Planning a wedding can be stressful... but planning your day-of timeline can be even crazier! Planning a day down the exact minute can be time-consuming and intimidating, but don't worry— Events Unleashed has your back. We're sharing our top tips on how to craft the perfect wedding day timeline! Be sure to download our FREE step by step guide on crafting your wedding day timeline at the end of this post.

Tips for Crafting Wedding Day Timelines

1. Start from scratch.
It may be tempting to download a blank template and fill in the blanks, but we recommend starting from scratch. Although sample templates are great to work from, every wedding has unique logistics. The last thing you want is to fill in a template that doesn't have a space for a special moment you wanted to incorporate— this can lead to having to restart or shift your timeline you've been working hard on, or forgetting to include the moment all together.
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2. Remember to include the whole day. 
Sometimes we get so excited about laying out the details for the ceremony and reception, that we forget to include important times for the vendors such as your photographer and hair and makeup artists.

3. Decide on if you want to have a First Look.
First looks are a sweet intimate moment with you and your partner before the start of the ceremony. The photographer is present to capture all the feels. If you prefer to have you walking down the aisle being the first time you see your partner, this will create a different flow in your wedding timeline. Most couple portraits can be done during the first look if a couple chooses to partake in one. If they opt out of a first look, all portraits need to be taken after the ceremony, during cocktail hour.

​Let me start by clarifying, Pinterest is great, we all love Pinterest, but there is cause for great concern when your whole wedding is planned from someone else’s vision for their special day.

• You are unique.
• You are gifted.
• There is no one else that is exactly like you.

*Work It!*
 
Just like you, your big day should reflect your uniqueness, your gifts, your passions and your personal story!
Many women have dreamt big dreams for quite some time and it is easy to get caught up in a Pinterest Fairytale wedding, but when reality sets in of how much those flowers actually cost or what it really takes to upgrade to those fantastic chairs, linens, extended guest count, etc. it’s easy to spiral down the road of not enough.
 
Not enough money, not enough time, not enough whatever! Stop, just stop. Breathe.
 
Take out a blank piece of paper and for Pete’s sake dream again!

• What is your favorite flower?
• What is your favorite color?
• What smells make you happy?
• What time of day are you the happiest?
• What did you always think that your wedding would look like or feel like?
• What is the most important aspect of your wedding day?
• What things are unique to you and just “bae” that you would want to share with the friends and family?
• If you were to look back at photos 20 years from now, what would actually matter?

 
So, darling…
Get inspiration all day from Pinterest, but please stay true to yourself! 

P.S. Mr. and Mrs. McBride's wedding pre-setup is shown above. If they shared that they wanted black and white stripes with pink and gold, someone could have said no way, but we said oh yes! Let's make it work and it did! Checkout more wedding photos in the gallery! 

There are so many inexpensive ways to bring glamour to your wedding. My current favorite is floating candles. There is something about candles in water, maybe because they are elements of the earth. So as you are thinking about your day, consider adding some floating candles around.

No one knows where the vases or candles come from, so save yourself some money and stress.

You can incorporate floating candles as shown in the images above from Pinterest and/or consider:
​1. Elegant long vases make for great centerpieces
2. Add marbles to tie your color theme together
3. Wine glasses work great for a vineyard wedding
4. Use them as your runner at the rehearsal dinner

When brides ask about saving money on for a wedding, we give them 3 easy ways to save:

Wedding Savings Tip #3:
Save Paper & a Tree
There are some really amazing alternatives to printed items like this awesome seating chart on a custom mirror from Ten23Designs.