Time is the number one underestimated thing on wedding days. There is never enough time. The day will fly by and it’s common for things to take longer than expected - hair, makeup, corralling family members for family photos, traveling from one venue to a next, the receiving line, etc.
Below are common issues I see on wedding days that in hind sight could have easily been avoided if thought out fully before hand. Disclaimer: every wedding has something that doesn’t seem to go as planned. We are all human and things happen. BUT with simple planning and thinking through some of the not so fun moments of the day will help keep issues from popping up and surprising you on your wedding day 🙂
Hair & Makeup
Important questions to consider…
Do you have enough stylists for your wedding party?
Are you starting early enough for what you want?
If each person’s hair takes 30 minutes and makeup also takes 30 minutes and you have 10 people who need both done that is 600 minutes total. So you would need a minimum of a 4 person team to get it done in under 3 hours.
Make sure you think about the order. If you want your mom or maid of honor’s hair and makeup to be done for getting ready photos make sure they are closer to the top of the list. Make sure things are delegated to non core members of your bridal party and getting ready to ensure you aren’t waiting on them to get your day started and so they can relax and enjoy the day along side of you.
If you want a first look with all your bridesmaids fully dressed, all hair and makeup will need to be complete by the scheduled first look time. You might be thinking duh Megan after reading, this but I’ve had to wait 30+ minutes before because this wasn’t thought out before the day of.
Reading Letters/Vows
If you want your videographer to capture you speaking letters or any special words out loud expect it to take at least 10 minutes per letter. You will also need a completely quiet room to do this.
Family Photos
Make sure every person knows where and when they need to be for family photos. It is not uncommon for one person to be running late or for someone to forget to tell one specific family member when to arrive for photos.
One huge way to help this issue, is to delegate a family or non-family member to be in charge of rounding up people for family photos. Having a designated point person will save a lot of time and stress when family photos happen especially if you have a lot of combinations or large families.
Driving Time
Do you have to drive from a getting ready space to the ceremony venue?
Do you have to drive from the ceremony venue to the reception venue?
Do you want to drive from the venue to a photo location?
If you answered yes to any of these questions make sure to map out the times of these. Each of these will add time to your day. If it takes 15 minutes delegate 25 extra minutes. The day of things always seem to take longer due to talking, all the moving parts of your day, looking for parking downtown, and walking time. It’s better to have extra 15 minutes (to breathe, sneak away, go to the bathroom, eat a snack) then to be running around running 30 minutes behind the entire day and feeling stressed.
Party Bus Travel Time
Party Buses always take long to get to venues than expected due to the bus not being able to go as fast and usually the driver taking the scenic route.
If you want your reception to start at 6pm and are going on a party bus from 5-6pm make sure to tell the driver you need to be back by 6pm at the latest.
If had busses be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour late to reception venues. Delegate someone on your bus as the time keeper to make sure you get to your venue on time.
Down Time
Do you have any downtime built into your timeline? If you don’t, you need it to take a breather, hydrate, eat, go to the bathroom or maybe you are an introvert and just need to sneak away for a solid 15 minutes just bride and groom after the ceremony. Scheduling this time is valuable and will pay off.
None of the above things are mind blowing. But they are commonly missed because of all the big things that need to be planned. Planning a wedding is a lot. The biggest thing you can do to prevent forgetting any of these things is by delegating. Delegation saves you time, tears and stress. Trust the people you hire and those closest to you and you won’t regret it. In my experience I’ve found it will help you let go and fully enjoy your wedding day. 🥰