Ultimate Guide to Planning your Chicago Wedding Timeline
One of the things we find our couples worry about the most while planning their wedding day in Chicago is how to put together and make sure their timeline is accurate and has everything they want in it. As a wedding coordinator, we have a meeting with all of our couples going line by line over the timeline to make sure it is ready to go, but what can you do before that meeting to best prepare? Here are some of the important factors to remember when putting together your wedding day timeline here in Chicago.
The Sunset Time
One of the most important things when it comes to your wedding day to consider is the time the sun is setting on your wedding date and location. This piece of information is crucial to know to help you build out your ceremony and reception timing, because you want to get the most natural light for your photos on your wedding day! We recommend typing into Google “[wedding date] sunset [city]” to get the exact time. Also remember - Chicago has tall buildings, so the light might actually be gone sooner than Google is actually suggesting.
Decide on a First Look
A first look is when you and your future spouse get to see each other before your wedding ceremony. Typically, this happens so you are able to get your photos done before the ceremony; but more importantly, it’s a nice moment between the two of you and it helps relieve stress for the wedding day. We have a blog post about why you should do a first look if you want to learn more about the other benefits too. When first looks weren’t a thing and weren’t popular, cocktail hour used to be the hour dedicated for couples and their wedding parties to go take photos while the guests have nothing else to do. If you’re hoping to make cocktail hour but don’t want to do a first look, you will have to build a longer cocktail hour into your day - unless you don’t mind missing out on most or all of the photos of you and your partner.
Write Your Planned Moments
Are you thinking about a grand entrance? Are you really hoping for details shots of your reception? Do you want to do a grand exit? You should look at a few sample timelines or ask your coordinator to send you what an average wedding day looks like and figure out what are important parts of a wedding day to you both. When you know everything that you want to do on your wedding day, it makes it much easier to build out that timeline.
Consider Other Chicago Events during your Wedding
One unique feature about planning a wedding in or around Chicago is that there are so many large events happening throughout the year all over the city. When you pick your wedding date, you may not be able to anticipate every Chicago event taking place, but we recommend looking up some of the key events that happen in Chicago such as Lollapalooza, The Chicago Marathon, Chicago Air and Water Show, and Soldier Field’s schedule for any large concerts or sporting events. Make sure to Google “largest events in Chicago” and look up the potential dates or past dates for those events and try steering clear of them. If your wedding does end up taking place on the same day as one of these events, understand that the traffic for photo locations and for your guests to get to your ceremony might be very heavy. We usually recommend telling your guests to arrive extra early for weddings on these dates for any closed roads and build in extra buffer time for everyone to get where they need to go.
Factor in Travel and Traffic
Along those same lines, while planning your timeline, if you are planning on going to ANY location that is offsite from your venue (for example: getting ready in a hotel to your photo location to your ceremony location to your reception location), you need to factor in the average or the worst traffic of that day and time. We typically will map out the directions and anticipate the traffic being at its worst - if it’s not, then you’re early, and if it is, then you’re on time and good to go!
Build in Buffer Time
The key to making sure you don’t get stressed about timing or fall behind on key moments of your wedding day is to build in buffer time. For example, you need extra time in between hair/makeup finishing and getting started with photos, getting from your getting ready space to photo locations, having 30 minutes before the ceremony for your wedding party to use the bathroom and get ready, or things like telling your family and friends giving speeches that they have a maximum of 3 minutes to speak and expect it to take 5. It is so much easier for almost any part of the wedding day when things are running early than it would be to run late - you don’t want your photographer to have to leave before your first dance if you haven’t even finished eating your dinner yet. We allot extra time in plenty of areas to make sure you it is evenly stretched throughout the day and you don’t have to worry about the timing being way off.
Learn How Long Everything Takes
Thankfully, if you have a coordinator or a great photographer, they will be able to provide their professional opinion on how long everything takes. We recommend listening to their advice and not trying to stretch things too thin and cut out time. As much as we also want to get you on the dance floor, we know how long dinner will probably take and there sometimes are couples that try and shorten things even though they are advised against it. Nearly everything on your wedding day will take longer than you expect and nearly every wedding has some element of not staying on time, so it’s important to allow for things to run a little longer and later than you think.
We definitely prioritize putting together a realistic timeline for our couples to ensure that their wedding day is accurately represented and we can ensure they are able to have everything they dream of. If you need some help coordinating your timeline and your wedding day, reach out to us at our contact page and we would be happy to assist your in putting together the perfect Chicago wedding day timeline.
Sample Chicago Wedding Day Timelines
We have two different samples for you to look at from weddings we have done before with a first look and no first look! This might be a great frame of reference for you while planning your wedding day timeline.
Timeline with a First Look
7:00am: Hair and Makeup arrives at hotel
12:00pm: Photo/Video arrives
12:30pm: Guys meet in suite
1:00pm: Hair and Makeup is finished
1:00pm: Guys get dressed
1:15pm: Girls getting ready photos
1:30pm: Girls get dressed
2:00pm: First look with Father of the Bride
2:15pm: First look with couple
2:30pm: Wedding party takes trolley to photo location
2:40pm: Wedding party photos
3:10pm: Couple’s photos
4:10pm: Wedding party takes trolley to venue
4:30pm: Wedding party arrives at venue, gets ready/hidden
5pm-5:30pm: Ceremony
5:30pm-6:30pm: Cocktail hour
5:30pm: Family portraits
6:25pm: Sunset photos
6:40pm: Couple joins cocktail hour
7:00pm: Guests are seated
7:10pm: Grand entrance
7:20pm: Formalities (cake cutting, welcome speech)
7:35pm: Dinner is served
8:00pm: Speeches
8:45pm: First dance, parent dances, and/or tribute dances
9:00pm: Open dancing
9:30pm: Grand exit photos with wedding party
9:45pm: Reception dress change
10:00pm: Photo/Video depart
12:00am: Reception ends
Timeline with NO First Look
5:30am: Hair and Makeup arrives at hotel
10:00am: Guys arrive already dressed
10:00am: Photo and Video arrives
11:15am: Hair and Makeup is finished
11:25am: Girls getting ready photos
11:35am: Girls get dressed
12:05pm: Girls head to church
1:15pm: Guys head to church
1:30pm: Wedding party is hidden/ready
2pm-3pm: Ceremony
3:00pm: Family portraits
3:40pm: Wedding party takes shuttle for photos
4:15pm: Wedding party photos
4:45pm: Couple’s photos
5:45pm: Wedding party heads to reception
6pm-7pm: Cocktail hour
6:15pm: Wedding party arrives at reception, couple joins cocktail hour
6:45pm: Sunset photos
7:00pm: Guests are seated
7:10pm: Grand entrance
7:20pm: Formalities (cake cutting, welcome speech, blessing)
7:40pm: Dinner is served
8:50pm: Speeches
9:10pm: First dance, parent dances, and/or tribute dances
9:25pm: Open dancing
10:00pm: Photo/Video depart
12:00am: Reception ends
If you need some help coordinating your timeline and your wedding day, reach out to us at our contact page and we would be happy to assist your in putting together the perfect Chicago wedding day timeline.
