Let's talk TIMELINE

Months to years, brides and even some grooms plan every small detail for their big day. The dream wedding, the affordable wedding, the relaxed get-together wedding all come with a vision in mind. Plans are even put in place for the unthinkable mishaps. Every detail has been thought of, right? 

Not always. A bad timeline can send your guests home much sooner than you expected. Older relatives, parents with younger kids, guests that had a long drive, your bridal party that started hair & make up at noon, etc., they might not be able to give you the 10 hours that you're asking for. Maybe your venue allows you to party until midnight, but can your guests give 10 hours? Can you give 12+ hours? 

Let's keep your energy level high. Let's keep your guests excited.

Your vision determines your timeline so we'd love to chat about your details to help give suggestions, but we'll give you an example timeline that has worked great for so many couples!!

Ceremony

4:00pm – DJ begins pre-ceremony music

4:00pm – Guests Arrive

4:30pm – Ceremony Begins

Cocktail “Hour”

5:00pm – Guests arrive at reception venue (depends on end time of ceremony & location)

5:00pm – Photos & video w/ photographer & videographer 

Reception

6:00pm – Grand introduction into reception venue

6:10pm – Cake Cutting (Directly after introduction) ** 

6:15pm – Dinner

7:00pm – Toasts

7:15pm – 1st Dance ***

                 Father/Daughter Dance

                 Mother/Son Dance

7:30pm – Open Dancing  

8:00pm -  Videographer leaves                  

9:15pm – Bouquet/Garter Toss

9:30pm – Photographer Leaves

11:00pm – End Time

**Cake cutting is best done after the introduction. All eyes are already on you and the excitement is high. Once you have been introduced into the reception venue, let's head straight to the cake! Cake cutting seems to slow down the fun if taken place during the dance portion of the night. Imagine this -  The dance floor is packed, but it's almost time for the photographer to go home for the night so she insists that you need to cut the cake. You leave the dance floor. Your guests leave the dance floor. Your guests sit down to eat cake and then realize they're tired/it's getting late... so a few say goodbye. It can be difficult to recapture the high energy that we had before the cake cutting. Once open dancing has started, little interruption is best! This is your time to let loose and have fun! 

***Maybe your father and step-father both did an amazing job in your life, so you want to have a special dance with both of them to say, "thank you". Maybe you want to also dance with your child(ren). We love these ideas, HOWEVER, use caution in drawing out the time frame for these dances. A first dance, mother/son dance, and a father/daughter dance can last 10-15 minutes. If you had a bridal party dance or dances with other important people in your life, it might add another 10-15 minutes. This is important to know because your guests already sat through 1 hour for dinner, 1 hour for cocktail, and 30 minutes for a ceremony. As a DJ and wedding planner, we'd love to give you ideas based on your vision. Maybe we can shorten a song (Not many like to dance to a 6 minute version of Simple Man, but a 3 minute version is perfect)? Maybe we can do a mash-up of multiple songs to accommodate dances with all of the important men in your life. There are many options that we'd love to help you with. 

Again, this is just an example, but is the timeline that we recommend for a wedding. Being a wedding professional for 10 years has taught us a lot about what will and won't work. Of course, each wedding IS different so details can be changed, but feel free to use this timeline as a guide. If you have questions, always reach out to us. We'd love to help!!!