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Fighting the Clock - Wedding Timing
If you're happy, relaxed and not afraid to show it, you will have some great photographs on your wedding day. If your wedding is well planned and you're supported by genuinely helpful family and friends working with excellent suppliers, everyone is going to have a good time.
A well planned wedding means drawing up a realistic schedule and sticking to it.
Your wedding day schedule
What time is your ceremony? When do you plan to sit for your Wedding Breakfast?
Those are the fixed times for the day and you need to work backwards from the ceremony to ensure that everyone arrives on time and looks their best. The time between the two main events is for travelling between locations, photographs and chatting with your guests. It's crucial to allow enough time for everything you plan and time flies by on your wedding day.
If you haven't fixed these times yet, consider:
- Are you having extra guests for an evening party? Many venues encourage celebrations to finish around midnight. If the evening celebrations start around 7.30 pm you'll have a decent amount of time to socialise.
- You'll want your Wedding Breakfast to start around 5pm to ensure that the speeches have finished before your evening guests arrive.
- Working backwards, you'll need a couple of hours after your ceremony to meet and greet friends and family, to have your family photographs taken and to enjoy your Reception venue. You'll want your Reception to start around 2.45.
An ideal schedule
It's your big day and you need to enjoy every moment from the time you wake up in the morning.
Give yourself time to relax, have a massage in the spa, your hair and make-up done, allow plenty of time to get into your dress. And maybe enjoy a light lunch with a glass of something refreshing with your bridal party before you set off.
The Groom will have his own ideas of how to spend the morning with his supporters. A round of golf? Maybe clay pigeon shooting?
Then imagine the day from your guests' viewpoint. They need time to travel and grab a quick lunch.
We've found that ceremonies around 2pm work really well. We'll have plenty of natural daylight to work with, you'll be ready to enjoy your wonderful day and the photographs will be fantastic.