Buffer Time: where to put it?

niq24601

I remember a couple of people saying they wish they had more buffer time. But where? What are the things that take longer than I think? Moving people around? Photos? Toasts? Buffet line?

jennlin

hair/makeup, photos, toasts, and more photos.. i think the buffett line should be fine, people are usually pretty quick about getting food! same with the "moving people"...people made it to our reception venue in about 15 minutes...way before we were supposed to allow guests in haha. people are just eager to get to the food.

jamers22

definitely photos. you dont want to miss any shots. and i agree with jennlin- buffet lines usually move pretty quick.

Kaye Smith

Additional buffer time would be good if you're travelling from point a to point b during the day.  All of my locations were close by (ceremony/photos/reception site) - but if you plan on travelling anywhere - it always takes longer than you think!

carrieoz_76

Our after-ceremony group photos took waaaay longer than I expected.  People are SLOW and aren't in any rush to move it along.  Plus they wanted us to take more group pics than we'd planned.

We also lost time in transportation - mostly because it takes a while to get a group of people to their cars, into their cars, out of their cars, and you have to account for stragglers who'll go back to their room, get coffee, etc.  If all your events are in one place, you probably don't need to account for this.

Have your WP present and ready at least 15 mins. before you really need them to be ready.  H told his GM to be at our place and ready for photos at 3, when the photog was scheduled to arrive, but the BM was 10 mins. late and not dressed, so their group pics were rushed.  It would have been much more relaxed if the GM were told to be ready a little bit before we really needed them to be.

amandasw

- transportation for you guys.   If you think it takes 15 minutes driving normally, plan for 30.  This is for things like driving from the getting ready place to the photos place and from there to the ceremony site.

- photos.  some of this time may get eaten by driving time or things running late from getting ready.  just do way more time that you think you'll want.  Again, if you think you'd want pics for 1.5 hours, do 3 (we did and it was perfect with all the running late etc that happened)