Welcoming Beth Beresford

Bruisyard recommended wedding supplier Beth Beresford joins us to discuss your wedding day timeline

Planning your wedding day can be an exciting yet overwhelming experience. One key aspect that deserves careful consideration is your wedding day timeline. A well-thought-out schedule ensures that everything runs smoothly, allowing you to fully savor every moment without stress. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to create a perfect wedding day timeline, so you can enjoy your big day to the fullest.

Start Early

Begin your timeline by determining your ceremony time. Work backward from there, considering any restrictions or time limits imposed by your suppliers. An early start provides a buffer for unexpected delays and allows you to enjoy a leisurely pace throughout the day.

Aim to get in your dress, or outfit, an hour before, leaving breathing space for if things run a little over. As you work backwards from this time, allow 10-15 minutes for first looks, whether that's a family member or your wedding party and 15 minutes prior to this to actually get into your outfit & have some incredible images taken.

Lots of people like to give gifts to their wedding crew, there are usually lots of tears, I mean who wouldn't after reading those cards. So it’s best to plan in before bridal makeup is finished, allow at least 20 minutes for this, to really savor it.

Hair and Makeup, the bigger the wedding party the more time needed. Allow 30 minutes for your suppliers to get set up, from there on allow for 30-45 minutes per person and 60 minutes for you.

Ceremony

Clearly define your ceremony and reception locations, and decide how long you'd like each to last. Consider factors like travel time between venues, guest arrivals, parking (especially if getting married in a church) and any restrictions or requirements from your chosen location.

Ensure that your ceremony start time accounts for guest arrival, the procession, the ceremony itself, and the recessional. Leave a little extra time for unexpected delays or guest transitions.

Some churches ban photographs, and video, being taken during the ceremony at all. In place they do offer to pretend to recreate the ceremony so you can have a few images, this of course will add time.

Confetti, I advise leaving 10-15 minutes for confetti. If you have a particularly large wedding it can be challenging getting everyone in a line. However, this does leave a beautiful opportunity to have some alone time together. So enjoy a lovely glass of something fizzy whilst your guests transition from the ceremony area.

Cocktail Hour or Welcome Drinks

If you're having welcome drinks or a cocktail hour, set aside time for guests to mingle while you and your wedding party have photos taken. This is also an ideal time for any entertainment you've planned. Do be mindful that it is very easy to lose people when you want them in group photos at this point. Planning your group photos near to where you have your welcome drinks, or entertainment, stationed can be a great way of keeping everyone nearby. It will also allow your photographer to speed through them as there is no delay between whilst rounding them up.

I advise my couples to allow roughly 5 minutes per group photograph planned. Yes some take longer, and some quicker. However, it will help you visualise how long it takes to find people, arrange them and then get them all looking the same way. A list of no more than 10 is usually optimum, most have had enough by about 45 minutes and want to get on with celebrating.

Group photos can be made more efficient by enlisting some of your wedding party to help round people up, one person from each side of the family is usually very handy. Making sure they have the list before the wedding also reduces the time it will take. If you have a Gmail account you can use the “Google Keep” app, which is free and you can create the photo list with tick boxes and then share it with those helping round people up. The time taken to do group shots can prevent any entertainment from being captured, so a second photographer is worth every penny here.

Couple Portraits

I like to split my couples portrait sessions into two, so 20 minutes after the group photos and the 20 minutes around sunset after dinner. It means you don’t feel like you have missed a massive chunk of the party, especially as most are just milling about after dinner enjoying hot drinks. Other benefits by doing it this way include capturing very different lighting scenarios, moods and romantic feel to your photos. It also means that should the weather rain you have allowed time later to take these images.

Dinner and Toasts

Toasts or speeches can be a big unknown in terms of time. I have had lots of couples tell those making speeches that they have to be 5 minutes, for them to take considerably longer, sometimes up to 2 hours. Get one of your wedding party to check in with those making speeches, ask them to proofread, enabling them to not only check the length but veto any content you would rather not shared.

I get asked all the time which is better, speeches before or after. There is no right or wrong answer. For those nervous about public speaking, getting them out the way at the start is ideal, allowing them to relax and enjoy the day. If overly long, guests can get grumpy if they are hungry, but hopefully this can act as an incentive to those speaking not to go over their allotted time. The kitchen or caterers will be working towards serving food at a specific time, so it's very important to keep this part timely.

Speeches afterwards are great if you need a little dutch courage, or don’t want to feel time pressured. You will have had a little down time to relax and eat, meaning you can go into those speeches with full focus. It’s also better if you have a lot of gift giving to do, as you can really enjoy giving those gifts without rushing.

Dancing and Celebration

Plan for the celebration part of the evening, including the cake cut, first dance, parent dances and open dancing. A cake cut can be very quick, 5 minutes or less. Traditionally this leads straight into the first dance which is around 5 minutes, depending on the length of your song.

The trick is to keep people on the dance floor. Coordinate with your entertainment and DJ to keep the energy high and the dance floor packed. A great way of doing this is live music, it doesn’t have to be a full scale band. I have seen DJ’s partner with singers or musicians to give a perfect blend of the two.

If you would like a sparkler send off, think about sunset and when will be best to round people up. It can sometimes be hard getting people outside if they are having a whale of a time on the dance floor. You may not fancy gathering a crowd, you could instead do a champagne spray, which can be just the two of you and looks epic in the evening.

Compile all the information into a detailed itinerary that includes specific times and locations for each event. Share this schedule with your wedding party, suppliers, and anyone involved in the day's activities to ensure everyone is on the same page. Remember though, while having a well-planned timeline is essential, it's equally important to remain flexible. Unexpected delays or changes can happen.

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