Wedding Day Timeline Template - Grey

How to Plan a Wedding Day Timeline?

While planning a Wedding Timeline, an individual should keep in mind not only the beginning of each individual event but their ending as well. In order to create a perfect timeline, an individual should follow a few simple important steps:

1. No interference . The items on the timeline are not supposed to interfere with each other. However, if they do, the individual must make sure they do not require the same people to be in different places at the same time.
2. The natural order of events . The cocktail hour can never be before the ceremony, as well as the taking of family photos or speeches. While making the timeline, the individual should keep in mind that the timeline items should follow a natural order.
3. Small things mean a lot . Even though the beginning of the photo coverage does not seem to be an event itself, it still deserves attention and to be put on the planner. The individuals should outline the beginning and the end of it to keep everybody organized.
4. Breaks and time-outs . Individuals should make sure they saved enough time to travel from one place to another. For example, they should save enough time to move from where the wedding is being held to the afterparty reception.
5. Enough time for everything . It is necessary to provide guests of the ceremony with enough time for pleasantries so that they would not feel like they are in a hurry or are constantly supposed to go somewhere. Individuals should save enough time for dinner, drinks, dances, etc.

What to Include in Your Wedding "Day Of" Timeline?

After individuals have confirmed that they have understood all of the steps mentioned above, it is time to decide what to include in the timeline. The timeline for a wedding day should contain all of the proceedings planned for the day and may consist of events, such as the arrival of the photographer, wedding breakfast, the arrival of the groom and groomsmen for the ceremony, etc. The exact events depend on the type of wedding and other influential aspects, like the season, the weather, the number of guests, etc.

In addition to the name of the event, the timeline should designate what time each event starts. Individuals can include other types of information in the timeline, nevertheless, it is better to keep it clean and state only necessary information. Designating too much data can focus attention on an unimportant event and an important aspect of the timeline can simply be missed.

While organizing the events, individuals should consider the amount of time each of the proceedings will take. On average, a wedding breakfast should take about two and a half hours, reception drinks may last about an hour and a half, taking photos after the ceremony should not take more than an hour, however, this aspect should be better discussed with the ceremony photographer. Individuals should also plan for guests to be a little late, so it is better to plan for the whole proceeding to start 15 minutes later. That way all of the guests (or most of them) would be on time from the beginning of the wedding.

Not the form you were looking for? Check out these related documents:

• Wedding Registry Check List Templates;
• Wedding Planning Checklist Templates;
• Wedding Planner Contract Template;
• Wedding Photography Contract Template.