<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Hair and Makeup;\u00a0<\/strong> as mentioned before.\u00a0 We aren’t trying to throw the folks that do this under the bus, but ultimately, if this doesn’t happen on time, the whole thing is behind schedule before the train even leaves the station.\u00a0 Start early, do the bride’s hair and makeup first, and plan for this taking 50% longer than you think on wedding day.\u00a0 Remember you’ll have your entire bridal party to do, and then to redo and touch up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Receiving Lines<\/strong>.\u00a0 Once a staple on wedding day, more and more brides are skipping this time killer.\u00a0 For an average wedding this can save a good half hour.\u00a0 Save the hugs and kisses for a grand finally.\u00a0 Its a great way to end the evening and make your night a memorable one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Too Many Chiefs<\/strong>.\u00a0 Having too many folks trying to run the show simply bogs down the process.\u00a0 From set up details, to getting ready, put someone in charge, and then let them do what you asked them to do.\u00a0 Also, as an aside to that, keep most of the family out of the “getting ready” room\/area.\u00a0 You’ll be under enough stress, and having more folks in the room definitely magnifies that.\u00a0 Decide up front who comes in and who doesn’t, and just let them know in a nice way that you have everything handled, and that space will be at a premium.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 The Unorganized Photographer<\/strong>.\u00a0 That’s right….what the photographer does can have a huge impact on your timeline.\u00a0 Whomever you select, ask them to share their typical timeline.\u00a0 Ask to see examples of just how long they took to shoot the formals, and the romantics.\u00a0 Remember, if it takes two hours to get “the shot” then your prime rib is now gonna be well done and your stress level even higher.\u00a0 The truly great wedding pro’s have a plan, and work their plan.\u00a0 At BCI, it typically takes us about 20 minutes to shoot all the formals, and another 20-30 minutes to shoot the romantic shots.\u00a0 Don’t forget to figure in travel and set up times when you plan as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 The Unorganized Family<\/strong>.\u00a0 Let everyone you want in your formals know\u00a0 they will be needed, and get them to commit to staying in the room\/church immediately following the ceremony.\u00a0 Nothing slows down the process of shooting the formals quite like having to go find someone that’s in the family. \u00a0 All these folks are likely at your rehearsal dinner, so explain the process then.\u00a0 Also explain to the caterer\/banquet coordinator (for on location weddings) that you don’t need\/want\u00a0hor dourves served to your bridal party during the photos….the last thing anyone needs is food in their mouth when getting their portraits done (or worse on their clothing).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6.\u00a0 Trying to do the Formals Early<\/strong>.\u00a0 This one may go against some schools of thought, but I’ll explain why this often goes awry.\u00a0 First, it usually doesn’t work out like you think.\u00a0 In order to do this, you’ll need EVERYONE to be able to be ready an hour early.\u00a0 Not just you and the bridal party, but every family member, and every vendor.\u00a0 Typically that just doenst happen.\u00a0 Remember the florist has to be set up, the decorator, hair, makeup, and much more.\u00a0 All this builds more stress.\u00a0 Which leads to our Second reason:\u00a0 We want you looking your best, and relaxed.\u00a0 Quite frankly that just doens’t happen as well before as it does after your ceremony, when the weight of the day is off your shoulders.\u00a0 Everyone will be under enough pressure just getting them their on time for the ceremony, why push it?\u00a0 You KNOW everyone will be there and in the room following the ceremony.\u00a0 Besides your guests assume the pix are gonna take place after, and have a cocktail and snack in their hand anyway.\u00a0 Relax….Which brings me to one other concern we hear from time to time, and that is “We want to be at the cocktail hour”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We get that.\u00a0 But, consider, that a little time away from your guests, often makes the formal introductions that much more powerful (as opposed to having been with them 30 seconds earlier).\u00a0 A nice alternative, is to have a small, shorter mini cocktail time just for you and your bridal party and parents.\u00a0 This is a GREAT time to relax a bit, let your hair down, breathe, and take it all in.\u00a0 Remember, you are gonna basically be the center of attention for pretty much the next 4 hours, so 15 minutes spent kicking back with your closest friends and family here will be a welcome respite.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7.\u00a0 Cousin Harry.<\/strong>\u00a0 We’ve all got one.\u00a0 You know, Harry who is always running late.\u00a0 Best to head this off at the pass, and let them know the show is gonna go on even if they are late, and if they are, they’ll have to wait outside rather than interrupt the process.\u00a0 Some gentle pressure here can pay off big time on your wedding day.\u00a0 (Heck you might even tell them the time is an hour before the real time just to ensure they get there on time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 8.\u00a0 Toasts Run Wild.<\/strong>\u00a0 Sure its nice to have everyone say something.\u00a0 But remember, you only have the band\/dj for a set amount of time, so make the most of it.\u00a0 Consider limiting the number of toasts\/speeches to just the best man and\/or maid of honor.\u00a0 If you must have more, consider limiting the time to\u00a0 two minutes each. That’ll keep it moving and cheerful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 9.\u00a0 Travel. \u00a0<\/strong> This is one that is often underestimated.\u00a0 This can be travel to the ceremony location, to the reception or any point in between.\u00a0 Plan on it taking a bit longer than it does normally, which will allow for everyone to find their way their, get a parking spot, and make their way in and find their seats.\u00a0 Again, its better to err on the long side than the short side when it comes to travel times.\u00a0 Remember too, that some of your vendors (like photo and video) will need to get their equipment in and set up before they are ready to proceed.\u00a0 This\u00a0 is NOT where you want them to be scrambling and rushed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 10.\u00a0 Unrealistic Timelines<\/strong>.\u00a0 This one is kind of a summation of many of the above.\u00a0 But often we see a Catholic church wedding start time of say 5pm, and cocktails at the country club starting at 6, and intro’s at 7pm.\u00a0 Bottom line….there is no chance at keeping to that schedule.\u00a0 Realistically you are not gonna get out of the church before 630, now ad travel and set up time at the club, so now we try to rush things once we get there, and end up squeezing the one section of time from the day that the most important shots are usually gonna take place….and well…you see what we mean.\u00a0 So whats the solution?\u00a0 Be realistic in how long things take, and build some “what if” time into your timeline and you’ll end up with a much less stressful wedding day!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Perhaps the single biggest thing that leads to stress on your wedding day is time. Seems there just isn’t enough of it.\u00a0 Much of this stress can be eliminates (or at least mitigated) by realizing just where things run a muck and take longer …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":7351,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7347","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7349,"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7347\/revisions\/7349"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bciphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}