Wedding day timelines – how to get the most out of your day

Planning your wedding can be a daunting task. There are so many decisions to make, colours to choose, menus and cakes to sample… the list just never seems to end! Then your vendors start asking for a wedding day timeline. How are you supposed to know how long everything takes or how much time each vendor needs? Let’s break it down.

In Cape Town, sunset can vary by as much as two hours depending on the time of year, and you get the best photos in the hour before sunset, so it’s usually a good idea to plan your wedding day around when you want to do your couple shoot (and how much time you are willing to be away from your guests).

Your timeline is the anchor to your wedding day, and should be figured out right at the beginning of the planning process (it’s rather difficult to send the invitations if you don’t know what time the ceremony needs to start). Of course, it is likely to be tweaked closer to the wedding day, but it’s a good idea to get the main events pegged down as soon as possible. This leaves you in a great position when negotiating with your vendors as you are able to give them accurate information when you first request a quotation.

Hair and makeup always seems to take longer than you think it will. You are your girls are chatting together, and this is often where time is lost on the day. Unfortunately, if you’ve planned your couple shoot around sunset, you may not be able to run late, and something has to be taken out. Usually this is some of the poses from the creative shoot. Your photographs (and your album) are among the only things left after your wedding day, and you want to give yourself ample time to get the shots you really want.

Below are sample Summer and Winter timelines, both assume evening weddings, but can easily be adapted to fit a morning wedding too.

Summer wedding timeline:

Ideally, starting with sunset at 19h45, you would like to be taking couple photographs from 19h15-20h00, but this would push dinner out to being exceptionally late. Perhaps a compromise is to do the couple shoot from 18h00-18h30, and then after starters and speeches, head out to take 15 minutes of photographs from 19h40-19h55, to take advantage of the best light. Use the couple shoot as the anchor and create the timeline working outwards from there:

12h00 – photographers arrive at reception venue to photograph decor, cake, etc. Bride’s hair to begin

12h30 – photographers leave reception venue to go to groom

13h00 – groom and groomsmen getting ready

13h15 – bride’s makeup to begin

13h30 – photographers leave groom and groomsmen to go to bride

14h00 – details: dress, shoes, rings, etc. Final touches to bride’s hair & makeup

14h30 – bride getting dressed

15h00 – bridal pictures

15h15 – photographers leave bride and bridesmaids to go to ceremony

15h30 – groom and groomsmen arrive at ceremony venue to greet guests

15h45 – photographers arrive at ceremony venue to get some pre-ceremony shots and set up

16h00 – ceremony starts

17h00 – greet guests after ceremony

17h15 – family photographs

17h45 – bridal party shoot (begin cocktail hour for guests)

18h00 – begin couple shoot

18h30 – finish couple shoot

18h45 – enter the reception venue & welcome

19h00 – starters & first speech

19h40 – couple heads out to get 15 mins of sunset photos (optional)

19h55 – couple returns to reception

20h00 – mains served (and additional speeches if required)

20h45 – cutting of the cake

21h00 – first dance, father/daughter dance, mother/son dance

21h45 – throwing of the garter & bouquet

This allows ample time for photographs and traveling time. If the ceremony, reception, and getting ready venues are all in one location, you are able to cut down a lot of travel time (and stress) on your wedding day. Also important to note is that you need about a hour per person for hair and makeup (assuming that you have two different vendors for hair and makeup), so please allow ample time for your entire bridal party to have hair and makeup done, as this is the most common reason for wedding timelines running late.

Winter wedding timeline:

In Winter, sunset is significantly earlier, allowing for sunset photographs before the reception. Starting with sunset at 17h45, you would like to be taking couple photographs from 17h15-18h00. Use the couple shoot as the anchor and create the timeline working outwards from there:

11h00 – photographers arrive at reception venue to photograph decor, cake, etc. Bride’s hair to begin

11h30 – photographers leave reception venue to go to groom

12h00 – groom and groomsmen getting ready

12h15 – bride’s makeup to begin

12h30 – photographers leave groom and groomsmen to go to bride

13h00 – details: dress, shoes, rings, etc. Final touches to bride’s hair & makeup

13h30 – bride getting dressed

14h00 – bridal pictures

14h15 – photographers leave bride and bridesmaids to go to ceremony

14h30 – groom and groomsmen arrive at ceremony venue to greet guests

14h45 – photographers arrive at ceremony venue to get some pre-ceremony shots and set up

15h00 – ceremony starts

16h15 – greet guests after ceremony

16h30 – family photographs

17h00 – bridal party shoot (begin cocktail hour for guests)

17h15 – begin couple shoot

18h00 – finish couple shoot

18h15 – enter the reception venue & welcome

18h30 – starters & first speech

19h15 – mains served (and additional speeches if required)

20h30 – cutting of the cake

20h45 – first dance, father/daughter dance, mother/son dance

21h15 – throwing of the garter & bouquet

Again, this allows ample time for photographs and travel time (and you get proper sunset photographs!). Extra bonus points for a lot of your favourite vendors having more available time for you too.

Of course, these are just sample timelines, and your photographer and wedding planner will be able to fine tune it to perfectly suit your wedding day and ensure everything runs smoothly. I personally discuss timelines with all my couples during the pre-booking consultation to ensure that all the important (to them) parts of the wedding day are covered in the package they are considering.

Have I missed something that you would like to know? Please leave me a comment so that I can help!

More information:

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