How to Jack Up Your Morning of Wedding Timeline Before the Ceremony Even Starts
Let’s set the scene. You’ve booked the vendors, mailed the invites, and maybe even color-coded your seating chart. You’re ready. But one little villain is lurking in the shadows, prepared to throw chaos into your carefully planned day: the morning of the wedding timeline.
Episode 7 of Aisle Be Honest is all about the first part of your day. It’s the “getting ready” phase, and it can absolutely dictate the vibe and flow of everything that comes after. If you’re not careful, this is where your perfect plan can go entirely off the rails.
That First 30 Seconds? We Know Everything.
Photographers (hi, we’re Brittany and Erin, wedding photographers) and vendors can feel the energy shift the moment we step into your getting-ready suite. Is the wedding party calmly sipping mimosas and laughing? Or is someone still in sweatpants with a half-curled head of hair, panic-eating a granola bar? That vibe matters. It sets the tone for the entire day.
The Biggest Wedding Day Timeline Killer: No One Is Ready to Get the Bride Dressed
If you’re a bride, here’s the moment to highlight in neon: the people helping you into your dress must be dressed before you are.
You’ve spent serious money on your gown, hair, and makeup. But if Mom is still in hot rollers and your MOH is in her PJs when your photographer arrives, you’re about to lose 15-30 minutes just waiting for them to be camera-ready. That’s the time you don’t get back.
Pro Tips to Avoid Timeline Disasters
Let’s break it down like we did in the episode:
- Don’t plan your robe photos at the last second. If you want those cute matching PJ or robe pictures, plan to do them first—before anyone changes into dresses or gets distracted. And everyone has to be ready. No rogue half-updos or mismatched socks, please.
- Cut off your tags. Anything you want to be photographed should be unboxed, unwrapped, and de-tagged before we arrive. We love you, but we don’t want to spend 20 minutes playing “find the scissors.” This may be a photographer’s pet peeve.
- Have a fully packed details box. Rings (yes, both bands), shoes, perfume, invitation suite, jewelry, vow books, and any sentimental items. Please have them all in one spot and ready to go. Bonus points if you tell us what’s actually being worn so we’re not photographing decoy necklaces.
- The person who is getting you dressed needs to be next in the beauty chair after you. Build that into your hair and makeup timeline.
- Don’t rely on the salon try-on time. That three-minute corset lacing you remember from your fitting? That was done by a professional in the wedding dress industry. Budget way more time on your actual day.
You Can’t Start the Wedding Day Until You’re Dressed
No pre-ceremony photos can happen until you are dressed. That moment is the domino that sets the rest of the day in motion. Jack it up, and you’ll be playing timeline Tetris until cocktail hour.
Want a stress-free wedding day? Catch Episode 7 of Aisle Be Honest on Spotify and YouTube, available wherever you stream your favorite podcasts. Of course, there are more wedding planning tips, vendor guest posts, and unhinged rants in Season One. Check them all out! Or peruse all our categories to be connected with the wedding planning help you need the most!
