PLANNING YOUR WEDDING DAY TIMELINE
Wedding day timeline blog
*by George Gilchrist-Grodnicki
Planning Your Wedding Day Timelines
I am asked quite often “when should we start with our ceremony?”
The easiest way to work out your wedding day timeline is to start from the end of the evening and work your way back. This is something that naturally causes many couples worry especially as this is the very first time you’ll be planning such large event, but it needn’t be this hard! Start with a rough timeline, then as you fill in more details your timeline becomes more solid. An adequate timeline will ensure you feel in control of your day, and able to relax and enjoy yourself, while providing all those involved accurate timings, because timings are key to the success of every wedding, right?
Give me ❤️ in the comment below if you think having an air-tight timeline for your wedding will ensure its success!
End of the evening
As the timings of your day are worked out from the end of your night, the big question is how long is your entertainment booked for? Speak to your venue to find out when the room hire ends. This gives you carriages time, and from there, after speaking to your entertainment, you can plan when your entertainment starts. Don’t forget to include any extra entertainment i.e. small acts who are also to perform in the evening. For example, at our wedding, the venue licence was until 1 AM, and our entertainment was a DJ, who was booked for three hours, preceded by a live ceilidh/covers band played for three hours. This meant our evening entertainment started at 7 PM.
How long do you think an average entertainment runs for?
A. 6 hours
B. 5 hours
C. 4 hours
Let us know in the comment boxes below
Comfort break
Now that you know when your entertainment starts, you can start to plan the end of the meal. Do you want a comfort break? Is there turnaround time? Do you intend taking photographs after the meal? Are there any small entertainment acts booked for this time, such a Signing Waiters? Your venue will advise you of any turnaround times, so make sure to ask about this.
Average band setup time and sound check will take around 60 minutes too, so if your band can’t get in to setup during the meal, comfort break might be advisable. Secondly, who wants to be throwing shapes on the dance floor right after a three-course meal?
If you need help understanding this part of your special day and how much time is good, too little or too much, chatbox message us today.
Speeches
Next comes the speeches, by allocating maximum of 10 minutes per speaker, you avoid boredom in the room! Ideally, you wouldn’t want to have your speeches for longer than 30 minutes, if you do, speak to your venue, caterer or planner to see about the best times to split them up – the last thing you want is your speeches overrunning if you decided to host them before the meal and having your guests seating hungry for hours.
Traditionally, which by any means is not a norm, speeches are structured in the following format: Father of the Bride goes first, Groom goes second and Best Man presents the closing speech.
You might want to decided if you’re having your speeches before the meal or after and this will very much depend on the public speaking confidence of your speakers and whether you feel your guests should be fed first or after the speeches.
At our wedding had four speeches, including ourselves, which meant our speech times ran into an hour [scary face emoji] (we spoke too long, due to translations into Polish) which meant our speeches started at 5:30 PM.
Are you feeling a little unsure about your speeches and don’t know how to best go about them? Why not book one of our one-off consultations today to help you put a plan together?
Drinks reception
The drinks reception is an excellent opportunity for guests to mingle, family to catch up, and photos to be taken with the happy couple! Some couples may choose to have entertainment booked for this time, or even couples’ photos to be taken. Speak to your suppliers to understand how long your entertainment or photographer will take, as this will give you the start time for your drink’s reception (otherwise known as cocktail hour).
When we got married, we arranged for a magician who entertained our guests, canapes were served, all while we had family portraits taken and disappeared for our wedding day photoshoot for 1 hour.
This allowed our venue enough time to turn the ballroom round and gave our guests a little mingle and catch up time. Our drinks reception started at 1:30 PM.
Are you planning to head away for your photoshoot? Chatbox message us today if you want to better understand the timings you might need to consider in order to ensure you’re not running late on the day.
Wedding ceremony
Wedding ceremonies vary dependent on the ceremony style chosen.
On average Civil ceremonies may take between 15 to 25 minutes, religious ceremonies may last around 45 minutes, and humanist ceremonies between 30 to 45 minutes dependent on the ceremony script, reading and the symbolic gestures chosen.
Our wedding ceremony was conducted by a humanist celebrant, we had three symbolic gestures and parts of our ceremony script was translated into Polish. This meant our wedding ceremony lasted 30 minutes, starting at 1 PM.
Let me know in the comments below what style of ceremony you have chosen.
Preparation time
Finally, this leads on to preparation time, therefore speaking to your hair and makeup artists will help you understand how long each of them needs.
Hair styling may take 30 to 60 minutes depending on the style and hair structure, while makeup can also take 30 to 60 minutes.
Speak to your photographer and other suppliers to understand their timelines for the delivery of their services.
Consider things like, when your flowers arrive; is the photographer taking preparation photos or group photos when you’re ready and dressed; what time is your Dad arriving, etc.
This enables you to build a timeline and ensure you’re prepared in plenty of time.
At our wedding, we each had four groomsmaids, and mother’s hair and makeup. We got up at 6 AM to spend some time together before the chaos of the wedding day began!
Have you considered how much time hair and makeup may take? Chatbox message us today if you need some estimates and recommendations for the best in business!
Full day timeline
What did you think of the breakdown of your wedding day? Did you know you’d need to consider your timings from the end of the night?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and feel free to use the template below to help you plan your special day!
Evening Entertainment – length of service? (you’d need to check with your entertainment supplier)
Would there be any comfort break after the meal? 30/60 minutes?
Speeches – if 3 x 10 minutes speeches, that’s 30 minutes
Wedding Breakfast – three course is 2 hours
Drinks Reception between 1h30mins to 2 hours (you’d need to check with your photographer)
Wedding Ceremony between 30 minutes to 45 minutes (you’d need to check with your celebrant, officiant or registrar)
Guest arrival from 30/60 minutes prior to ceremony time
OUTSTANDING Wedding Industry Awards 2021 - by The Wedding Emporium
I'm a little late in the game to share with you this exciting news - apologies it's been a busy few weeks recently...
I've been recognised with the OUTSTANDING Wedding Industry Award 2021 from The Wedding Emporium!
How amazing is that - it's been a hard 2020 and so far 2021 too, but I am the proudest of my amazing, resilient wedding couples that never give up! They are all fantastic and this award I dedicate to them!
It often hasn't been easy, but things are definitely looking up for weddings and I can't wait for what's to come very soon with weddings opening up again!
Cheers to you all!
P.S. Did you know that I am also now qualified as an Humanist Celebrant to conduct legally-binding ceremonies in Scotland with Fuze Ceremonies?
MEET MY INTERVIEW TOP-SECRET GUEST SPEAKER
MEET MY INTERVIEW TOP-SECRET GUEST SPEAKER
Have you missed my LIVE interview on 14th January? Nothing is lost! Why not watch it on #repeat?
Feel free to share your comments or questions in the comment boxes below and don’t forget to give us ❤️
SIX RED FLAGS WHEN BOOKING A SUPPLIER by Monica Cutler
SIX RED FLAGS WHEN BOOKING A SUPPLIER by Monica Cutler
Lately, I have been observing quite a few engagements popping up on social media and since it’s this exciting time of the year, I thought to share something I believe to be incredibly important to know for newly engaged couples.
Following my Facebook Live interview with Monica Cutler – I remembered that she’s worked with industry experts on a guide for wedding planning couples and came up with “Six red flags when booking a supplier” which she’s agreed for me to share with you.
If you would like to find out what to look out for when booking wedding suppliers, you’ll need to check out the next six paragraphs.
ONLY OFFERING PAYPAL PAYMENT AS FRIENDS AND FAMILY
PayPal buyer protection is not as iron-clad as it used to be. If you send a supplier money using the f&f feature you will not be covered.
Excuses to look out for: "It will take X days to clear. If you want it before a certain date you would be better off paying f&f."
Remember that Credit Card payments may give you additional protection – would you normally pay using credit card for wedding services? Chatbox message me if you’d like to find out more.
NO WRITTEN CONTRACT
Even if it's a friend, family member or someone you've known for years. Getting an agreement down in writing saves so much trouble and shows empathy for your future self. Get a contract and ensure there's a copy for supplier and couple.
A contract doesn't have to be complicated or full of jargon, but it should include the service you're paying for, exact payment terms, and a refund and cancellation policy.
Have you received a contract for all your wedding services? Chatbox message me if this is something, you’d need help with.
STOLEN IMAGES
Reverse search images to check if they're from other companies.
Most wedding professionals are comfortable using some stock imagery as fillers on their site but would never claim them as their own product. This is completely different to one wedding supplier stealing images from another and claiming them as their own.
Would you be able to identify this? Let me know in the comment boxes below.
ONLY ONE METHOD OF CONTACT
There are many successful wedding businesses who only operate on social media, without a website.
But you should have multiple contact details, such as an email address, mobile number, postal
address. If you can only get in touch via Facebook messenger back away. If they don't have a physical postal address ask them why. This address should match any accounts you pay.
Is this something you have given thought to before? Let me know your thoughts in the comment boxes below.
MULTIPLE NEGATIVE AND SPECIFIC REVIEWS
If there are a small number of poor reviews ask your supplier about them. It could have been a challenging circumstance where they might have a completely sensible response to.
If they did upset a client ask how they used the experience to move forward. No
business gets it perfect 100% of the time so always compare with their positive reviews and check the dates for their most recent customers.
Do you normally check supplier reviews before booking? Give me YES in the comment boxes below if you do.
CHEAP PRICING
