How to Make Your Wedding Day Timeline

Professional event planners call this timeline a "production schedule."

Even the smallest or most casual wedding is still a production - a lot is happening at the same time on your wedding day that must be managed.

Note: This is different from the 6-12 month comprehensive wedding planning timeline.

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In order to make the schedule, you need some basic information:

• Find out when your venue will be available to your vendors for set up. Sometimes party rental companies need to deliver tables and chairs the day before the wedding, so make sure this works for your venue.
  Tents may also need to be set up the day before.
• Contact each individual vendor – caterer, baker, florist, DJ or musicians, limo, party rentals -- anybody providing a service or a product on your wedding day.
  Work out their arrival times, set up times and any additional needs they may have.
• Contact your photographer and determine how many photos on your shot list you will take before the ceremony, how many you will take after the ceremony and before the reception, and what photos you need at your reception. Work out with the photographer when he or she needs to arrive (and where) in order to get the shots important to you.
• Work out when attendants and any family members need to be available for pre-ceremony photos, the logistics of how many different places your photographer will be taking photos, and how the photographer will get photos of both you and your fiancé getting ready, if you want this.
• If you’ve contracted or borrowed transportation, make sure it’s available when you need it for photos.

Put all the above info into a timeline formatted itinerary of the day.

• Add info on any personal appointments for you and your attendants, like hair or makeup.
• Include your ceremony outline and reception outline in the schedule if you like, or just your reception outline.
• Add any additional volunteer help for your wedding to the schedule, like friends picking up out of town guests at the hotel, decorating the reception venue, or delivering furniture or other borrowed items.

You don’t need to be the information gateway -- be sure each vendor or volunteer contributor has the numbers for anyone they may need to contact.

For example, make sure your caterer has a contact number for the reception venue in case they have trouble getting in the building.

A week before your wedding, use your schedule to send out emails to everyone involved to confirm times, actions, and any relevant contact info.

It's a good idea to always back it up with an electronic copy via email. Make sure your mistress of ceremonies and volunteer coordinator carry extra copies of the wedding day timeline and the contact list before your wedding day.

See a sample wedding itinerary.

Go to the wedding plan checklist, itinerary and timeline main page

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