Welcome back friends, today I want to share with you something so important with regards to your own wedding, if you skip out on it or don’t do it right, it could literally make or break your wedding day.

As a careerlong wedding vendor, I’ve been noticing more and more couples post-COVID seem to be lacking when it comes to a wedding timeline, today, I want to tell you why this is the keystone to your wedding day and what typically happens if you don’t have one or a good one.

Your Wedding Day Timeline

So, the purpose of a wedding timeline is multifold, first it helps keep all your vendors in check with what is supposed to happen when, second, it keeps a flow to the wedding, there is not dead space with guests and everyone’s not scratching their heads trying to figure out what’s going on and third, it helps keep the bridal party moving and flowing.

Keeping Vendors in Check

The truth is the better your timeline is, the better your vendors will be prepared for what’s to come.

Let me give you a simple example.

As a videographer, I often times will mic up the people for the wedding toasts, but I’m not aware of when the toasts will be (or if they are even having them) then I can easily be caught off-guard and miss the chance to mic them up, which takes several minutes.

Beyond my realm of the wedding industry, all vendors need to have a detailed list of everything happening and when, from the florists to the venue owners, photographers and catering staff.

What Happens When You Don’t Have a Timeline

Without a detail of the days events, you will lose control of your guests and many will leave early, perhaps take a slice of cake before you cut the cake, eat before it’s time or simply keeps the DJ in check and the evening flowing right.

I’ve seen many DJ’s with general lists of what couples want but no timing and in turn lots of dead space with music, leaving guests as to what’s going on?

While we are huge advocates of having a wedding planner, the timeline is the most important thing to keep the day on the right path.

Here are some other examples of what happens when you don’t have a timeline and yes, we’ve experienced them first hand at various weddings over the years.

• The ceremony runs late by 15-30 minutes or more

  • leaves yours guests waiting

  • vendors are left waiting

• Guests will not know about cocktail hour

• Guests will take cake before you do the cake cutting

• The DJ will not know what’s happening until right beforehand,

• Photo and video pros will be left asking you what’s next

• All the vendors will be asking you a million things about what’s to come instead of enjoying the day

You Simply Don’t Enjoy the Day

If you are left having to tell vendors and guests what to do on your own wedding day, I can tell you that you’re simply not enjoying the wedding day, you’re left to direct it.

Weddings are a lot like an orchestra with many different instruments, they sound great by them selves or in small numbers, but without direction, they will sound off balance and even horrible if left unattended.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should micro-manage your vendors or guests, but they should have good direction ahead of time knowing what’s to happen.

Let’s Look at the Numbers

According to The Wedding Report, roughly 9% of all weddings do not have a timeline and those that do, 12% have a vague timeline. That means that roughly 1.6 million weddings a year have a great timeline while 189,000 simply don’t have one.

So, What About a Wedding Planner?

Planners do this for a living, make timelines and set expectations on how long things should typically take, knowing how to best talk with vendors and get the information they need to make adjustments and the like.

Hiring a planner will really set your mind and day at ease, after all, weddings are complex events that often times need coordination, so hiring someone that can help be your guide through start to finish is a great investment.

Now, if you choose not to have a planner, you can always find templates and online resources to help create your timeline, in fact Carole and I created one that you can download and use yourself, just click the button below.

What Does a Wedding Timeline Look Like?

Timelines come in all forms, but most commonly they all have a list of what is happening with a time, usually to the nearest 5 minutes, truthfully weddings will always very in timing so having an estimate is better than putting down a specific minute.

Lets look at an example of a timeline we used a few months ago, a planner made for a couple.

We highly encourage you to make a timeline for the day and stick to it, if anything from todays blog, I want you to know that timelines are the keystone to making the day run smoothly and how important they are.