One thing that we tell ALL of our brides is this: plan now, enjoy later. In our five seasons of shooting weddings, I always say that this is one of my biggest pieces (if not THE biggest piece) of advice I can give to a bride regarding the planning aspect of her wedding!

Why you should plan

I can almost guarantee that any bride-to-be would agree with me in saying that the LAST thing she wants to feel on her wedding day is stressed! Instead, she wants to be fully present, enjoy every moment as thoroughly as possible, LAUGH, cry (happy tears!), and feel the incredible amount of love that is being showered onto her and her groom from all those who have come to celebrate!

I am convinced that the best way to ensure that you are living fully present in your wedding day is to put in the time before your day planning your wedding day timeline! If your day has a schedule that you are able to share with your families and friends before the wedding day, you will save the chaos and stress that inevitably ensues from dad not being ready for the first look or the groomsmen running behind because they didn’t know where they needed to be and when!

The Not-So-Obvious: Transition Time

In general, however, I think that the idea of a timeline is a common one and most brides know the importance of having a clear timeline and sharing it with those involved in the day! The one thing that I think most brides DON’T think about is transition time on their day.

Forgetting to plan for transition time is where the plan for the day begins to fall behind and oftentimes, this can cause brides worry and stress on their day! Remember, we don’t want this for you!

So what is transition time and how can you plan for this?

Think about anything that wouldn’t be obvious to schedule but still happens on your day — gathering your things after you are in your dress and getting on the bus, time after the ceremony before family photos can begin, travel time, etc.!

Timelines

It is super easy to plan a timeline like this (given everything is at one venue):

1:30-3:00 Details, Getting Ready Photos

3:00-4:00 First Look, Bride & Groom Photos

4:00-4:30 Bridal Party

4:30-5:00 Ceremony

5:00-5:30 Family Photos

6:00 Dinner

It’s natural to thing like this and to go from one thing to the next when planning out the events of your day, but don’t forget about the transition times BETWEEN events and plan for those, too! I always say that it’s better to give yourself a bit of extra time, anyway! Breathing room is SO important on your wedding day!

Here is how I would plan that same timeline as above (given everything is at one venue):

1:15-2:45 Details, Getting Ready Photos

2:55-3:55 First Look, Bride & Groom Photos

4:00 -4:30 Bridal Party

4:30-5:00 Bride in hiding while guests arrive, freshen up before ceremony

5:00-5:30 Ceremony

5:40-6:10 Family Photos

6:30 Dinner

It might seem crazy to care about 5 minutes here or 5 minutes there, but I can tell you from past experiences that the couples who think about these things and plan for these transition times (or wedding day-hiccups in general!) always seem to avoid stress on their wedding day!!

For more posts in our For Brides Series, go here!