So you’ve gotten engaged, started your planning to get everything booked, and you have NO idea where to begin when building your wedding day timeline. Where do you start? What time do you have to wake up? What time are you going to walk down the aisle? How much time do you need between activities? There’s so much to consider that it can be overwhelming.

Well, you’re in the right place! We’ve laid out many factors that come into play when creating your wedding day timeline. While everyone’s wedding day is different, these are some guidelines you can use to give yourself a place to start. Wedding timelines are also affected by your location, or locations, so this may not work for everyone. There are a lot of factors to consider, so let’s start with things that would add to the time needed on your wedding day.

Factors That Add Time to your Wedding Day

One of the biggest schedule drivers for the wedding day is location, or locations. If your ceremony and reception are not in the same place, you’re going to need extra time between the end of the ceremony and the beginning of the reception for travel. If you are having the ceremony and reception in different locations, try to keep the travel distance between them to under 30 minutes. Your ideal target is 10-15 minutes, but it is not uncommon to be 20-25 minutes away either. This is really common with backyard ceremonies, church ceremonies, and public park locations.

The last large factor that will add time to your day is if there are “extra” events you’d like to include in your day. This could be anything like a longer ceremony, dance events, special moments with family or friends, and so much more. When you plan “extra” events, be sure to plan the added time to your day. It’s not an issue – you should have your wedding day be exactly the way you want it! Be aware and plan for the time!

Where to Begin

Now that we’ve talked about the things that could add time to your wedding day, let’s get into where to start. We always think it’s best to begin building your timeline around your ceremony time. So, how do you choose your ceremony time? There are a couple of things to think about.

First, do you plan to do a first look? Your ceremony time may need to be later in the afternoon to account for getting ready and wedding party photos before the ceremony. Second, are you doing a room flip? This will add more time to your cocktail hour so an earlier ceremony time might be better to avoid a late dinner. Thirdly, how many photos do you want captured? This can add time in a couple of different spots and affect the start time of your ceremony. Lastly, and maybe the most important, is time of year. If the sun is setting earlier in the day, your ceremony time will probably be earlier to accommodate good lighting with photos.

Morning Activities

Once you’ve figured out the best time for your ceremony to take place, you are ready to work on the next part of your schedule! We split the day at the ceremony time and work in two pieces – before the ceremony and after the ceremony. Working on smaller chunks is a great way to make building your wedding day timeline less stressful.

The important thing we want to add to our morning schedule is “buffer time”. When you build in small pockets of “buffer time”, you give yourself the opportunity to avoid a late ceremony. Things happen, it’s just life! But that doesn’t mean the ceremony needs to start late because someone didn’t arrive on-time, clothing was left in a vehicle, or your mom couldn’t stop crying long enough to get her makeup done in the time allotted. Build in buffer. You’ll be glad you did.

Hair and Makeup Services

Hair and Makeup is an important part of the morning for some people. You may be asking a friend or family member to do it, you may be looking for a vendor, or you may even be doing it yourself/not need hair and makeup time in your schedule. Depending on how hair and makeup will be done, consider needing to wake up earlier.

Ask yourself, “How many people do I have that will be getting ready and may need these services?” Based on how many people are getting hair and makeup services, you might need a second or third vendor/family member to help. There are a lot of small details that will need to be discussed prior to making your wedding day timeline when it comes to a hair and makeup schedule.

Fun Bonding Activities

There are many times that a couple and their supporters will do something fun before the rest of the busy day. Or maybe the couple will do something together just the two of them. These events are great to enjoy your day entirely so add the time to your schedule. These events could be anything from a round of golf, to a 5k run, to a fun breakfast date. Whatever you choose to do, just remember that if you want to plan these extra events, you’ll probably need to wake up earlier than you originally expected.

Number of Bridal Party Members

Getting Ready Location

This factor is pretty simple – are you getting ready at the ceremony space, or not? If you are getting ready at the ceremony space, that creates a nice transition and could make your wake-up time later in the morning. If you are getting ready at a different place, make sure you include extra time for travel both before and after your “getting ready” time.

Evening Activities

Once you’ve set your ceremony time, and your morning scheduled, we recommend building the last part of your wedding day timeline. It is important to make sure that there is a flow between the events happening after your ceremony. One of the most detrimental things that can happen to a cocktail hour and reception is not having a flow, and your guests don’t know what they should be doing. Don’t lose guests!

Let’s talk about the things that impact the timing of your reception. Guest count, time of the year, and additional events are three of the biggest factors to consider when creating a flow through your reception.

Guest Count

This seems obvious, right? Clearly, if you have more guests it’s going to affect your timing. But we point it out because there are multiple different reasons a higher guest count can impact your timeline. If your ceremony and reception are in different locations, it takes longer to transfer more people. If a lot of your guests are family members involved in photos, those photos are going to take longer. A higher number of guests will make your dinner service longer. The length of time you schedule for dancing depends on your crowd. There are so many evening activities that are affected by your guest count. It’s important to consider this when building your wedding day timeline.

Time of the Year

Additional Events

The main thing that can alter your evening activities is if you plan to do a first look moment or not. That determines if you can fit any bridal party photos in before the ceremony. The next additional event to consider is a cocktail hour. This can be altered by a variety of factors, including if your venue requires a room flip. Venues that need a room flip often require you to have a cocktail hour of a specific length of time. This gives them the proper time to prepare the space between ceremony and reception. Speeches, individual dances, and regional or traditional events also have an effect on how to schedule your wedding day.

Photos

Since photos are such a huge factor of your wedding day timeline, we always recommend that planners work together with the photographers on the timeline. At Ackin Events, we always build the timeline with our couples, and then send it to the photographer first to get their thoughts and approval. Planners and photographers both have a duty to give the couple a spectacular wedding day experience, so they work together often to make those dreams come true. Put the planners and photographer(s) on the same team. Browse our services to find out how your planner can best help your wedding day!

Building your wedding day timeline can be overwhelming when you don’t know where to start. One thing that we always hear from couples when planning their wedding is that they know they need a timeline, but they are lost getting started. We use these tips when building all our wedding day timelines! Schedule your consultation today to work with our planners so you have the BEST flow on your wedding day!