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Emily
Dedicated June 2021

Is my timeline good?

Emily, on June 4, 2021 at 12:32 PM Posted in Planning 0 3
First, I want to add that none of our vendors are wedding professionals. Everyone is a friend, family member or friend of a friend. Including our venue. So, none of them have been able to assist much with timeline expectations.
Here is what I have.
3pm Ceremony begins3:25 Ceremony Exit3:30 Cocktail Hour4:27 Grand Entrance4:30 Dinner5:31 Cake Cutting5:33 First Dance5:38 Father DaughterDance5:42 Dance Floor Opens6:42 Bouquet Toss/Garter Toss6:48 Dance Floor opens back up 7:57 Last Dance8:01 Sparkler Send off
-Timing will slightly vary, of course, and I won’t actually be using these exact time on a program for the guests. This is just how I’ve timed everything out so far.

3 Comments

Latest activity by Emily, on June 4, 2021 at 3:22 PM
  • V
    Rockstar July 2019
    Veronica ·
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    I think the biggest concern is making sure you have enough time for photos. I see that you have an hour for cocktail hour, but since you aren't using a professional photographer my concern would be if that will be enough time. My advice would be to do as many photos before the wedding so that you don't go over time during cocktail hour. I also see that you mentioned the father/daughter, but is your fiancé having a dance with anyone?

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  • Courtney
    Expert September 2022
    Courtney ·
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    I would be sure to get any agreements you have with your friends in writing, and just as a word of advice, save some money for a back-up plan because all too often something happens and those friendors fall through.

    Depending on how religious of a ceremony/how many readings/etc you're having your ceremony may last anywhere from 15-30 minutes. If you can squeeze photos in before (a 1st look or at least most of your family ones) I would highly recommend planning for 2 hours minimum of photos before-hand with 15 minutes of free time for touch-ups before your ceremony begins.

    Depending on how you're doing dinner (buffet/plated?) and how many people you have it takes an average of 45-60 minutes. When you do your grand entrance go straight to cutting the cake since everyone's eyes are already on you, and whoever will be portioning out your cake for guests can do that while people are going through the dinner line.

    Are you doing any toasts? Those usually happen during the dinner hour, and afterwards I see a lot of couples go straight into their scheduled/honor dances.

    So this is what I would personally recommend:

    1P - Start photos. Getting ready shots/parent shots/first look

    2:45p - Return to bridal suite/getting ready room for make-up touches

    3p - Ceremony starts

    3:30- Cocktail hour/Couple portraits (Cut out extended family photos. Literally nobody puts those on the wall or in an album so they're a waste of time)

    4:30 - Grand entrance straight into cake cutting

    4:45 - Dinner start (Couple, wedding party, and parents are the first to be served)

    5:15 - Toasts if you're doing them

    5:30 - Dances

    5:45 - Open dance floor

    8p - Final send off. Verify that your venue is okay with sparkler send offs. The venues I worked at had clauses prohibiting them because they're a huge liability.

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  • Emily
    Dedicated June 2021
    Emily ·
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    No, we decided to cut out the mother son dance. His mom helped plan our wedding but recently passed. We will be honoring her but any other kind of special dance for him is too much. He doesn’t want do anything except our first dance.
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