Whenever I create a timeline I always include a “snapshot” of the huge details at the very top of the timeline.
This will include:
-
Guest arrival time
-
Ceremony start time
-
Cocktail hour start time
-
Dinner served time
-
Reception end time
-
Vendor out time
This is beneficial for you to keep in mind these key times, and also makes the times easier to reference for vendors.
Once you have settled on these times you can create your full timeline for the day. When building a timeline I start by filling in the information from the snapshot into the full timeline. I then start filling in the other main events:
-
Grand entrance
-
Special dances
-
Toasts
-
Cake cutting
-
bouquet/garter toss
-
and any other special tradition type things you’d like to do
As an example here is what I would have so far:
- 4pm guests arrive
- 4:30pm ceremony starts
- 5pm cocktail hour starts
- 6pm guests move from cocktail hour to reception
- 6:05pm grand entrance
- 6:05pm welcome speech by bride and groom
- 6:10pm bride and groom served dinner first
- 6:10pm buffet open, DJ releases tables
- 6:30pm bride and groom take pictures with each of the tables
- 7:15pm toasts (4 toasts)
- 7:30pm 1st dance
- 7:35pm father/bride dance
- 7:40pm groom/mom dance
- 7:45pm open dance floor
- 8:45pm bouquet toss
- 8:50pm garter toss
- 8:55pm cake cutting
- 9pm dancing until the end of the night
- 10pm music off
- 11pm vendors out
You can set these times or arrange these events however you like, but I do like this order of events for a few reasons. First, I recommend having the ceremony 30 minutes after the time listed on the invitation. People run late and the last thing you want is a slow poke walking in in the middle of your ceremony. It is fairly common to do the first dance right after the grand entrance, but I prefer to save it for right before the dance floor is open because it really encourages your other guests to get out on the dance floor! I recommend saving the cake cutting for later in the night, but not all the way at the end. Anyone who was planning on leaving early typically waits for the cake cutting so you don’t want to do it too early, but you also want there to be plenty of time for the cake/desserts to be eaten so you don’t want to wait until to absolute end either.
After you have filled in these details you will want to begin working on the preparation portion of the day. Before you can do this you’ll need to answer a few important questions:
-
Are you doing your ceremony and reception in the same location?
-
Where will you and your fiance be getting ready?
-
Who will you be getting ready with?
-
Is everyone getting hair and/or makeup professionally done?
-
Have you booked your photo/video teams for enough time to allow them to capture getting ready moments or will they join you later?
-
What time are vendors allowed to be on the property?
-
How are you and your fiance going to be arriving at the venue?
The answers to these questions are pivotal for creating the early part of your timeline. You will want to include all of these details, not just for your own organization, but also for the sake of the vendors.
For this portion of the timeline I typically start with the very first thing that will be happening all day. For this portion you will want to confirm arrival times and start times with all of your vendors.
My example timeline would now look like this:
- 10am rentals arrive
- 11am coordinator arrives
- 11:30am hair & makeup teams arrive
- 11:45am bride & bridesmaids arrive at venue to get ready
- 12pm hair and makeup started
- 12:30pm florist arrives
- 1pm groomsmen arrive at hotel to get ready with groom
- 1:30pm photographer & videographer #1 arrive at venue to take getting ready pictures of bride & bridesmaids
- 2pm photographer & videographer #2 arrive with groom to take getting ready pictures
- 2pm DJ arrives to begin setting up
- 2:30pm Bartenders arrive to begin setting up
- 3pm caterer arrives to begin setting up
- 3:30pm groom & groomsmen arrive at venue
- 3:45pm first look
- 4pm guests begin arriving
- 4pm welcome drinks passed out (water, champagne, wine, beer)
- 4:25pm DJ announces for guests to take their seats
- 4:25pm coordinator begins lining up bridal party
- 4:30pm ceremony begins
- 5pm ceremony concludes
- 5pm DJ announces cocktail hour starts
- 5pm bar opens
- 5pm bride and groom take pictures with bridal party & family
- 5:55pm DJ announces for guests to take their seat for dinner
- 6pm all guests seated
- 6:05pm grand entrance
- 6:05pm welcome speech by bride and groom
- 6:10pm bride and groom served dinner first
- 6:10pm buffet open, DJ releases tables
- 6:30pm bride and groom take pictures with each of the tables
- 6:30pm photo booth open
- 7:15pm toasts (4 toasts)
- 7:30pm 1st dance
- 7:35pm father/bride dance
- 7:40pm groom/mom dance
- 7:45pm open dance floor
- 8:45pm bouquet toss
- 8:50pm garter toss
- 8:55pm cake cutting
- 9pm dancing until the end of the night
- 9:30pm photo and video teams finish
- 9:30pm photo booth closes
- 9:45pm last call at bar
- 10pm music off
- 10pm rentals arrive to collect their things
- 11pm vendors out
- Whenever I make my timelines for couples I like to format them in a table with 5 columns.
- column 1: time
- column 2: activity
- column 3: vendor
- column 4: contact info
- column 5: notes
As your music coordinator we’d like to send out this timeline to vendors about 3-4 weeks before the wedding. This way vendors have an opportunity to review it and make sure all of their need are being met. We also make all changes and send the final timeline out 3-5 days before the wedding so that the vendors don’t have too many copies of the timeline to sift through.
If you have any questions or need guidance on creating your own timeline, feel free to Contact Us!
Top string trios, quartets, band ensembles, solo spanish guitar, harp, flute, photobooth, green screen, artists, dancers, gospel choir, do-wop, international, klezmer, impersonators, solo, duo, trio and larger band combinations. Best International music, variety, international, big band, era, or tribute bands.
No matter if you need a wedding guitarist or a corporate party band, de Bois’s got you covered!
de Bois Entertainment has been providing the top wedding bands in the Los Angeles area for over 25 years. You can book our bands for your upcoming event anywhere in the world and we can even help you to pick out a specialty act, such as a comedian, a hula hooping troop, a stilt walker, a juggler, a fire spinner [poi], or face painter for your kids birthday party in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County, Santa Barbara or even internationally, contact us today for more details.
