Little Pocket No 2 : Advice on Wedding Timing; Leaving the house and traveling to the ceremony.
It is the most common cause of weddings running late, the ceremony starting late. Even if you have timed your getting ready perfectly - what causes the ceremony to start late?
It is in fact a little pocket of time is responsible. Most people do not allow enough time for the journey from the place you get ready to the place you are having your ceremony. If your ready to walk out the door at 1.45pm, the drive is 15 minutes and your ceremony starts at 2pm, is that good timing? No ! You will be late and here is why:
1) It takes at least 10 minutes for a bride to leave her house and get into a car, then for the bridesmaids to also get in the car. Consider your dress and shoes and bouquet and veil etc, you move much slower on your wedding day that you do normally. Mum and dad might need to lock up, someone might forget something and have to pop back in.
2) Most wedding cars drive slowly, especially older ones. It is a nice thing to enjoy the journey even if it is only 5 minutes. Don’t rely purely on what the capabilities of the car are, they are not always the best judge. Limo’s make turns very slowly and take different routes sometimes.If you are having a cabriolet you will want it to drive very slowly so your hair is not ruined as well!
3) When you arrive your photographer will photograph your bridesmaids getting out of the car, then you. Your dad or mum might open the door, might want to put your veil down if you have one etc. You may want to pray before you go into the ceremony. You will get into the order with which you will be walking. The celebrant will greet you, check your ok and ready, go back to the congregation, announce your arrival, everyone will stand the music will start….. Then your ceremony starts.
Without actually running late, your ceremony is not late because the schedule was incorrect in the first place. This is the pocket of time which sets weddings back without anything even going wrong!
I would say, allow 10 minutes either side of the drive time and you should be safe if nothing holds you up. 15 minutes is probably better.
Here are a few of the things I have seen go wrong at this time of day:
Cars ran out of petrol, traffic bank ups over ten blocks due to carnivals and fetes, carnivals close roads, shoes break, flowers forgotten, driver not known where ceremony was and everyone in the cars from out of town, limo caught on speed hump, mother-in-law not picked up, sister in my car as no one arranged a way for her to get there, dress stepped on and ripped in a hurry, and most common of all - ceremony starts late.
If you are staying in a hotel the night before, do not arrange to check out in your bridal gown. It might sound funny, but I have seen brides in queue with their suitcases checking out before they leave for their ceremony. Try to avoid this!
Also, let your photographer have their time with you then go ahead to the ceremony. We have to park our cars, get our equipment ready etc and be ready to photograph you arriving.
As best as you can, allow time generously in the early part of the day. This is relaxing for all, but if you can start your ceremony on time, the rest of the day is quite likely to stay on track.
I hope this helps! Stay tuned for the next installment… the boys :o)
