You’ve found the perfect vendors, the best venue, and the most fabulous dress! Your day is approaching quickly and your vendors are calling to finalize. “What time do I need to be there?” “When are you beginning pictures before the ceremony?” “When are you going to get dressed?” Suddenly, you’re flooded with question after question and you don’t know the answer! Planning your wedding day out can be stressful and a headache! Use these simple tips to help you prepare for a stress-free wedding day!
Work backwards for your wedding day
Take your ceremony time, and go backwards from there! Typically guests begin to arrive 30-45 minutes before the ceremony begins. Taking that into consideration, you’ll want to be completely ready and hidden away 45 minutes before your ceremony starts to make your grand entrance! If your ceremony starts at 6, you will want to be re-applying your makeup and hanging out with your bridal party at 5:15.
Get as many photos as you can before the first look! Usually, it will take your photographer an hour and a half to complete your first look, bridal party, and family photos! Using the timeline above, you’ll want to begin these photos between 3:30 and 3:45. This means you’ll want to be dressed between 3:15 and 3:30.
You’ll probably still want to get some photos with your girls if you’re not doing the first look! This can take between 45 minutes-1 hour. With that in mind, you’ll want to begin getting dressed between 4 and 4:15!
You’ll want to give your photographer and/or videographer time to capture those getting ready shots, even if you aren’t doing a first look! Knowing what time you need to be dressed by helps your hair and makeup team know what time they’ll need to begin. This will vary based on the team you’ve hired, if you’ve got one stylist or two, and how many girls are getting each service. Typically, a stylist will need 30-45 minutes to complete each service (hair and makeup).
Talk with your vendors to see how long they need
Often, you’ll find yourself stressed out trying to do the job of the people you hired! Your vendors are the professionals and experts in their field, so if you have a question, ASK! Instead of guessing how long those first look photos take, reach out to your photographer and get an answer. Don’t know what time your girls should be there on the morning of? Message your hair and makeup artist to see how much time they need. As a bride, you’re specializing in making your wedding day exactly what you and your groom want. Let the professionals you trust take care of their roles on your big day!
Leave yourself some wiggle room
If a vendor tells you it will take them 30 minutes to complete a task, round up to 45 minutes and give them some extra time! We never want to think about things going wrong, but if they do, that vendor will have some extra time to fix the problem! This will help to make sure you’re not stressed and things will flow smoothly on the day of!
Don’t stress if it doesn’t go exactly minute by minute
If you’re like us, then you LOVE a schedule! You work out a timeline and then have a backup. You’ll add in here, move that there, and then probably go back to your first draft!
Those of us who love a timeline can get easily stressed by things not going by our schedule. Designate a bridesmaid or close friend to be there on the day of who will look at you and say “Take a breath and relax.” Weddings are often things that we dream about for years and years and we want each detail to be picture perfect. Enjoy your day and the fact that by the end, you’ll be married to the love of your life! Leave the stressing and the running around to your bridesmaids, vendors, and day of coordinators to make sure your wedding day is one filled with love, happy moments, and the best memories!
Newly engaged?
Season one of our podcast Behind The Studio is for you! It’s called “Getting Married? Start Here!”, and we be take you through the entire wedding planning process. You’ll learn everything from choosing the wedding vibe to creating a magical honeymoon.!
Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple Podcasts! And if you’re looking to read more wedding advice we’ve got you covered there too! Checkout all of our wedding planning tips and tricks here!
