S/O: Wedding day timeline

JCbride2015

Spinoff of the Wedding Race thread.  What time was your ceremony and what time did you start getting ready?  I've seen a lot of people with evening weddings saying they were at the salon at 7am for, say, a 5pm ceremony.  Or your hair and makeup was finished at 1pm for a 6pm ceremony.

My ceremony is at 6:30.  My photographer said we should plan to have hair and makeup finished at the hotel by 4pm, so we have two hours for first look, BP, and close family photos before the ceremony. I think the stylists will be arriving around noon.  Everything is within 5 minutes of each other.  Am I missing something?  Will we be really rushed if we don't start beautifying until noon?

LadyMillil

My wedding started at 4:30. We planned the first look for 1:30. It took 2 hours for my hair and makeup and about 30 minutes for me to change and get buttoned into my dress. Here's an estimate of my timeline.

Hair 9-12, 3 girls, 1 hour each

Make-up 9:30-11:30, 4 girls, 30 minutes each

We rotated hair and makeup so someone was always being worked on.

Snacks/Lunch 11:30-12:30. 

Drive to hotel 12:30-1

Get dressed (bride) 1-1:30

First look 1:30-2:30

2:30-4 - BP and family pictures, snacks and drinks

The BMs got dressed in the bridal suite while I was doing the first look. 

Cookie Pusher

Our ceremony started at 3pm. This is what my day looked like:

8:45am - got woken up by a phone call

8:55am - group of photographers pounding on my door - they were at the wrong room, grrrr

9:00am - start drinking wine

11:00am - mom and sisters show up at my room with their gear

11:30am - throw on some makeup, still drinking wine

12:00pm - curl hair, drink more wine

12:45pm - put on dress and a fluffy robe so as not to spill wine on myself

1:30pm - photographer shows up, takes some random pictures of our shoes and us touching up our makeup

2:15pm - double check the things we're taking to the venue

2:30pm - get in the van to head to venue

I had A LOT of time to kill, but only because I did my own hair and makeup. I was also VERY drunk by the time I showed up at the ceremony. I gave no fucks about my level of intoxication because I got woken up more than 2 hours earlier than I had intended on getting up.

lyndausvi

Our wedding was at 5:30pm.  I took a nice long bath.  Ate some pizza, hung out with friends.  

 I went to the salon at 12:30--1.  My BMs started as early at 11am.  I got back to the house at 2-2:30 or so.  My SILs (and BMs) did my makeup at the house. 

 We did first looks, BM and family pictures at 3pm. Got to the ceremony about 5:20pm.

JoanE2012

It's somewhat of a blur now, but Our ceremony was at 6pm. Got to the salon around 7am. Left there around 9am to drive to hotel. 10am settling in. Makeup began around 11am. Took a break for lunch. Finished around 2pm. Photographer arrived to begin photos. Got everything together, drove to venue, dressed and ready for first look at 3pm. Took first look photos, then bridal party and immediate family. Probably done around 4:30 or so. (Earlier than I mentioned in mud thread, but I don't care!) Hung out in bridal suite until show time. Honestly, aside from that last hour, there wasn't anytime I was sitting around waiting. In fact, the time flew by and I wished I had a little bit more time during the morning/early afternoon!

huskypuppy14

How many people need hair and makeup?

My ceremony was at 5:30.

I had 3 bridesmaids, 2 mothers, and myself that all had hair and makeup. I had one MUA and one hairstylist.  We started at 9:15  I think. My hair and makeup people were very efficient and they were gone by 1 or 1:30. Then I had about an hour to hang out with my bridesmaids (we had some snacks/lunch/ wine). 

I started getting my dress on around 2 or 2:30. We took some pictures and then I had my first look at 3.

Parents, immediate family, and wedding pictures was at 3:30. We were done by 4:30. So we all just hung out in the bridal suite before the wedding. I knew I had plenty of time, but I preferred that. 

ashley8918

I don't remeber the whole timeline, but the general idea was:
6 am: start my hair and makeup
7 am: second stylist shows up and works on 3 BMs hair, FG hair, and 1 BMs makeup (with help of first stylist
12pm: 1st look and bridal party photos
1:00 pm: ceremony

We had NO leftover time between hair/makeup and the first look. I ended up not even eating all day because I thought I would have time in between. Whoops.

JCbride2015

Including me, we have six people getting hair and/or makeup.  Two of those are makeup only.  I think we will have four stylists: two for hair, two for makeup.  Their formula is one stylist per service, for every three people.  Bride gets 45 minutes per service, everyone else gets 30 minutes per service.  So by that math, to finish at 4:00, we'd start around 11:30.  I will just double check with the salon.

My photographer seems comfortable with that finish time so maybe I'm worrying about nothing.  Getting ready at the hotel hopefully will save some time and stress.  

littlemushroom

Ceremony was at 4:30, and stylist and MUA came to the hotel at 9:30. Then Fi and I got up at 8, drove to the hotel, and had breakfast together before going our separate ways to get ready. It was me, my mom, and three bridesmaids getting hair and makeup. They estimated they would finish up at 1:30, but they were done by noon. We had time to relax and eat lunch before I got ready for the first look which was at 2, and then bridal party and family photos were 3 to 4. We had time to relax in our room with the entire bridal party before the ceremony, which was awesome.

huskypuppy14

JCbride2015 said:

Including me, we have six people getting hair and/or makeup.  Two of those are makeup only.  I think we will have four stylists: two for hair, two for makeup.  Their formula is one stylist per service, for every three people.  Bride gets 45 minutes per service, everyone else gets 30 minutes per service.  So by that math, to finish at 4:00, we'd start around 11:30.  I will just double check with the salon.

My photographer seems comfortable with that finish time so maybe I'm worrying about nothing.  Getting ready at the hotel hopefully will save some time and stress.  

If you have two stylists each for hair and makeup, you only need a couple hours. I think if you start at noon you'll be absolutely fine.

JaniV123

I have no idea what to do for timeline and how to figure it out. The MUA-HS said my hair and make up should take at least 3 hours and I have to ask her about my mom as well. Fotog will arrive 1 hr before we leave to take some pics and I will be leaving at ~3:30PM for the ceremony which will start at 4:00PM. 

I would love to wake up at like 9 am and be relaxing but that probably wont happen.

huskypuppy14

huskypuppy14 said:

JCbride2015 said:

Including me, we have six people getting hair and/or makeup.  Two of those are makeup only.  I think we will have four stylists: two for hair, two for makeup.  Their formula is one stylist per service, for every three people.  Bride gets 45 minutes per service, everyone else gets 30 minutes per service.  So by that math, to finish at 4:00, we'd start around 11:30.  I will just double check with the salon.

My photographer seems comfortable with that finish time so maybe I'm worrying about nothing.  Getting ready at the hotel hopefully will save some time and stress.  

If you have two stylists each for hair and makeup, you only need a couple hours. I think if you start at noon you'll be absolutely fine.

You're going to a salon, so that might be a little different. I had the stylists come to me, so it was only our party they were working on. Still think you'll have plenty of time starting at noon.

larrygaga

Haven't had my wedding yet but I am just starting to nail down times. 

8:30-12:30 Maids are getting hair done

Decoration time is at 10am

11 I get my hair done (whatever isn't done with decoration my family said they would finish for me, but I think I can get it almost all done in 45 minutes)

I brought hairdressers to my sisters house to get ready, so we will be doing makeup and whatever else in that little time slot

2pm head over to venue to get dressed and have getting dressed pictures taken

4pm GET MURRIED

Another possible etiquette rule I broke I am getting my hair done at a fancy expensive salon. I didn't want to force my maids into paying for that, so I am providing a much cheaper lady to come to the house. I am not forcing them to use either hairdresser either, but they all chose the cheaper one except my mama. She's coming with me!

Part of it is that my sister gets her hair done by her and really recommended this expensive lady. My other sister is friends with the cheaper hairdresser, and really recommended the other lady for the maids. The other part of it is I need a fucking break from people, or I start to get realllllly crabby and unhappy. That's my one small rest in the day away from people. I purposely scheduled the most overbearing maids to get their hair done at the house at the same time as me. 

climbingsingle

My ceremony started at 12pm. We started getting ready at 6AM. But we only had me, my MOH and my mom. We were ready for photos by 10:30-10:45, which unfortunately ended up not being enough time to get all the pictures I wanted. 

kvruns

JaniV123 said:

I have no idea what to do for timeline and how to figure it out. The MUA-HS said my hair and make up should take at least 3 hours and I have to ask her about my mom as well. Fotog will arrive 1 hr before we leave to take some pics and I will be leaving at ~3:30PM for the ceremony which will start at 4:00PM. 

I would love to wake up at like 9 am and be relaxing but that probably wont happen.

3 hours for just you???

novella1186

Our ceremony starts at 5pm

• At 8am the hair and makeup people are coming over for my BMs (I'm doing my own) 
  
• We all plan to be ready by noon so we can head over to the venue and "set up" (set up consists of really simple things like putting the bar menu on the bar. Everything else is done by the venue staff) 
  
• And then FSIL and FBIL and bringing lunch to the venue for the entire WP so we can just hang out for a little bit 
  
• At 2pm we're doing a first look and then taking WP photos so that will wrap up by 3:30 at the latest 
  
• The site manager expects early people to start showing up a little after 4 (she says this is typical) so we'll be out of the way by then. 
  
• Ceremony at 5. 
  

cupcait927

Our ceremony started at 6:30 - we had no bridal party so it was only H and I that had to get ready.

9 am - woke up

11:30 am - hair and make up - this took approximately 2 hours just for myself. I also had significant travel time between where we were staying and my salon (45 mins each way - we got married in the middle of nowhere)

2:30 pm - got back to the lakehouse, ate lunch and got dressed

3:30 pm - first look pictures

5:00 pm (ish) - family pictures

6:00 pm - hungout until the ceremony started. Guests started showing up around 6 so I was happy we were done with pictures at that point.

 

Because it was just me that had to get ready, I didn't feel rushed at all. We actually had a lot of sitting around time once I got back and got dressed.

KnightsNurse

So jealous of all of you who are doing hair + makeup before set-up. It's so hot in Florida right now that we'll be lucky to make it through pictures without looking like a sweaty mess (already decided to do ceremony/reception indoors but outdoor needs decorating for cocktail hour).

theartistformerlyknownas

We had 6 people getting hair and makeup. (Well technically 5 for both, one just hair, one just makeup)

Hair and makeup artist came to us at the hotel, were supposed to arrive at 9 but got lost and got there at 9:30

9:30-1:30 Hair, makeup, mimosas

1:30-1:45 Travel to venue

1:45-2:00 Quick blitz around reception space to fix centerpieces that weren't right 

2-2:15 Photographer arrived, took detail shots while I helped BMs get dressed (zipper fairy)

2:15 or so-3:00 finishing touch pictures (zipping my dress, putting on veil) and pics with BMs

3-3:45 pictures of GM (no first look)

4:00 ceremony start

littlepep

My wedding is at 6:30pm. I wanted to have enough time to do pictures beforehand, and we're starting somewhat early because the salon has another wedding that day. Here's our schedule

10-1pm - hair and makeup for me and any BMs who want it

1-3pm - lunch back at my house and time for anyone else to do their own hair/make up

3:30pm arrive at venue

3:30pm-5:30 - first look, bridal party pictures

6pm - groomsmen begin seating guests

6:30pm ceremony

ETA: I have 8 people getting hair including me and a few doing makeup. The salon is using three hair stylists and two make up artists to get them all done in 3 hours.

ahyatt87

I checked in with the hairstylist and MUA to see how long to slot each appointment for. They each said one hour per/person which would give them some wiggle room. There were 4 hair appointments and 4 makeup appointments. We had a mobile hairstylist and MUA so they came to us and we got ready at the venue.

11:00 am-3:00 pm: hair, makeup, fruit and veggie tray, sandwiches and salad
3:00 pm-3:45 pm: getting dressed and hanging out
3:45 pm-4:00 pm: to to bridal suite and wait for ceremony
4:00 pm: ceremony

tcnoble

JCbride2015 said:

Spinoff of the Wedding Race thread.  What time was your ceremony and what time did you start getting ready?  I've seen a lot of people with evening weddings saying they were at the salon at 7am for, say, a 5pm ceremony.  Or your hair and makeup was finished at 1pm for a 6pm ceremony.

My ceremony is at 6:30.  My photographer said we should plan to have hair and makeup finished at the hotel by 4pm, so we have two hours for first look, BP, and close family photos before the ceremony. I think the stylists will be arriving around noon.  Everything is within 5 minutes of each other.  Am I missing something?  Will we be really rushed if we don't start beautifying until noon?

We had an almost identical timeline.

6:15 ceremony, with a first look scheduled at 5:00pm, BP/Family pics to follow. We started getting ready at noon. HMU was finished at 4:00. I was in my dress around 4:15? 4:30? We were not rushed at all! Everything was also at the same location, with a few minutes walk between each space.

flutteringinfl

I still have quite a ways to go, but this is the timeline that my photographer has been helping me with:

3:00 getting ready (since a lot of my BP are using my stylist, we'll probably have to start earlier than this)

3:30-5: Photos (first look, WP, family)

5: B&G + WP refresh

6: Ceremony

I'd also like to provide champagne and snacks for the wedding party, so I'll probably need to go to the grocery earlier in the day. Bottom line, I'm absolutely certain there will be little down time, despite the fact that the wedding doesn't start until 6.

flyingfoxes

I had 5 of us getting makeup done, and 4 getting hair (my sister rocks a very short 'do so she didn't want/need hair).  For my 6 pm ceremony, we got to the venue at 11 to start makeup, with the plan that hair would start at noon.  Of course there were some delays, so my hairdresser started getting nervous around 12:30, but then we got into a rhythm and my last bridesmaid got her hair done in about 15 minutes, just in time for the bridesmaids' photos at 3:15 or 3:30.  I started bridal portraits and pictures with the bridesmaids and groomsmen and some family members at 4 - we wanted to be wrapped up by 5 before guests started arriving (we didn't do a first look).  So it was a little tight, but we got it all done. 

Casadena

Background:I had 5 BM's, 2 moms, and me getting ready for a 3:30pm ceremony.  Hotels, church, and venue all within walking distance.  We had a choir at the ceremony that hairdresser and MUA were part of.  Girls all got ready at the church.

9am:  I was in my PJ's at the venue doing last minute decorating/writing escort cards.  BM #1 was getting hair done.

10 am: I was still at venue, choir was practicing, BM 1 & 2 went and got bagels/coffee for everyone. 

11am - 2:30: During this time BM 3 & 4 and MIL showed up to eat/hang out (they got hair and makeup done elsewhere).  Me, mom, MOH got hair and makeup done, BM 1 & 2 got makeup done.  Everyone got dressed but me.  

3pm: BM's helped with my dress, quick clean up of lunch stuff.  

3:15: went upstairs to listen to prelude music

3:30: processional started.  

Overall - I only needed about 3 hours (my hair is super long and thick, this took the most time).  But since we all got ready together for the most part and ate lunch during that time as well, we needed a little more time.  No one felt rushed, but we weren't just sitting around forever either. 

We did not do a first look. 

hellosweetie1015

Related but there's too damn many spinoffs going already.

Do I need to be thinking in-depth about a timeline yet? We know we're probably starting at 4:00, assuming a 30 minute ceremony, 30 hosted minutes for family pics, which all of our guests are welcome to participate in, 30 hosted minutes for B&G pics, and dinner at 5:30? I think we decided that two hours was a good happy length for us, and then we'd clean up the space and tell everyone that we'd be at X place by nine-ish if they want to come visit?

Tell me wherever my plans are shit. We're still squishy enough to fix them!

ETA: I'm six months out right now, have everything plotted for ceremony and reception at FILs' church.

JaniV123

kvruns said:

JaniV123 said:

I have no idea what to do for timeline and how to figure it out. The MUA-HS said my hair and make up should take at least 3 hours and I have to ask her about my mom as well. Fotog will arrive 1 hr before we leave to take some pics and I will be leaving at ~3:30PM for the ceremony which will start at 4:00PM. 

I would love to wake up at like 9 am and be relaxing but that probably wont happen.

3 hours for just you???

That is what she told me 

theartistformerlyknownas

hellosweetie1015 said:

Related but there's too damn many spinoffs going already.

Do I need to be thinking in-depth about a timeline yet? We know we're probably starting at 4:00, assuming a 30 minute ceremony, 30 hosted minutes for family pics, which all of our guests are welcome to participate in, 30 hosted minutes for B&G pics, and dinner at 5:30? I think we decided that two hours was a good happy length for us, and then we'd clean up the space and tell everyone that we'd be at X place by nine-ish if they want to come visit?

Tell me wherever my plans are shit. We're still squishy enough to fix them!

That sounds fine to me for preliminary scheduling. You don't really need to be detailed until you're scheduling H&MU or letting your families know where they need to be at which times. The week before the wedding, I just emailed my BMs and let them know "H&MU is starting at 9; if T and I go first the rest of you need to be here by 10. We all need to be at the venue no later than 2." 

I told everyone we were doing WP and family pics immediately following the ceremony, but still lost them to appetizers. We missed out on quite a few pictures because people disappeared. :-/

mrscomposer

We had five people getting makeup, and four getting hair, with one MUA and one hairdresser.  We got to the B&B around 1030, and had a very relaxed morning with mimosas & snacks.  The photographer got there around 330 and took the staged pictures of shoes & dresses, etc.  The girls got dressed as they got ready, and I got dressed just before four.  My dad and brother showed up right at four, and then we went to the church for our first look at 415. 

We did all of our pictures before hand, and got the ones with parents and bridal party out of the way within an hour.  They all went back to my IL's house for pizza, and J and I went and took some pictures just with the two of us, for probably another hour.  We were back to the house by 6, relaxed for a bit and had something to eat, and then were at the church for the 7pm service.

PamBeesly524

Also related, did anyone have the photographer take photos of the guys getting ready? Our photography company suggests it, but FI can't see taking more than 15 minutes tying his tie, etc. 

We also only have one photographer, so it makes the timeline tricky... right now we have it set up as: groom getting ready photos, bride getting ready photos, groom & fam & groomsmen, bride & fam & bridesmaids. We aren't doing a first look. But doing this means that FI and his groomsmen have to be ready ridiculously early. 

JCbride2015

kikilamp said:

Also related, did anyone have the photographer take photos of the guys getting ready? Our photography company suggests it, but FI can't see taking more than 15 minutes tying his tie, etc. 

We also only have one photographer, so it makes the timeline tricky... right now we have it set up as: groom getting ready photos, bride getting ready photos, groom & fam & groomsmen, bride & fam & bridesmaids. We aren't doing a first look. But doing this means that FI and his groomsmen have to be ready ridiculously early. 

We also only have one photographer and this is what he suggested, too.  He said to figure out when I want him to arrive for my getting ready photos, then he'll back up an hour and take some photos of Fi and his side.  I think it makes sense for him to arrive at 3:30 (my HMU should be done at 4:00).  He can take detail shots and shots of them finishing my HMU, then I'll get in the dress and he can take pictures of my sister lacing up my dress, helping with shoes, whatever.

We are all in the same location so that means the guys should be getting dressed around 2:00-2:30.  I don't think that's too bad.

And btw for the PPs who asked/mentioned: our HMU is coming to us at the hotel, which is a 5 minute drive from the venue.  So travel time isn't really an issue, thank goodness.