How to Build a Wedding Timeline

Creating your timeline for your day is the foundation to letting you actually enjoy your wedding day. You need to have buffer time, time designated to allow you to enjoy the moments you want to be present for, as well as allowing time for the photos that you want to be taken.

Getting ready :

Consider how long it takes for hair and makeup for each person getting ready and the time you need your photographer to start and work backwards. Allow about an hour per person for hair and then an hour for makeup. After hair and makeup allow about an hour for getting ready pictures with your photographer.

*if your outfit/dress is complicated and needs more time to get into and set - allow for more time so you don’t feel rushed and are able to get dressed and take a few pictures

Considering a First Look?

When the sun sets sooner - I highly recommend doing a first look or earlier ceremony to allow time for portraits/pictures between the ceremony and reception.

Doing a first look before the ceremony can allow you to go from your ceremony to the reception without taking all the time for pictures with your partner and wedding party. You can go right to partying with your friends and family.

Allow about 20-30 minutes for you and your partner to soak in that time for your first look and embrace your emotions and spend quality time together. And then you can go into taking time for wedding party pictures and portraits (allow about an hour for this if you are at one location and drive time does not need to be considered)

Ceremony:

Different locations may require different things of the wedding party. Some churches require the couple/wedding party to be on the property an hour before the ceremony. When choosing your ceremony location - ask if this is required and plan accordingly

Time of the ceremony - consider the events that need to happen before your grand entrance and what time the sun sets to base your ceremony time.

Another item to consider is what the sun looks like in the location of your ceremony. Will you be in direct sun? Will half of your wedding party be in sun and the rest in the shade? positioning the ceremony in even lighting (all shade ) can help you get the best photos of this moment. It makes a huge difference.

After the Ceremony:

Are you signing the marriage license and have a plan as to where this will take place and who will be with you? Communicating who needs to be involved prior can help this moment to go smoothly.

Are you doing a receiving line? Timing of this can be based on your guest count. If you have a lot of guests, this can take up to an hour. If you have a receiving line - create room in your timeline for this to happen and buffer time so you don’t feel as rushed.

Are you doing family formals at the ceremony location or are they driving/going to another location? This can be one of the more stressful parts of the day. I recommend keeping the family formal list to under 15 combinations. You can always take more group photos during your reception. Providing a family formal list to your photographer and communicating to your family that they are needed for pictures can help this go smoothly and run on time. I would recommend having 30 minutes in your timeline set for family formals. Check out my family formal blog for creating a family formal list.

Portraits

If you are not doing a first look and are doing pictures with your wedding party after the ceremony, allow time to take pictures with your wedding party. Do you need to drive to a different location - if yes, allow time in the schedule to drive there. If you have a party bus, round up on time as buses take longer to drive - if maps says its a 20 minute drive, buffer 30 minutes for drive time.

Allow at least 30 minutes with your wedding party and then 30 minutes for you and your partner for portraits. You want time to actually enjoy this and not feel rushed.

Reception

This is your time to party! There are so many different ways you can have your reception. If there are cultural/traditional aspects to your reception - allow time for all of these things to happen when the photographer/video team is there.

If salads/dinner are being served during speeches - people will be eating in photos and video may pick up audio of clinking silverware on the plates.

If you have a buffet or food truck, consider this may take longer than planned. Sometimes the food is stationed where the dance floor is and you can’t go into dances until the food is packed up. Dinner can take up about 30 minutes to an hour before “events” start happening again.