Wedding Preparations: Timeline

One of the things that's tough to get used to about planning a wedding is how constantly you're asked to make decisions about things that still seem an awfully long way away.  Who plans an entire day a month in advance?  Yet it's become apparent over the past two weeks that we really are going to need a nice neat schedule we can pass around so everyone can be in the loop with what's going to happen.

For instance, one of the first things the photographers began talking about was a "timeline for the day".  "It helps us figure out what kind of shoot to do and how many hours we'll need," one told me.  "You figure general rule of thumb is about 2 - 5 minutes per shot and work from there.  I will say this for you: at least your bridal party and family are the same, so that should really cut down on time.  I'm guessing it'll be about half an hour for the family, half an hour for the bride and groom portraits."

That's good.  I wasn't cut out for three-hour photo shoots and I don't think Ben was either (though he might be more cut out for it than me thanks to Mom Turner's diligent training).  Besides, it's going to practically be November.  We found a potential outdoor location, but the downside of that is we're going to have to wear coats and hustle through photos; and even with that provision, we're going to want to keep exposures - and exposure - to a minimum.  We're also still thinking about an indoor location that would allow us to get good photos if the weather is bad or if it otherwise just doesn't make sense to go outside.  I've seen a lot of wedding photos taken outside in winter, so I know it's definitely feasible; but I'm not fond of the cold myself and most of my sisters aren't either (why is it that boys stay so much warmer than girls generally?).

At any rate, we need a timeline for a day that's still a little over a month in the future detailing who needs to go where and do what at what time.  Tricky, to say the least.  Ben and I have been talking it over a bit, Elizabeth and Mom and I have been talking about it a lot more, and one thing we've all figured out is that we're really glad the wedding's in the evening.  It's going to make the day so much more relaxed, we think.

Putting Dad's Lean Manufacturing training to work, one of the projects this next week is to build a timeline to tell everyone what's going on and where they should be when so we can have good solid discussion on how it's going to work rather than dealing with fuzzy deadlines.  We have grandparents to accommodate, family from out of town who'll be present, several vehicles to assign riders and drivers to, and specific photos to plan for (among many other things).  I don't foresee us getting it really nailed down until next week, but what's really interesting is watching the outline of this day take shape.  It's a month away, but we're starting put together an idea of how it's going to go.  Mom already knows what to do for dinner, for instance (hey, it's right after Thanksgiving: what better day to have Turkey Barley Soup and bread?  Okay, we'll add some meat for sandwiches and probably a nice salad, but for me...it's soup all the way.).  Even with the way my family builds menus for our meals, we don't usually know one that far in advance.  How strange!