Having a clean and clear timeline for your Wedding Day can remove a lot of stress for yourself, your Bridal Party and your wedding vendors. Breaking down every moment will keep everyone in check, from starting preparations with your Bridal Party and Beauty experts to knowing when each vendor needs to arrive and where they need to be. Below we have tips and advice that we have developed over many years of experience on how to piece together your timeline.
Ask The Experts
When starting to build your timeline, reach out to each individual vendor to ask them their recommendations and how long they will need to either complete services or set up. While there are "industry standards" for each type of vendor, your specific vendor may require more time to accomplish what they need. Make sure to talk to them about it when booking also.
Your Bridal Party needs all to arrive at the same time.
As stated in Tip #2, things happen... in the event someone from your Bridal Party is running late (it happens a lot...), your entire timeline will be delayed if no one else is there to get started with beauty services, and sometimes your Artists may be on strict timelines themselves can't stay past the agreed time. The best way to avoid this is by having the late Bridesmaid switch with someone on the timeline who is already there. That way the rest of your day continues seamlessly.
Ask your Beauty experts to make a timeline for you.
The industry standard for hair and makeup services is 45 minutes per Bridal Party member and 60 minutes for the Bride. Typically, these are non-negotiable. If your artist quotes you a time, they cannot cut down on that. Ask them to send a detailed timeline for your beauty services so you can visually see how much time they require to complete each one. We've added an example of one of our Wedding Day timelines next to this for you to see how we piece together Beauty services for a Wedding Day.
This image is of an example of a very simple Wedding Day timeline. The more details, the better. Remember to add in things such as "rest time" or "down time" and make sure every person in your Bridal Party and every vendor recieves a copy of your timeline.
Leave extra time for delays
Life happens... obviously things like traffic, car accidents, car problems, etc can cause your vendors and/or Bridal Party to run behind. Having buffer time will help alleviate stress for yourself in case something comes up. Personally, i'd rather chill for an extra hour rather than panic because someone's car broke down or something and they're running late.
Coordinate with your photographer
Make sure you clearly communicate with your photographer about what kind of photos you want taken and how long it will take them to get the shots they need. If you're doing detail photos, make sure you have everything together. I recommend using a structured box with all of your detail pieces (I.e. Shoes, rings, invitation, jewelry, etc.) that you can just directly hand your photographer once they arrive so you're not running around looking for everything once they arrive. Make a list of important shots you'd like from them and send it to them before the wedding day.
We have worked with some AWESOME coordinators in the many years we have worked in the Central Ohio Wedding industry. Below are some recommendations for some awesome planners and coordinators that we recommend working with in case you need an extra hand.