You’ve worked steadily for months carefully crafting every detail of your wedding. Now it’s important to make sure that the logistical pieces of the day are perfectly planned, too. Today I’m sharing the top three areas to watch when creating a wedding day timeline.

Transportation and Travel Time

Be realistic with exactly how long it could take you to travel between locations and actually over schedule your travel time. Worst case scenario, you get there faster than you anticipated and actually have a few moments to breathe, have a drink or a snack, and reflect on the wedding day so far! It could even be the difference of making a quick pit stop at an unexpected photo location.

Do a test run on a busy Saturday and pick one where there are a lot of things happening in and around the city that could cause potential delays. Be in the know of planned construction that is en route to the event and plan out alternate routes.

Photography

Ensure you have left room for both setup and pack up time for your photographer and videographer before and after each set of photos in addition to the time required to travel. It may not seem like much, 5 minutes to unpack and do test shots, and another 5 minutes to pack up at the end of the session is ultimately taking 10 minutes out.

When you’ve scheduled enough time for your photos, you’ll immediately feel more relaxed and actually look better in your photos. You’ll have time to get just the right shot and maybe even a few you hadn’t expected, rather than just the ones on the list!

Family and extended family photos are always crazy. Especially during cocktail hour. Aunt Jane has gone to the washroom, Uncle John has gotten caught up with a relative he hasn’t seen in years and is nowhere to be found. Be sure to have a thorough list of what photos you want to accomplish during this time and assign responsible family members to assist with rounding these folks up. Let them know ahead of time where they need to be and when. Perhaps even have an announcement made by your officiant at the end of the ceremony as another reminder. Your planner and photographer have never met Aunt Jane and Uncle John, so your photographer and planner will thank you when you have someone who knows the family helping to round them up!

Dinner Service / Speeches

One of the areas in which the schedule is most unpredictable is during dinner service. A typical plated dinner service is around 2 to 2.5 hrs depending on the number of speeches and courses served but it’s not unusual for it to be running 30 to 45 minutes behind. I’ll let you in on a little secret, though. It’s rare that the catering staff are the reason for it running behind. In fact, they’re watching closely and timing their courses to ensure you are getting your meal exactly how they want it (and you expect it) to be served - hot and tasty! No one wants over-cooked chicken or well-done beef, but unfortunately, it’s a possibility if your speeches are running too long.

Keep the speeches to a minimum and be very clear with those giving speeches that they stick to a strict time limit.

Ask your venue if they have any requirements as to where speeches should or should not be scheduled during dinner service. Maybe they have restrictions on any speeches between the appetizer and main course to ensure the entrees are served hot and exactly as intended. Maybe they have strict rules not to clear or serve during speeches as it’s inevitably noisy and distracting no matter how quiet they try to be. It’s also often deemed disrespectful. Being in the know of these things well ahead of setting your evening schedule is key to success.

Over the last couple of years, I have been encouraging my clients to include the majority of their speeches during their rehearsal dinner. At the very least, the bride and groom should say a few words at the wedding to thank guests for taking time out of their busy lives to celebrate with them and to do a small toast to each other and their new life together. It’s also lovely for the parents to say something, but I highly suggest speeches during the wedding dinner reception are limited to these.

Lastly, the fewer speeches you have, the less you have to worry about chasing down the people who need to be present! Maybe this time mom has made a quick trip to the washroom but as soon as she gets back, dad has popped out to enjoy a cigar. It’s a fine dance getting all of these people to be in the same place at the same time as they tend to get restless the longer they sit around while dinner service drags out.