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Working in the wedding industry consists of emails, Social media updates, marketing, accounting and creating Lists! List, list and more lists. Excel and Word documents should be your best friend by now. Today we will be focusing on creating the perfect wedding timeline for your clients. Are you struggling with creating the perfect wedding timeline for your clients? It can be difficult if you have no idea where to start. Our typical timelines range from 16 to 20 pages long. We try to make our wedding itineraries as detailed as possible. This way we have every aspect of the wedding covered.
Not knowing how much time to allocate to each part of the ceremony or reception can leave you feeling overwhelmed. We have amazing templates you can purchase from us right here. If you would like to go ahead and attempt creating the perfect timeline for your clients, we have some tips and tricks you can follow below:
Start Early with Information that you already have!
I typically start my wedding itinerary about 30 days prior to the wedding. At this point, all final details of the wedding should be taking place. If you do not have all the major information you require to do your wedding itinerary, start with what you have. You should know the ceremony start time and approximately how long it will take. So block off that time in your wedding itinerary. Next, put in the dinner times and cocktail times. You should also know where the bride is getting ready by this point.
Next focus on the vendors. What time do you want them to be on site for hair and make-up, photos and videos? That’s easy, ask the hair and make-up artist how long they need to get the entire bridal party prepped. You will need to determine when you want the bride out the door and heading to the ceremony. Then work backwards from there.Get in as much information as possible and communicate this with each vendor so you are not off track.
The set up crew may need to get early as well. A simple call or email to the venue should resolve that. Just find out what time you can get in for set up. Schedule that in.
Work your Itinerary backwards
As we mentioned earlier, it is easier to work backwards. What time does the venue expect the event to be over? 11pm or maybe 1am? Add this to your schedule. Do you have a special milestone happening at the end of the night such as fireworks or sparklers? You can do that around 11pm. Then there is the bouquet and garter toss. Add this around 10pm. Then you have to think about parent dances and cake cuttings. Go ahead and add the speeches and dinner time blocks. Cocktail and photos with the bridal party and family should come next. Just add in all the major milestones that you can think off.
Must read: How to conduct a wedding consultation
Not sure how much time to allocate to each section?
Try working with the wedding vendors as much as possible. Call the wedding photographer to find out how much time they need for photos after the ceremony. Typically it’s 1.5 to 2 hours. Keep the travelling time in mind when working with this. During photos, your guests are typically doing the cocktail. Call the venue and find out what time dinner usually starts? If you are doing speeches in between dinner courses, let the venue know.
If you are worried about your timing, add in another 15 minutes as a safety measure.
Use your wedding itinerary timeline as a guideline
Your timeline should be used as a guideline to ensure you are on track and not missing any steps. Something on the day might alter this, just ensure you can handle any changes or make up for time as required. If your guests are so into the dancing portion but you need to get the cake cut, let them enjoy for a few more minutes. Don’t spoil the mood. Work with what you have. Just make sure all the important milestones are covered before you leave.
We hope this will make it easy for you to create a wedding itinerary. If you are still not sure, get our templates here.
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Happy Planning