Let’s talk wedding planning timelines!
I pride myself on how accurately I can create a wedding day timeline. I think that’s because of how my brain works. I like things to be organized and orderly. And a timeline is the quintessence of order! Unfortunately, though, there are many steps that go into building a wedding day timeline.
Wedding Day Planner Timeline
Creating an accurate timeline is an extremely important but also tedious task. Once you get the hang of creating a timeline, it should only take about 20 minutes. Only practice will make you more proficient at creating them, though. Today we’re going over ways a wedding day planner timeline can improve your overall value.
#1 CREATE A TENTATIVE TIMELINE
As the wedding approaches, your timeline will most likely change about a zillion times. However, we like to give our clients a tentative timeline as soon as they book with us. It’s important that you give your input first regarding the timeline—before another vendor changes the flow you had in mind. A tentative timeline will also help your clients as they begin to talk with vendors.
#2 CREATE A MASTER TIMELINE
To build the master timeline, you will use the tentative timeline you created when you first booked the client and the vendors’ times of arrival. List all events in chronological order. It would be extremely hard to read if it were organized in any other way. You should also fill in all of the details that apply—for example, first dance song, bridal entry order, and who’s doing the blessing.
#3 VENDOR COMMUNICATIONS
Once you have created a timeline you feel comfortable executing, you will need to send out the Master Timeline to your vendors. When you are ready to send it, use our email template found inside the Wedding Management Planner Kit as a guide. You will want to do this about four days before the wedding. Be sure to send the timeline out to all vendors. You will want to include the floor plan and any other necessary information in this email as well. For example, the wedding party’s room number or information about parking.
LAST WORDS ON WEDDING PLANNING TIMELINE
When it comes to creating a wedding day planner timeline, I personally use HoneyBook. However, if you aren’t in a position to invest in a CRM system quite yet, a good ol’ Word doc will work just fine. I used Word many for years before I switched over to HoneyBook.
