Now, if you’ve read our magazine then you’ve seen the questions to ask your venue. If you haven’t you have to give it a look!! It will cover a couple things we won’t in this WTW (plus it’s just stinking awesome!).

As part of our Wedding Tip Wednesday series on timelines we really felt it was important for y’all to get an idea of what details you need to keep in mind for your wedding day. This is the place you’ll be spending all your time on your wedding day, so you want to make sure you get everything out of it that you need. First and foremost you need to know how long you are going to have the venue with your rental. Every place is different – they go anywhere from 10 hour rentals to 2 day rentals. So it’s up to y’all how much time you’ll need to complete everything on the big day.

Here are a couple things you will need to keep in mind
1) How long will it take you to get ready – are all your girls getting hair and makeup done? This could take anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours, so you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of time for getting ready and taking pictures. Usually an arrival time of 9 or 10 is ideal!
2) Are you wanting to do a first look?
3) Will you need to setup decorations on the day of the wedding?
4) What time is your ceremony?
5) How much actual reception time do you want (dinner, dance floor, special dances)
[ more on all of this as we continue in this WTW series – we can’t reveal our hand too soon ]

The last important thing that you’ll want to consider while choosing your venue for your timeline is what time y’all will want to leave that night. You’ll want to leave the venue at least an hour before the venue rental ends. That way your family, friends, and vendors have time to set down, clean up and leave the venue in time.

For an idea, here’s a general time that we recommend planning for:
– Getting ready – 5 or 6 hours (HMU, getting ready pics, getting dressed)
– Groom/Groomsmen Pictures, Bride/Bridesmaid Pictures, First Look (optional) – 2.5 hours
– Ceremony – 30 min
– Post-ceremony pictures – 1 hour
– Dinner, toasts, cake cutting, special dances – 2 hours
– Open Dance Floor – 2 hours

Quick math will tell you that this adds up to 14 hours. That is definitely an ideal amount of time to have at a venue – or more. If you don’t have that time though, don’t worry you can still make all your wedding day dreams come true! Reach out to us and let us know about your venue hour rental concerns.
As always, we are here to help!

FUN FACT: this church was actually in the backyard of the bride and grooms wedding! It’s not even a venue at all!

PHOTOGRAPHER | Brooke Juma Photography