North Yorkshire Weddings – Wedding Timeline Advice
It’s more difficult than you think to plan the timings of your wedding day. If the venue that you are getting married at has a coordinator, they will help you with a lot of this. However, so many weddings run behind, it becomes stressful for everyone, especially if the lateness happens during your wedding prep.
If you start running behind on the day, the time needs to be made up somewhere. The registrars won’t wait, and the venue won’t want to wait to serve your meals. So 95% of the time this will come out of the time you’ve put aside for your wedding photos. Whilst everyone values their wedding photography differently, nearly everyone has at least a few must-have shots they want. In order to get these shots, a wedding photographer needs the time to do that. Whether you wanted to do a “big reveal” with your parents before you leave to get married, you wanted group shots with your favourite people before the ceremony, or if there’s some great locations at your venue you wanted to use for your portraits, they all run the risk of being put to one side.
I know that you want to make the most of your day. So it’s essential to plan your time well to avoid any nasty surprises and to avoid the stress that comes with having to rush around. It’s always a good idea to add in extra time. If all runs well, you’ll have some extra time to spend with your loved ones. If it doesn’t, having extra time will mean that you are not having to rush around. All weddings won’t follow the same format of course, but I have pulled together a few points to start you off if you are struggling to work out how long you’ll need for your preparations or if you’re stuck on when to tell your evening guests to arrive.
Before I break down the separate elements of your day, I’d also like to take this opportunity to mention about Marquee & Tipi weddings (i.e. not held at a dedicated wedding venue) or other similar venue. I’ve been to many absolutely wonderful 100% DIY weddings held on family farms or back gardens, and they are absolutely fantastic. However, there is an added complication with them. Without someone to guide the day through it is almost guaranteed that the day will run behind. Trust me when I say it causes large amounts of stress for you when your band is due to start setting up but the room isn’t cleared because you haven’t finished your meal, or the magician has to leave for another event at a certain time but he wasn’t able to get started on time because the wedding was running behind. And by the time your first dance comes around, photographers are TIRED, so if we have to wait around another couple of hours you might see us hugging our knees and crying in the corner, HA! And just remember that your wedding caterers will be working to get your food ready for a specific time, it causes massive problems if you are not ready at the time the food is due to be served.
If you are having this sort of wedding and you are able to budget for a wedding coordinator for the day it is 100% worth it. They will help keep your day running to times, guide you through the day and coordinate you, your guests and your suppliers. However, I totally understand that for one reason or another a wedding coordinator is not possible. If this is the case, you can allocate this job to one of your wedding party. However, it will need to be someone who is firm enough to be able to direct everybody, organised, can make important decisions on the day, understand the importance of sticking to the timeline and also someone who isn’t likely to enjoy too many beverages. So that rules out the bridesmaid who loves a few too many proseccos, or the best man who brings out the Jagers at 5pm. This person can also be a point of contact for suppliers, meaning their is less stress and pressure on you and you can just enjoy your day. I cannot stress enough, you need someone to run the day for you. Nearly all DIY weddings that I have been to have run behind.
Preparations
This is the number one cause of timings running behind, and it’s the point of the day where I see the most stress. Everyone is nervous anyway. It’s the time of day where you absolutely cannot be late, so once you throw in running behind into the mix tensions start rising. And that’s the last thing you want on your wedding day. The morning of your wedding should be filled with fun and laughter. It’s also nice to be able to have some images of you all before you leave for the ceremony, before the wind gets you or the tears start flowing.
This is also why it’s a good idea to have a hair and make up trial. Whether you are having this done professionally or you are DIY-ing it. Know exactly how long each of you is going to get ready, then add on some time as a buffer for just-in-casies. If you are having your hair and makeup done professionally, you shouldn’t have to worry about getting it done too early. It should still be perfect by the time you arrive for your ceremony.
If you are wearing a wedding dress, add more time. Always, always allow longer than you think you’ll need for this. And make sure your bridesmaids have had a practice helping you get into it. Wedding dresses can be the Krypton Factor. I can guarantee it will take them a lot longer than the person who dressed you in the bridal shop. (Side note – pack scissors and safety pins, they are often needed. And, a crochet hook can be a godsend if you have buttons on your dress).
If you are wanting to do bridal portraits and outfit reveals, add more time again.
And if you are travelling to another venue for your ceremony, add more time again!
That old line “it’s the bride’s prerogative to be late to her wedding” … wipe that line from your mind. It’s not as likely to be as much of a problem if you are being married by priest or a celebrant unless they have more than one wedding a day. But registrars won’t be able to wait for you as they are on a very strict timeline due to other weddings. They will also need to interview you separately before the ceremony. Partner one will need to be ready at the venue 30 minutes before and partner two 15 minutes before the ceremony for your interviews so you need to add this into your timings too.
If it is an option for you, it’s a great idea to get ready at the venue where you will be married. Removing any sort of travel will a. give you more time, and b, eliminate any possible travel stresses.
To simplify things, i’d recommend that you should time to be ready 1 hour before you need to leave for your ceremony and 30 minutes as an absolute minimum. Having that extra time will make things so much more comfortable for everyone involved. Don’t fill your morning with unnecessary stress. If you are ready for your target time you can enjoy some lovely moments with your wedding party, take some time to relax and sort out some final touches. If you’re not ready by that time no problem! That is what the extra time is for.
Unless you have paid extra to have a second shooter, most photographers will want to be leaving the preparations in advance of you leaving to go the venue, so you will need to factor this in particularly if you there are specific photos you are wanting such as those outfit reveals. They will want to allow plenty of time to make sure they get to the venue in good time to meet your partner, and the officiant, get all their gear ready, take some shots of the venue, and still be ready to capture you arriving. Personally, where the ceremony is in a separate location to the wedding preparations I would be looking to leave for the ceremony venue 30 minutes (minimum) before you will leave to travel there. Plus leaving early gives a little buffer for potential traffic problems… wedding photographers won’t breathe in this time! As much as I absolutely adore some of the photos we can get in the moments before the ceremony, I (and i’m sure many photographers, although I can’t speak for anyone else) believe that it is more important for me to be armed with my gear and ready at the ceremony venue to photograph one of the most important moments of your life. So if you’re not ready in time those photos will unfortunately be missed.
CEREMONY
A civil ceremony will take about 20-30 minutes. Church ceremonies can be a bit longer, depending on who is marrying you and how many readings etc you are having. Allow 15 minutes or so for afterwards where your guests will want to say congratulations.
Group Shots and Family Formals
It’s your choice if you want these. A more traditional couple might like to have these as part of their day. Other couples might just want to get into enjoying their day with their guests or there might be some awkward family situations and so choose to leave out the family shots. Either way it is up to you both. If you want a photo of the whole group or a confetti shot, it’s a good idea to do this right after the ceremony before people start scattering to various places. Once people scatter it becomes a stressful event for everyone, including you. Guests can be moved from the ceremony straight to the location for the big group shot. If you speak to your wedding coordinator, venue staff or even the registrar they can tell your guests where to gather after leaving the ceremony. Then, as everyone is already there, we can head straight into family formals after that. Bear in mind that group shots is not a quick task it takes a while to get everyone in the right place at the right time.
If you are going to do confetti, i’d actually recommend that once you have walked down the aisle to hide away somewhere. For a start it will take ages to get everyone in place because they will all understandably want to say congratulations to you. But also, have a private moment to yourselves and take in the moment. Whilst you do that your guests can be gathered in place ready for you.
Having to round up guests can take up a lot of time. If you have booked with me, you will receive more advice regarding group shots in the weeks before your wedding. Assign someone the job of organising for formals such as a bridesmaid or family member. Having this person round everyone up will save a lot of time and help the process run more smoothly.
Keep your list to a minimum. I would recommend having 5-7 group shots and allowing about 20 minutes for these. Any more will need extra time allocated.
Couple Portraits
My favourite time of day! By this time you’ll be ready for just a little time away from your guests. It’s good to just be together and let things sink in. Well, this is a perfect opportunity. During your wedding day everyone will want to talk to you and spend time with you. The time you get to be together will actually be very little.
Allow plenty of time for your portraits. After all, the both of you are the most important people of the day! These are going to be the ones you want to have framed on your wall. I would suggest allowing 30 minutes minimum for this. If there is plenty of time we can get plenty of variation and utilise the various places in your venue. I have no desire to keep you away from your guests for long. But, I do think that it is important that you get plenty of lovely images just the 2 of you.
The Wedding Breakfast
The wedding breakfast will usually last about an hour and a half to 2 hours if you are having a 3 course breakfast. Your venue will advise on this.
Speeches
Speeches will vary from wedding to wedding depending on who is giving the speech. One person’s speech can last 5 minutes, others may take 20! My biggest piece of advice is to be realistic, have a think about the people who will be giving speeches. Do they like to talk? It’s also a good idea to let people know that their speech has to fit within a certain amount of time. Seriously… be firm.
You could ask those who are giving speeches to practice so that this part of the day doesn’t delay your evening party. Otherwise your evening guests might be arriving before you have finished. You could also have your speeches before your meal. Some are nervous about their speeches and want to get them out of the way. In this case it’s probably even more important to stick to timing as the venue will be waiting to bring out your food and guests will be hungry.
I once did a wedding where the brides had an egg timer and it was such a brilliant idea. Not only did it keep the speeches short and to time but it created some great laughs too.
Room turnaround
Depending on your venue, there may need to be a bit of time for the staff to change the room around for your epic evening party. It’s usually an hour. DJ’s, bands and photobooths will need to set up during this time.
If there’s time and you are both up for it, I like to do another quick couple’s session at this point if I can. Where, depending on the time of year we can try to get some great sunset shots, or more dramatic shots with flash lighting. I keep this short and sweet.
I’d also recommend that you head to your hotel room for half an hour. By this point you’ve had an incredibly busy day. Go and have a rest and just relax to be on top form for your party.
Party Time
Well, that’s most of the day done and it’s almost time to party! All that’s left to do is cut your cake, have your first dance and then let loose!
If you are looking for advice on what preparations you should be doing and when, check out this guide on Hitched.com!