Last time, I talked about "the nudge" and how it helps me and my vendors stay in communication while still being flexible to the realities of what's going on during the wedding day.
Today, I'll talk about another coordinator's tool, timeline padding. Every good wedding coordinator pads the timeline. It's based on the idea that every transition needs time -- and some transitions need more time than others. So additional minutes are built into the schedule, even if it seems like overkill to allot 45 minutes for the bride to dress, for example. These minutes invariably get used up in other places, like when Aunt Sally visits you in the dressing room and you have a 15-minute conversation, or when your groomsman forgets his dark socks and you wind up driving back to the hotel to pick them up. With the proper amount of padding, by the time the key events roll around, such as walking down the aisle, you're all caught up and feeling great, instead of running behind and feeling flustered.
We even had one client tell us to pad not only the timeline, but to set the invitation time thirty minutes earlier than the actual time of the ceremony. While I wouldn't recommend this for most weddings, they knew their family and friends were habitual "fashionable latecomers" and ultimately things worked out perfectly for them. They did what they needed to do.
Is it fibbing? Perhaps a little bit. As the bride, just think of yourself as the President, your planner as the Secret Service, and everyone else is on a "need-to-know" basis!
This wraps our timeline series. For another great article related to timelines, check out this post by weddings expert Christine Boulton: So What Does A Wedding Planner Do? "Weddings do not come with an infinite time frame." Well said!
Photo courtesy blaineandbethany.com
