMU and then make your way through the day and add those to your timeline. If you find yourself with times such as 12:43pm round that up to 12:45pm to make it easier for you and your guests. Be sure to always round up and not down!
Once you have everything on your timeline look back and make sure nothing is going to feel rushed. From a photographer's point of view, double check the amount of time you have for your first look or first touch, check the amount of time you have set aside for family photos and newlywed photos after the ceremony, and finally make sure you have enough time in between your ceremony and reception to just relax and take it all in.
The last step and I cannot stress this enough, if you have a wedding vendor that will be there with you the entire day (i.e., your photographer) send them your timeline before finalizing it. They will be able to look over it and give you any adjustments they feel may need to be made to make your wedding day (and their services) flawless.
By following these steps, you will be able to create the perfect timeline for your wedding day that will make the day stress-free and successful. Below I will show a sample timeline. This is a basic timeline you can feel free use to help organize your personal timeline.
As your wedding photographer, my packages come with personalized timeline planning in hopes to relieve the stress of wedding planning just a bit!
