One of the hardest things about planning your wedding is figuring out how much time you need to build in for everything from hair and makeup to formal family photos, to toasts and even gown bustling. 

We thought we would help you out a little bit by putting together a blog post with a few timeline tips and tricks so that as you’re building out your own wedding day timeline, you’ve got an idea of what’s worked in the past for other couples. 

General Wedding Day Timeline Tips & Tricks

1. Add Buffer Time: Add 15-20 minutes buffer time to any time that your vendors tell you, (especially hair and makeup and dinner service), just to be on the safe side.

2. Add Travel Time: If you're moving from one location to another, be sure to build in travel time AND add on 10-15 extra minutes to allow for getting people in and out of cars or buses, running back into venues for forgotten things, and to allow for traffic and parking.

3. Plan for Sunset Photos: Check sunset time on your wedding day, then add two hours to that time. This is the precious golden hour, where light is absolutely amazing. Building in just 15 minutes of photo time during this magical hour has resulted in so many of our clients' favorite photos over the years. You won't regret it. 🙂 Also...sneaking away to watch the sunset together on your wedding day? There's nothing more magical.

4. Hair & Makeup: Don't wait until last to get your hair and makeup done. We always recommend our bride go right in the middle. That way if things should fall behind you're not late because of it.

5. Family Photos: If you’re planning on doing any family photos before your ceremony, we suggest telling your family to arrive 10 minutes before your actual family photo start time. This will let anybody running late hopefully arrive by the time you’re actually ready to start your family photos. 

Traditional Wedding Day Timeline Tips & Tricks

1. Skip the Receiving Line: Short on time after your wedding ceremony? Skip the receiving line at the end of your ceremony. Instead, spend cocktail hour mingling with your guests, greet each table as you release them for dinner, or visit each table after you're done with your dinner during your reception. Even though you might plan on "making things quick and just saying hi" during a receiving line, these can often add anywhere from 30-60 minutes to a wedding day timeline.

2. Bustle Time: Build in bustle time, especially if your wedding gown has a complicated bustle. We recommend 10-15 minutes so you have time to go to the bathroom AND get bustled before your next activity. Bonus Tip: Have your seamstress or gown boutique create a video of how to bustle your gown so if your helpers get stuck on your wedding day they've got some guidance.

Southeast Asian Wedding Day Timeline Tips & Tricks

1. Individual Portraits & Details: Build in 45 minutes for individual portraits of both the bride and groom to capture elements of the bride’s dress, flowers, and jewelry, along with standalone portraits of you both. There are lots of special little details that go into both of your attire for the wedding day, and we want to make sure that we’ve got plenty of time to capture them all, in addition to time to capture a few beautiful portraits of you! 

2. Build in a Break: Plan at least 30 minutes of downtime for yourselves, (especially if you’ve started getting ready as early as 5 am), between your couple’s session and reception preparation. This will give you both a few minutes to catch your breath and take a small break before diving into preparations for your evening festivities. 

3. Nighttime Couple’s Session: While your guests are enjoying cocktail hour, we recommend taking advantage of this time to sneak away for sunset photos, or photos in your reception hall before your guests enter. Not only will this give you two a few quiet moments together to soak all of your day in, but you’re also likely to love so many photos that come from this special sunset session.

Have more detailed questions about making the most of your coverage time or even your wedding day timeline? Send them our way - We’re more than happy to answer them and help you out as much as we can!