Ok for our first installment of bridal advice, we will bring up the topic of time-lines.  The order of events on your wedding day, may at first seem easy and a no-brainer but the closer you get to your wedding, the more you realize, when should certain things occur.  Ok I will start off saying, there is no one right way to do things.  This is very subjective, so what I’m about to say is what I have seen and what I think works best. 

Ok first off all I would schedule a trial run for your hair and make-up around the same time a few weeks before your wedding.  This way you know how much time you need to allot on wedding day to having hair and makeup done.  Some styles will take longer than others and honestly its just a really good thing to know.  You don’t want to be stressed out on your wedding day because you are running late for your own wedding.  

Ok so here I’m going to bring up formals along with getting ready.  I suggest getting as many of the formals done before the wedding as possible.  This makes the flow of the day go much smoother and less stressful.  I’m not saying do a first look (I’ll go into more detail on that next week) but it might be something to consider.  Usually an hour and a half before the ceremony is scheduled to start, we want to begin formals.  That way we only need about 30 minutes after the ceremony to get those that weren’t done beforehand.  One thing to really consider is that after the ceremony, all your friends and family want to come up to you and congratulate you and of course you want to talk to them.  Well that does take away from the time for taking your formals and then in turn delays your guest from seeing you at the reception.  Trust us when we say, we don’t want to keep your guests waiting either and we want you to start having fun at your reception.

Ok now that I mentioned reception, I will go into a general timeline for it.  I think after you are introduced the best thing to do is to go into your first dance.  This is when all eyes are on you and all the guests are seated.  Then after you finish, you go straight into dinner.  And brides you need to make sure and eat during this time or you won’t get a chance to later.  I promise you.

After both of you finish dinner and your guests seem to be wrapping up, go into the cake cutting followed by the toasts.   Then come the parent dances.  Then the dance floor is open to everyone and you can get the party started.

So that leaves the garter and the bouquet toss.  My thoughts on this is that you aren’t required to do them.  If you have a ton of single girlfriends and guys then it will make for some funny moments. However, if you only have a couple of single ladies, then they might feel awkward about being singled out in front of everyone.  So in that case you might opt not to partake in that wedding tradition.  It’s really up to you and what you want to do on your day.  Remember there are no set rules.  Its what the two of you want to do.

If you have any other questions regarding time-lines, let us know.  We are more than happy to answer any questions. 

Also leave a comment, and let us know what other topics you would like us to discuss.