Timeline help!

I like and respect the fact that you are starting on a wedding timeline over a year before your wedding. I do have some questions regarding wedding preparations and the location of events because I do not see these in the timeline draft.

Some examples of what I mean are:

-Will you be getting ready at the wedding venue or at a different location?

-While your bridesmaids will be doing their own hair, will they have your make-up done by your makeup artists (MUAs)?
-How many MUAs will you be working with, and how many bridesmaids do you have? Will you have any flower girls?
-Where will you and your fiancé have your first look? Will you just be taking pictures, or adding private vows?
-Will your MUA be there to touch up your makeup after your first look?
-Do you have guests that have mobility issues or are elderly?

I will give you some thoughts based on what my wedding planner and venue coordinators gave me, as well as how things went on my wedding day. Feel free to use or discard whatever advice points you want. This will be a long post to give you an encompassing perspective.

1) Wedding Party Preparations
MUAs are usually very good at working efficiently, but, as a general "rule" give yourself about 3-3.5 hours for your makeup and hair. This is so that if something goes "wrong" or if you don't like the look, your MUA will have time to fix it.

If your bridesmaids are having their makeup done, try to factor in 1.5 hours for makeup for each one, and 1.5 hours for each bridesmaid to do their hair. The reason for this is if just in case outlets for hair styling tools and additional lighting are limited and you don't want to cause a power outage.

If you are working with three MUAs, you should be ok, but moving the start time to (9-10 AM at the very least) might be a bit better to give yourself more flexibility with time.

If you are getting ready at a different location that is not your venue, take whatever time GPS says you will arrive, double it, and add 30-45 min.

Note: Please, Please, Please factor in some time to eat. No one likes to be hangry, and even vendors are happier if they are fed. A fruit and veggie tray goes a long way. Eggs, small, baked potatoes, beans, baked or grilled meats are good foods that will keep you filled. Try to avoid alcohol until after your ceremony. Coffee is ok, but it may make you go to the bathroom often. Make sure that all food and drinks are either put away in a fridge, or tossed before you take your dress out and put it on so that it doesn't stain. If you can plan a menu ahead for a restaurant (like IHOP) so that you can call an order in and have it delivered, it will relieve a lot of stress.

The "trenches" of my wedding day:
Like you, I tried to plan far ahead. I booked the largest hotel suite as the bridal/honeymoon suite where I had most of my guest room blocks. The hotel was 7 miles away from my venue in a downtown area (and venue parking was limited). I had my bridesmaids, flower girl, and ring bearer leave their dresses in my suite, and I brought disposable plates, napkins, sparkling cider the night before. Things were chaotic since I did most of my planning, but was also dealing with unforeseen circumstances.

I had the wedding party come to the suite at 8:00 AM, but didn't know most restaurants in my area did not offer food delivery on a Sunday. I was very lucky that room service came to my rescue! Time evaporated that day because I was steaming my bridesmaid's dresses as well as my own, coordinating food, directing my family and some of my vendors on set up, and most of my bridesmaids were mothers of very young children and needed the extra time to coordinate feeding and care of the kids with their spouses. I booked a suite for my parents to get ready in. I didn't have a first look, but I was ready just before 3:00 PM and was in the hotel lobby around 3:15. I was running late with pictures in the lobby, and got to my venue at about 3:45. The ceremony was supposed to start at 4:00 PM. It began at about 4:10 PM, but the procession, ceremony/vows took about 10 minutes, and no one was melting in the Arizona sun longer than we had initially planned for.

Notes:
When in doubt, always start earlier and give yourself more time. Since you are doing a first look, factor in how much time it will take you and your fiancé to get to the location, and give yourself time to be emotional, take photos, and have makeup and wardrobe touch ups. If you haven't booked your main MUA for extra time, I would strongly suggest that you do so, at least until after the ceremony so that if any makeup comes off due to emotions or hugging, you can have it fixed before the family portraits.

2) Pre-Ceremony and Ceremony
The ceremony is usually the fastest point of the wedding timeline, but the most intense in terms of timeliness. Guests usually arrive just under 30 minutes prior to ceremony start time to have a refreshment and need to be seated. Seating takes about 15 minutes.

Example: My guests were told that the venue opened at 3:30 P.M. and that the ceremony would start promptly at 4:00 P.M.

I don't know what you and your fiancé have decided on in terms of procession and ceremony vows. This is worth ironing out with your officiant so that from the time the guests are seated, and the wedding party begins to enter, the ceremony lasts 20-30 minutes maximum unless you have a religious or cultural need to have a longer ceremony. Guests tend to get antsy the longer a ceremony goes for.

3) Cocktail Hour + Photos

This "hour" is deceptively short. I strongly advise that you opt for a longer cocktail hour of at least 1.5 hours. This gives time for you and your husband to relish the first moments of being newlyweds, some time for guests and families to get up and get ready for photos. A longer cocktail hour gives you more time to take photos, touch base with guests and vendors that would otherwise cut into your dinner and/or reception time. If there is no wiggle room for a longer cocktail hour, Plan, Plan, and Plan the location of the family and guest photos, the types of photos you want and with whom (Ex: Wedding party as a group, wedding party individuals, family group, family individuals, and guest individuals) so that it streamlines and you can quickly touch base with some guests and have a drink or snack.

From the "trenches" of my wedding day:
I did opt for the 90 minute cocktail hour, but I made the mistake of not planning the photos. The photos alone took a whole hour because I was literally planning as I went, and had to call a few relatives back for family group photos. I had some trouble with bustling my dress, and had 15 min. to do a quick greeting of some guests, and take pictures with one of my vendors who was leaving very quickly.

4) Dinner
One hour is simply not enough, unless you have a very small wedding of about 30-50 guests. Always give guests and vendors about 15 minutes to be seated. More time will be needed if food is to be served (plated dinner), and more than 15 minutes is essential if you are having a buffet so that your vendors can coordinate which tables and guests are served first. Opt for a dinner that lasts 75-90 minutes from the time guests are seated.

It is a good idea that after the grand entrance, your DJ or MC announce that dinner has begun and to let everyone eat so that they can enjoy the rest of the night. You don't want to be a hangry bride and groom, and starve on your wedding day.

Pre-select who will give a speech on your wedding day, and give them a limit of 5 min. If they go over by a minute, no one will be upset, and if it is short, and sweet, everyone is good.

Note: Avoid the open mic.
Open mics are the bane of wedding vendors and lead to horror stories of guests who ramble on, are drunk, or both.

5) Dances, Reception, and Activities

This part of your timeline is a little short, but fine if dancing the night away is not your thing or not possible. My worry comes from the tear-down and leaving the venue. Will you be doing your own tear-down or the vendors? This will raise several questions with regards to who is providing chairs, linens, decor, and flowers, as well as their storage. Who will be driving you from your venue after the wedding is done?

6) Post wedding and honeymoon

You will probably be more tired than you realize after your wedding. I saw from your previous post that you and your fiancé want to try leaving for your honeymoon early. I strongly suggest that you give yourself at least a day and a half to "recover" and relax. You can sleep in, have a meal with guests or relatives, or take time to be intimate. Airports are chaotic in the mornings, and getting a mid afternoon or evening flight is usually more chill than having crowds of parents and senior citizens that are usually found in the earlier flights.

Sundays, Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays are generally the busiest flight days. You might be able to save some money if you fly out on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.


I hope these help.

Not timeline related, but have hand sanitizer, hydrogen peroxide, and some Windex (yes, My Big Fat, Greek Wedding was right) to take out some stains if they happen.

Omg this is so helpful, thank you so much.

To answer some questions:

-We will be getting ready at the wedding venue, it has a bridal and groom suite

-I will have 1 to 2 bridesmaids (sister-in-law is MOH and cousin), my mother, and my mother-in-law. The 2 mothers and MOH have really short hair so they are doing their own. If I have the other bridesmaid then she will do her hair too. Both mothers prefer really natural makeup so they want to do their own but the MOH and my potential second bridesmaid will have their makeup done. I am booking extra time just for my hair (thick waist-length hair) though.

-One MUA is the plan but now I am thinking maybe they need an assistant. No flower girl or kids at all

-First look will be in the foyer of the venue, we are going to give each other vow books but we are not reading them until that night.

-I am planning to have them hang around to touch up my makeup after the first look and possibly after the ceremony before pictures depending on their hourly rate.

-I have a few elderly people coming but everything is on one floor indoors except for one step down but no one uses a wheelchair or a walker.

-We have a decor rental company that does set-up the night before and tear-down the morning after. The venue provides the linens.

-This also made me think about our hotel/sleeping arrangements the night before. We want to sleep separately the night before and I am sure he will stay with his parents but I can't stay at mine, so should I get a hotel room for myself and my side of the wedding party? That way we can head to the venue all together to get ready?

-I did not think about who will pick us up afterward but we had talked about renting a lux Uber. We definitely want to book a nice hotel that is close to the venue for the night of.

-The ceremony will be less than 15 minutes for sure and there is no open mic, we have a list of 4 people who can give like 3 minute speeches and that is it, everyone else can speak at the rehearsal dinner lol

Hello Taylor! Happy I could help out a little.

Question: Do you have a wedding planner, or a "week of" planner? It might be worth getting one so that they can help you and also help everything stay on track.

With regards to the MUAs, maybe a good way to navigate it is to have your bridal party send you pictures of them without their makeup and hair done, and with how they would want their make up to look, as well as how they are going to style their hair. Show these photos to your MUA so that way she can give you a more accurate time frame. If you feel more comfortable having your current MUA focus on you, maybe ask your MUA if there is someone on her team that can focus on the rest of the bridal party.

It might be worthwhile going to your venue and actually timing how long it takes you to walk from the ready room to the foyer in heels, and then to each location. When you time yourself, also time how long it takes you to walk down to the altar so you can get a better feel for how long the music needs to last.

Who will be providing the glassware, plates, and silverware?

As far as hotels go, here are some things to consider, and what worked for my wedding may not work for yours. Feel free to use or discard whatever advice you need:

For my wedding, I booked the largest suite at our hotel (not crazy expensive or super cheap) for 4 nights. The first night was the day before the wedding, the second night was the night of the wedding, the other two were for recovery/ stay-in honeymoon. My venue only had a tiny amount of natural light in the bridal ready room, and I wanted space for my bridesmaids and their children, flower girls, and the ring bearer. I booked a year early because there was a convention in town as well as the university kids moving into their dorms the week of and week after my wedding.

I also wanted to check in a day early so I wouldn't have to scramble for checking in the night of the wedding.

With our wedding party, our budget would have been exceeded if we had been in separate rooms before the wedding. We opted to not do a first look.

However many rooms you book, and how you decide on the arrangements will depend on the needs and desires of your party as well as your budget.

Some limo companies tailor do your needs, as in, if you only need a ride going away from the venue, rather than a round trip, they can arrange that. Limo companies can get tricky because they will charge you by the hour if you do a "round trip", and you are their only client for the night.

I have not looked at prearranging a lux Uber ride. It might be worth looking into.

Hi! My fiance's mom used to be an event planner so we are getting some input from her but not much. We have a venue coordinator who has been really responsive but she won't really direct anything as far as I am aware. I am asking her how much her services would be for various lengths of time. Our venue supplies all of the glassware, plates, and silverware, and the tablecloths so we need linens from our caterer.

Looking at this part:

5 PM is the ceremony, 5:30 cocktail hour while my fiance and I do pics, dinner at 6:30 while we wrap up pics and do touchups, entrance/first dance at 6:45, welcome toast at 7, regular toasts at 7:05, parent dances at 7:30, desserts/coffee at 8...

I'm wondering where you and your fiance plan to eat dinner in there! Maybe you're planning to sit down from 7:00-7:30 and eat during the toasts? Make sure you have yourselves getting a solid meal in there. And maybe some snacks right after the ceremony. More excitement and stress = more energy = more appetite. And as others have said, make sure your photographers and other vendors can get meals at reasonable intervals as well.

I would strongly suggest that you hire a wedding planner for the week of your wedding at the very least. The reasoning for this is because during the last week, things can become very, very hectic and stressful, and you shouldn't be the one directing the guests at your own wedding. Your planner may be familiar with your venue and your vendors. It might be worth asking some of your vendors (if you trust them) what are some planners they have worked with that they like, and what are their strengths.

Wedding planners can be expensive, but some may offer services or packages a-la-carte. The way to negotiate with a planner if one package offers more than you need, and the other offers too little is to detail what you have planned for all ready, what you need, and see if you can create a custom package.

Sadly, most venue coordinators are there to help with set up, caterers, and tear-down. Planners really help with all of the above tasks including behind the scenes things. Our wedding planner's team really helped when it came to purchasing additional beer cases and lemonade during our reception when one kind was running particularly low, while the lemonade was needed for a batch cocktail.

This is what I am thinking now. Thoughts?

I like several of your timeline concepts, but others I want to ask some questions on because I am a little confused. My main concern is that everything begins to get very "crammed" from 5:00 PM onward. This may sound like madness, but it might be worth taking a spreadsheet, and going about your full wedding day in 15 min. increments.

Would you be able to begin your ceremony at 4:00 PM? This additional hour would give you more breathing room for the evening if you were able to afford the fee. My husband and I paid about $1,500 for an extra 90 minutes of our venue.

If you do stick to the hours of 5:00 - 11:00:

Will you be working with one MUA, or more?

I strongly suggest that you steam the bridesmaids dresses before makeup is put on. I also strongly (very strongly) suggest that you have your bridal gown professionally steamed. One of my regrets is that I steamed my bridesmaids dresses and my own dress on my wedding day, and the crinoline of my dress did not poof out as much as it should have and I had to be careful not to trip on my dress.

I do like that you gave yourself ample time for the first look and the photos. Is this only going to be for you and your fiancé, or are you going to do some of the wedding party and family photos at this time? If it is just you and your fiancé, you might be able to move the first look to 3:30.

The time the guests enter, the ceremony start time, and the cocktail hour start times look good, but I am concerned about the timeline in terms of dinner, and all other events following from there.

It might be a good idea to have the photos end at 6:30. Give yourself the next half hour to give you and your hubby time to prepare to make a grand entrance into the dinning area at 7:00. By then your guests should be seated. Give yourself at least 1 hour for dinner.

Is there a dance floor in the middle of the dining area, or will this be at a different location in your venue? If it is at a different location, try to keep in mind the general 15 min. time period it takes for large groups to go and get situated in a different location.

If your dance floor is in the middle of the dining area, this will give your timeline some wiggle room. Maybe have the wedding party members give their toasts towards the end of dinner (7:40-7:45ish start time) that way you are wrapped up close to 8:00 PM.

Things really become super crammed from 8:00 PM onward.

Will you have a cake cutting, or will it just be desserts? If you are doing your cake cutting, you can have it done after the toasts, give yourself about 30 min, and then begin the first dances or, do the first dances and then the cake cutting (in that order) after the toasts.

When you mention games, what kinds of games did you want to incorporate?

I am just concerned because you haven't given much time to guests dancing which is where you will be both thanking them for coming, and leaving if you haven't done a "speed round" at the end of the cocktail hour.