After photographing hundreds of weddings, we’ve seen just about everything.  Rushed wedding days, relaxed weddings, wedding timelines that work, and many a wedding day schedule that didn’t work so well. We love being able to go the extra mile for our couples and help them plan the perfect wedding day schedule to make the most out of our time together. Here are our top wedding day schedule tips:

 

Ask for input from your wedding coordinator, wedding photographer, DJ, and venue coordinator. They have usually been to more weddings than they care to admit, and have seen countless different wedding day timelines (successful and unsuccessful) and are usually happy to offer suggestions.

Plan cushion time into your day through out the day. This is especially key for parts of the day where there is movement and transportation.

If your hair and makeup artist or photographer give you an estimate for how much time something will take, trust them. Don’t assume it will just happen to magically take less time.

Decide on your priorities and then plan your timeline around those things? Are beautiful creative wedding portraits important to you? Schedule uninterrupted time before your ceremony and at sunset for portraits. Are food and drinks important to you? Get photos done prior to your ceremony and schedule a full hour for cocktail hour to enjoy munching and mingling, and then don’t schedule and reception events to happen during dinner. Is having a relaxing morning important to you? Is getting down on the dance floor important to you? Schedule your reception events to happen toward the beginning of your reception so you can let loose without many interruptions for the rest of the night.

Take the sun into account. There’s lots of apps that will tell you the time the sun will set on any given day. If you are having an outdoor ceremony, especially in the fall, make sure you schedule it to take place before the sun sets. A great rule of thumb is the first two hours after sunrise and the last two hours before sunset provide the most flattering glows light of the whole day. Do what you can to schedule any outdoor events on your timeline (outdoor ceremony, portraits) during these two times of the day. Keep in mind the direction of the sun if planning an outdoor ceremony, and feel free to ask for advice from the venue and your photographer regarding this!

Here’s a little freebie sample timeline to get those creative problem solving juices flowing in your brain!