Wedding season here so I’ve been spending a lot of time finalizing wedding day timelines with our brides! Creating a solid timeline for the morning of your wedding day is incredibly important.  A well-paced morning will help keep you calm on your wedding day but a chaotic morning will cause unnecessary stress.  I love being able to help our brides plan the perfect wedding day as much as I can so I reached out to NJ Wedding Planner and Day-Of Coordinator NVS Events to come up with these ten tips to help you create the perfect timeline for the morning of your wedding day.  Read on to find out what they had to say.

Creating a timeline for the morning of your wedding can be a little overwhelming!  As a wedding planner, the most frequent questions I receive from my clients are:  What time should I have my limo arrive?  What time should my photographer arrive to my house?  And what time should I have hair and makeup artists arrive?  Here are some basic rules to keep in mind when creating your timeline for the morning of your wedding day.  At the end of each rule, I’ve included a time so that we can create a sample timeline for easy reference below.

1. Start backwards.

If your ceremony start time is 3pm, you are going to work backwards from that time. (3:00pm ceremony)

2. Add 15 minutes to your travel time to establish your departure time.

If it’s going to take you 20 minutes to get to the church, add at least 15 minutes to that and that should be the time you schedule to leave.  If you’re ceremony is on a Friday and starts between 5 – 7pm, you may want to add 30 minutes rather than 15 to your expected travel time due to rush hour traffic. (35 minutes travel time thus 2:25pm departure time)

3. Transportation vehicles should be onsite 15 – 30 minutes prior to your departure time.

Schedule for your transportation vehicles to arrive 15 – 30 minutes prior to your departure time so that you’re not waiting for your vehicle to get there once you’re ready to go.  The vehicle should be waiting for you. This also pads your schedule in case the vehicle gets lost, gets stuck in traffic or needs to stop for gas. (Vehicle onsite at 2:00pm)

4. Getting Dressed – Bride

Bride should start getting dressed 1 hour before departure time. Getting dressed should take 10-15 minutes, then you can use the rest of the time before your departure time for pre-ceremony photos and portraits. (Bride starts getting dressed at 1:00pm)

5. Getting Dressed – Bridesmaids

You mom, maid of honor and bridesmaids should be dressed and ready at least 15 minutes before you start getting dressed, as they are helping you put on your dress, jewelry, and final touches. (Bridal party ready at 12:45pm)

6. Break

Include 15 minutes in between hair/makeup and getting dressed. The Bride especially should give herself 15 minutes in between having hair/makeup done and getting dressed.  This will give you time to eat and use the restroom.  If you want to keep it light, eat at least a banana or granola bar. (Bride’s hair and makeup done by 12:45pm)

7. Photographer’s Arrival

Your photographer should arrive 30 – 45 minutes prior to the time you will start getting dressed, so that they can get their gear set up and take some photos of you and your ladies getting ready. (Photographer onsite at 12:15pm)

8. Flowers

Your florals should be delivered the same time or before your photographer arrives so that they are readily available for photographs. (Florals delivered by 12:15pm)

9. Hair and Makeup

The bride should allot 1 hour for hair and 1 hour for makeup.  If possible, hair should be done before makeup so that no hairspray or hair products go on your face once your makeup is done.  The rest of the bridal party gets allotted 30 minutes for hair and 30 minutes for makeup.  The bride should be the last one in the makeup chair if time permits.  Thus, if there are 5 ladies who are getting hair and makeup done plus the bride, you will need to allot a total of 3.5 hours for hair and 3.5 hours for makeup.  Of course, hair and makeup should be working at the same time.  Add 30 minutes to this time for the stylist/artist to arrive and set up their stations. (Hair and makeup arrive at 8:15am)

10. Arrival of bridesmaids

Your support system (aka maid of honor and bridesmaids) should arrive at the same time as hair and makeup.  You selected your maid of honor and bridesmaids for a reason.  If they are getting their hair and makeup done, have them arrive early to keep you company, to keep you calm, to keep you distracted and to keep you stress-free!  Enjoy an early mimosa, be sure to eat breakfast and put on some of your favorite tunes! (Bridesmaids arrive on-site at 8:15am)

The morning of your wedding should be enjoyable!  Share your timeline with your vendors, so that they all know what schedule you’re working with and what time you expect them to be onsite.  Also, be sure to get the cell phone number for all vendors listed above (hair, makeup, photographer, florist and transportation) so that you can easily reach them if they don’t arrive when you are expecting them to.  You can also share your timeline with your maid of honor and bridesmaids, giving each of them a vendor to manage.  For instance, your MOH is in charge of the florist.  If he/she doesn’t arrive on time, your MOH can call him/her to find out exactly where they are!

A big thank you to NVS Events for putting together these tips for our brides!  For more information on their services for wedding planning and day-of coordination visit their website or find them on Facebook.

For more Tips for Brides click here. Happy Wedding Planning!!