How and when to put your Wedding Schedule together

Your Wedding Schedule takes over from your Timeline or Project Plan, however this doesn’t mean that you don’t start creating it until a week before the wedding – absolutely the opposite.

When I am working on clients’ weddings I start the Schedule as soon as we begin working together.

It may change, but there are certain parts of the day which can be entered early, such as the time of the Ceremony, assuming that has been agreed, and an overall outline of timings for the day.

Generally you’ll have an idea of when you want to sit down to eat, when dancing will begin and, importantly, any timings set by your Venue, such as the time amplified music must go off, the time all music must cease and the time by which guests must leave.

I find starting the Schedule from the outset means I can add to it slowly and it doesn’t become a mammoth task later in the planning period.

One thing to look out for is anything major happening on your wedding day, especially if it is a Summer Saturday. Of course this year is somewhat different, but usually National sports fixtures like Wimbledon in the UK you will know well in advance, but you may not know if your local football team has a match at their home ground until nearer the time.

Such events can greatly affect traffic and therefore transportation times.

In terms of how to put it together, I use a simple spreadsheet, but you can use whatever works for you which might be a Word document, some sort of table or a notebook.

Some brides find it beneficial to colour code different parts of the Schedule, for example food and drink related items in blue, photography items in green, transportation in yellow, etc.

Have you started a Schedule of any sort yet? What are you using?

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