Creating Your Wedding Timeline
Your wedding day is coming up, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve been planning your day since you were 16.
Your Pinterest has been prepared for this moment since 2012 and you’ve booked all the vendors who will bring your vision to life. But now comes the harder-than-it-looks task of creating your wedding timeline. You’re probably thinking, how the heck am I going to fit all of my dreams into one day while still enjoying it?
That’s where I can help. My name is Katie, and between being a wedding photographer and getting married myself, I have learned quite a bit about wedding timelines: what works, what doesn’t, and how you can make the most of enjoying your day without feeling like a chicken running around with your head cut off. As people and a business, we (my husband, Joseph, and I!) value wedding days not being about putting on a “show” for your guests, doing things just because everyone does it, and getting caught up in the details of the day. We value authenticity and keeping the focus on why you’re there in the first place- becoming one with your best friend and the person you can’t imagine spending another day on earth without!
So, with all this in mind, I present you some of the biggest tips I’ve learned when it comes to planning your wedding timeline!
Plan extra time all over the timeline
Here is a fact that never fails to be true: things will run behind on your wedding day. Even if you’re an industrial engineer and know a thing or two about planning things like timelines efficiently, this will happen (alright, that was a dig at myself, who can relate?).
Here’s another fact I’ve learned along the way: the biggest thing that kills intimacy and joy is being rushed.
There are two ways your wedding day can go:
Scenario one: You plan every “event” of the day back to back with little wiggle room in the name of efficiency, and to save money on vendors being there extra hours. You are literally being run between your first look, family photos, ceremony, cutting the cake, first dance, golden hour photos, etc. The day ends and it feels like you didn’t have a chance to talk with any of your guests, breathe, enjoy the fact that it’s your wedding day, or even have a drink because it was so hectic.
Scenario two: You plan every “event” of the day with plenty of space between. You’re grateful you did this because hair and makeup took a little longer than expected, but now you have a second to breathe and collect yourself before you see the love of your life for the first time. You gave yourself a whole hour for family photos and didn’t have anything planned for the half hour before your ceremony. You got to enjoy a quiet moment with each other and your bridal party got to gather around and pray over you before you walked down the aisle. You got to attend your cocktail hour and say hello to everyone involved. During dinner, after eating a full plate of your favorite food, you got to sneak away and watch your first sunset as a married couple. Things like your first dance, toasts, and cake cutting were spread out during your reception so you got to really soak up the unique emotion of each of those moments. You got to tear up the dance floor, and you left beaming about the best day you just had.
Alright, which one sounds more appealing?
Trust me, it is worth the extra little bit of money to spend an extra hour on your photographer or coordinator if it means you get to enjoy every part of your day. Plan extra room everywhere in your timeline so you’re not left feeling rushed, so you can breathe, and so you actually have the time to pause and enjoy your wedding day.
Here are parts of the wedding timeline that always need some extra time intentionally planned into them:
Getting ready for the gals. Hair and makeup always takes a little longer than people budget for. This is also such a sweet time to spend with your girls in excited anticipation of what’s to come!!
Getting ready for the guys and/or gals if you’re getting ready at a different location than the wedding venue. Driving to the venue, potential traffic, not being able to figure out how to tie a bowtie, forgetting something important at the getting-ready location, these are all things I’ve seen happen on a wedding day that make everything run behind. Don’t force yourself to hightail it to your venue and add the stress of rushing. Just give yourself extra time with this.
Family & bridal party portraits. While we try to make these parts of the wedding day as efficient as possible, they are still important and deserve everyone’s full attention. Sometimes people drink too much and wrangling tipsy uncles becomes a problem, mothers want more combinations of people then you originally indicated, or one of the kids isn’t cooperating. Whatever it may be, make sure you have some extra time planned here.
2. Consider doing a first look so you can knock out family & bridal party portraits before your ceremony.
There is a very defined line between doing a first look and not. You either lean strongly one way or another, or you’re unsure of what you should do. We covered this decision making process in a previous blog post, so be sure to read it if you’re on the fence!
By doing a first look, you open the opportunity to get your family and bridal party photos out of the way before your ceremony, so you’re not busy taking pictures during cocktail hour! Also, every single one of your guests will be trying to get your attention post-ceremony, and adding the stress of taking family photos to this may lead to less enjoyment for all involved. If you’re not leaning strongly toward seeing each other at the altar for the first time, we highly recommend having a first look for a number of reasons, but in this context, especially for the opportunity to create more flexible space in your wedding timeline!
3. Keep an eye on what time sunset will be and intentionally plan some downtime around it!
Photos tend to look best during golden hour, the hour before sunset. That is when most photographers prefer to take your bridal portraits (aka the photos of just the two of you!) in a more secluded location.
We love taking our time with this portion of the day to allow you two to have a rare moment totally alone to enjoy the fact that you are MARRIED! Fortunately, golden hour typically occurs right around dinner time or cocktail hour, so it is a lot easier for you to sneak off and enjoy the sunset together.
When you’re creating your wedding timeline, keep a close eye on what time sunset is, and plan around this. Give your guests something to do, like dinner, dancing, or cocktails while you run around enjoying golden hour together. Make sure this isn’t during a time when you need to be around (toasts, first dance, etc.), so you don’t feel rushed in this moment.
We like to give our couples time to relax during their bridal portrait time, even if that means our cameras are down and we’re taking a break away from them. You won’t regret spending this time together, however you choose to spend it!
4. End all pre-ceremony festivities at least 30 minutes before you walk down the aisle.
I mentioned it above when I advised you to plan extra space in your wedding timeline, and I’m going to reiterate it. Emotions run all over the place on your wedding day, and you’ll experience a whole spectrum of them before and during your ceremony. It is so worth taking the time to relax with nothing planned ahead of your ceremony to center yourself. I go into more detail about this and provide ideas to intentionally fill this time in another post, so check that out if you’re interested in learning more about all things wedding ceremony related!!
Bottom line, give yourself and your emotions extra time to get in order, especially right before you say “I do” to your best friend. It is so worth it!
5. Sample Wedding Timeline
This article wouldn’t be complete or helpful without including a sample timeline. We most often see eight hour wedding packages booked, so we’ve included a timeline which reflects this duration. If your day is longer or shorter, you probably have a good idea of what is important to you to add in or leave out! Don’t feel pressured to include everything you see in a sample timeline just because someone else did!
Hey friends! We’re Katie & Joseph, a husband & wife team, and Arizona wedding photographers.
We are big fans of documenting wedding days in an unposed, raw, genuine, and honest way that allows our couples to maximize their experience on their day while also receiving a gallery full of stunning images that communicate how it felt to be there.
Though we’re based in Phoenix, we’ll travel anywhere for a good love story (and dance party). We invite you to follow the links below to learn more about us and our services, and to get in contact with us!
