How to schedule your wedding day

We’ve all heard it: The horror story of the bride and groom being an hour late to their ceremony! And where there are many that say “It’s your day, don’t let anyone rush you, everyone will wait for you!” it still doesn’t mean you should be late! Why is a schedule so important, and where do you even start in the process?

Before we dive into that, lets make one thing clear: Your wedding day is YOUR day! It’s not important or necessary to overly stress about timing, in fact, you shouldn’t even be worried or thinking about timing! There should be others around you that help you stay on schedule. This articles intent is to help you proactively plan your day so you do not have to worry on your actual wedding date!

Where to start?

There are mainly 2 questions to answer before you start your scheduling. 

1. What time will my ceremony start?
2. Will we do a first look?

What time should your ceremony start?

Ceremony start time is contingent on so many different elements. If you’re having an outdoor wedding, you’ll want to plan a time that the sun won’t be crushing down on you where its unbearable for you and your guest. Many couples decide to do their ceremony between the 12 pm - 4 pm time frame. Ceremonies usually only last 30-45 minutes. So having a ceremony during that time frame gives you plenty of time for pictures after, greeting your guest or just relaxing before your reception starts! So set your ceremony time and that will be our starting point on your schedule. 

First Look?

What is a first look? A first look is an opportunity for you two to see each other before the ceremony! They are becoming more and more popular as time goes on, and we absolutely love them! We encourage all of our couples to do a first look for many reasons. It gives them an opportunity to be alone, in a private setting before they make this HUGE life long commitment to each other. It also takes the pressure off! During a ceremony first look, what typically happens? Everyones eyes turn to the back to see the bride, then they quickly turn to the front of the venue to see the grooms reaction! That can add some extra pressure. We want the first time you see each other to be a real intimate moment you’ll remember forever. Let those real emotions flow, and say whatever it is you’re thinking. With guest watching you closely, you may hold back some emotions and reactions. Every bride feeds off of her grooms reaction when they first see each other, so give yourselves an intimate opportunity to do it with no one else around!

Schedule benefits to a first look?

There are schedule benefits if you do a first look! When doing a first look on your wedding day, that gives you the opportunity to do family photos & bridal party photos before the actual ceremony! This is super helpful because many couples want to spend the most time doing their couple set photos. We agree 100% with this decision. Your couple set photos are the photos you’ll show your kids, that you’ll hang on your walls and will tell your love story! They are THE MOST important photos of the day. So, having a first look gives time for us to knock out the other vital photo sets BEFORE the ceremony even starts! Then after ceremony, you’ll have a good amount of uninterrupted, intimate time to do your couple set photos! Then you can head into your reception!

Time your getting ready

Getting ready photos are really important to your wedding gallery. Seeing photos of you and your girls in matching robes drinking champaign and celebrating the day will bring back so many good memories for you on the friendships you cherish. It also gives you time to warm up in front of the camera. Usually that is when you are not stressed. The guys are chillin’, and the girls are all together getting ready to look like mini Beyoncé’s, and it’s the best way to start the day. So how much time should you plan for your getting ready photos? We usually spend about 30-60 minutes with the groom getting ready, and then head to our bride and spend 60-90 minutes with her! The reason we start with the groom is because he can easily take his jacket off and go back to chilling with his guys. Once our bride is in her dress, there is no coming out of it!! So we want to make sure we spend more uninterrupted time with our bride. Its often helpful to schedule your hair and makeup to finish around the time we are going to be arriving for your getting ready photos. Its different for every wedding, but below we Made an example schedule of how your day can flow with hair, makeup, a first look, ceremony, and then reception.

Most Important to Remember:

We started this article out by talking about how the wedding day is truly about you two, and you do not want to be stressed or feel pressured by time. Having a pre-made schedule is so helpful! We make a schedule for every single one of our brides and grooms. It does not matter if they have a wedding planner or if they make their own, we always make a schedule so we can be sure we are on time and can be helpful in taking the stress off of you! The most important thing for you to remember for your wedding day, is to have a blast and soak in every single moment. Be present, don’t think about what is coming next. The day will go by incredibly quick, enjoy every single moment!