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Bridal Party Schedules
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This article was sent in our Cost-Effective Bride Newsletter
on August 13, 2001. If you would like to receive helpful
articles and money-saving tips for your wedding, subscribe here.
Bridal Party Schedules
A few weekends ago, my husband stood up in a very nice
wedding. The only trouble was that it was not as
organized as I would have liked to have seen it. Most
everything turned out fine for them, but there was
definite potential for problems. As the wife of a
Bridal Party member, I definitely wished my husband had
more direction on where he needed to be and when, so
that I could have known where to get him to and when.
I know that bridesmaids and groomsman everywhere will
probably groan at the thought of this (but after the
wedding I think they will thank you), but something
that really helps out is typing up a schedule of events
and times for the weekend of the wedding. This
schedule should layout where attendants should be and
at what time. Plus, it should also give other helpful
information - like who to call in case there is a
problem of any kind, and any maps that may be
necessary.
I am coordinating the ceremony portion of a wedding
that is coming up soon, and here is how we went about
creating their Bridal Party Schedule:
First, close your eyes and imagine that it is the day
of your wedding. If everything could go absolutely
perfect for you, how would it go? (Keep in mind that
it is rare for NOTHING to go wrong on your wedding day,
but by doing this, hopefully whatever goes wrong will
be very minor!) Take notes as you think about this,
and make sure to write a list of things you need to do
that you may not have thought of until this time.
Let's imagine you and your bridesmaids first. If you
are getting married on a Saturday afternoon, then I
would guess that your day begins on Saturday morning
with a hair appointment or someone doing your hair.
Right away you need to realize several things: 1) This
means you need to have a hair appt. arranged ahead of
time 2) You need to be at your appt. on time, so you
need to get up early enough to be ready on time (or the
rest of your schedule could be delayed). 3) You
haven't considered breakfast, and this is very
important on your wedding day - for you and your Bridal
Party! (Make sure you arrange to eat breakfast
somehow!)
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Okay, so next you are probably going to head to the
church or ceremony location. How are you getting
there? Consider the transportation of everyone in the
Bridal Party - if you are taking a limo for all of you
from the ceremony to the reception, then if your
attendants drove to the ceremony their cars are stuck
in the parking lot! How will they get back to them?
I recommend meeting at one common, and hopefully
central, location - for example, your parent's house or
the salon (if you can leave your cars there for the
day). If the dates of your attendant's can drop them
off, that would be best, but if they have to leave
their car at this location, it should be somewhere that
they can easily get a ride back to - and not by you!
(NOTE: if you are all driving separately to the
reception from the ceremony, then this does not apply.)
Next, you may have pictures at the church. This means,
you need to have arranged for the photographer to be
there at a certain time. You need to have the flowers
there before the photographer. You need to have
someone there to let the florist in, if you are not
already there. Do you see how this can get complicated
pretty fast? You also need to have your dress on and
your makeup ready before the photos. If you are going
to see the groom, do you want to arrange for a special
place to do this before the photo session? And what
about lunch?
How about the groomsmen? Before the ceremony begins,
do the ushers know where and what time they should
begin escorting guests to their seats? Do they know
what time to be at the church? What about their
transportation? Breakfast? Lunch? They need to make
sure to eat, too. (I assume that your perfect day does
not include anyone fainting?)
Skipping ahead a bit, how about the reception? Is
there a Bridal Party Introduction? Is there a Bridal
Party Dance? Do your Honor Attendants realize that
they should make a toast during dinner or at some point
during the evening? Do you want your attendants in the
pictures during the cake cutting? - do they know what
time this is at?
Alright, I realize that I have now completely
overwhelmed you. Sorry! But, the point of this
exercise is to envision each portion of the day and how
it would look if everything went smoothly. Please do
not, however, get completely caught up in every little
detail. Address as many as you can, but realize that
you have limitations, and that so do your attendants
and the people that you have contracted with. Your day
will be perfect because of your love. If someone does
faint at your wedding, it will not make your day any
less perfect! Keep this in mind!
To help you not get overwhelmed, I have a few examples
of wedding day schedules (and even rehearsal dinner
schedules) for you to look and use as examples. (If you
do not have Adobe AcrobatReader, you are going to need
to download it to see the examples:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html )
- My wedding for Bridesmaids:
http://www.Bwedd.com/Couples/Bridesmaids.pdf
- My wedding for Groomsmen:
http://www.Bwedd.com/Couples/Groomsmen.pdf
- Friend's Christmastime wedding for all Bridal Party:
http://www.Bwedd.com/Couples/DaveandLoriAgenda.pdf
Good luck making your schedule, and if I can help you
out in any way, please let me know! And, if you think
you have a good schedule, please e-mail it to me and I
will share it with other brides to help them in their
planning!
Sincerely,
Kelly Kons, Editor
http://www.Bwedd.com/TrueCompanions/
P.S. If you have ideas that you would like to share
with other brides, please e-mail me: kelly@bwedd.com I
would love to hear what you are doing to make your
wedding unique and memorable!
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** Do you have questions about this or past articles?
Please drop me a line. I would love to hear from you
and help you out in any way I can! **
- Kelly Kons, Editor
kelly@bwedd.com
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