Bespoke Timelines: Designing a Wedding Day as Unique as Your Love Story

Looking to plan a wedding day that’s as seamless as it is unforgettable? In this episode of Beyond Vows & Veils: The Luxury Wedding Planning Experience, Brittany Ellis shares insider secrets to designing a wedding timeline that captures the essence of your love story and keeps every detail flowing smoothly.

More than just a schedule, a well-crafted timeline brings your day to life. Brittany breaks down how to personalize the timing of each moment to truly reflect who you are as a couple. She shares her expert strategies for staying flexible when things go off-script and emphasizes the importance of early communication with vendors to keep everything on track. From thoughtful pauses just for the two of you, to ensuring family and guests feel included, Brittany covers all the details that make a difference.

Tune in and discover how a well-planned timeline can reduce stress, enhance the experience for everyone involved, and make your wedding day one to remember. Don’t miss this episode if you want your wedding to be smooth, heartfelt, and uniquely yours.

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ABOUT EVENTRICS INDIAN WEDDINGS

Eventrics Indian Weddings is an award-winning team of experienced wedding planning and management experts, specializing in large-scale Indian Weddings & Fusion Weddings in Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, and destinations worldwide.

The Eventrics Indian Weddings team offers complete and partial planning services with a personal and hands-on approach. We believe each couple deserves a fully invested wedding planner to be engaged throughout the entire process to ensure no detail is missed or overlooked!

Chapters

• 0:00 The Importance of Wedding Timelines
• 7:00 Personalizing Your Wedding Timeline
• 13:11 Flexibility and Managing Expectations
• 20:13 Collaboration with Vendors for a Smooth Timeline

Transcript

Brittany (00:00.78)
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Beyond Vows and Veils. As always, I am so grateful for you for joining me each week to listen, learn, and discover more ways that you can make more informed decisions on your wedding planning journey. So today we're diving into one of the most overlooked yet crucial parts of your wedding, which is your timeline. For me, it's not just about ticking off like the usual milestones. It's about making sure that every moment reflects who you are as a couple. So if you've been one of those bridesmaids

or a wedding guest that was up at two o'clock in the morning to do photos with a couple at 8 a.m. I've got some tips for you to support in your journey. for anyone that's just kind of listening or tuning in, I feel like if you are developing your timeline with your planner or you're creating this document on your own, hopefully you're able to get some really creative advice from today's episode. So first I want to kind of dive in, which is what is timeline creation? Well, first and foremost,

It's one of my favorite things to do because I'm really weird and I love Excel spreadsheets I love puzzling things together to make them orderly and make them work I feel like when I was a kid I was that person that like when my jewelry would get tangled up I would spend like a Really long time making sure everything was like untangled and like got it all together And even when I went to my friends houses, I would like organize their closets. I was like seriously you guys like I think I have a problem. But anyway, so

So Having a planner obviously is going to benefit you in being creative because it takes off like that pressure of having to worry so much about the logistics because you know that's going to be handled by somebody else with a lot of intention. But ultimately I think it's very important to have that communication with your planner or even yourself on how you really want to ensure that you feel that weekend. So for example I talked on a previous episode of is it important to you to kind of keep to your routine? Are you

somebody that you tend to get like more stressed out if you're out of your routine? So on like the weekend of like are you the person that's like aptly goes to the gym every day like maybe get a quick gym session in or if you're somebody that meditates every day like make sure that you take time to meditate. Whatever your morning routine is I always try to keep some level of consistency there for you just so you don't feel so out of sorts when you're going into your wedding weekend. So just in general I think it's really important that

Brittany (02:30.16)
back to like if you're if you're someone that's like not an early bird and you know that you're going to be up early for hair and makeup like talking about like what is priority so what I mean by that is if you have to be in a first look with your fiance at 8 a.m. you know that you're going to require I don't know upwards of three hours to get ready between hair makeup and your dressing think about who you want in the room with you like maybe you just want a quiet moment maybe it's just going to be

Mom or sisters, maybe it's nobody, right? And you're just gonna have some of the investment in your budget be worked towards more artists that can have other ladies getting ready in different spaces to allow you the space that you need to like have the experience in the moment that you want.

You know, for me, why I'm kind of did another episode about timelines is because it's literally the blueprint of what your family, yourself, your vendors are all going to refer to and follow. And so I think for me, it's always been very important that we have a very good structure

but we're not too crazy and rigid with it also. So just to give some context, like earlier part of my career,

I was so strict with my schedules and I would be so upset if things did not go according to plan and they weren't by the minute, right? I was like very prideful on running a very tight ship, especially for South Asian weddings. That's no small feat. So I was giving myself a little pat on the back, but you know, since then I've really learned that a proper and effective timeline allows a lot of cushion room. It takes human nature into

Brittany (04:19.11)
consideration and it also takes your family and their personalities in consideration. So for example, if your brother is always an hour late to everything, doesn't matter if it's a family event or I don't know what.

a concert that he's going to or he's meeting you at socially. Don't expect that that personality or that sort of human nature component for him is going to adjust or change, perhaps giving him a different timeframe in which that he needs to be ready, that is more conducive with allowing him to have that flex room would be a better fit. Right. So I guess maybe I am straight up saying like lie in a way yes, because ultimately

the last thing that you want to do is expect different personalities to adjust or change because you're having this celebration. And while I do feel like everyone should be timely and follow a schedule to the tee, it doesn't always work that way. And so we have to be really realistic on when we're building out a schedule, what does actually work? Another really good example of just making sure that you're not keeping too rigid with your timeline is

One of the things that our office always does is we suggest to our couples to close the bar

at the cocktail reception before guests move into the main ballroom. So if your ceremony is over, maybe you have a break in between, everyone's coming for cocktails. And there's a point, obviously, the cocktails conclude and we move everybody in for the program. One thing that I definitely have noticed throughout the course of my career is people do not like to be hustled when it comes to food and beverage, especially the bar. And you want to just kind of not try to change people's personalities or change just the environment.

Brittany (06:07.478)
And instead make sure that you're communicating with your on-site coordinator like hey We are gonna close the bar or pause it if you will just to move guests from point a to point B Because otherwise it's like herding cats It's gonna take forever to get everybody in there and we do obviously want to keep somewhat of a schedule intact So maybe recommend that they go around 15 minutes before that bar is is closing or going to pause and Let them know to refill their beverages. I can't tell you how many compliments that our

team gets on site just with this small gesture. I think it goes a really long way. Back to the intention of how you want to feel on site for your event day, think about how you want your guests to feel too. You want them to feel like they had the hospitality, they had a fair warning, they know that maybe the bar is going to pause for a moment, but that they can refresh their beverages before they move in to enjoy your program.

So I want to also shift gears a little bit and talk about just the importance of personalizing your timeline. So in my opinion, your wedding day really is an expression of your unique love story and the timeline should be a reflection of that. So out with the cookie cutter timelines that obviously does not work for every couple. No hate on my white dress brides, but those events come and go within eight hours and it's over. Whereas for my South Asian clientele, it's like a 17

hour times two to three day marathon. And so you really have to be very mindful and intentional about how you're putting things together. So one of the things that I feel is really important when it comes to timeline development is just making sure you're obviously aware of, which you should be, of your cultural differences, right? So if the groom is either from like a different

state of India or you you just have different religious backgrounds. Obviously we want to kind of be mindful of how we build those things out. So like for example if we we've done

Brittany (08:06.128)
you know, Sikh fusion weddings, Hindu fusion weddings, Muslim fusion weddings. But let's just talk about, for example, if I was doing a Sikh wedding, well, I know that most of the time, unless we have an agreement from the, Grundy or the temple, we're going to be shuttling guests to the temple to have the ceremony. And so one of the things that we want to make sure that we're really mindful and aware of is how far that location is from our host property and building effective

shuttle schedules that are going to ensure that your guests arrive timely and you're also not stressed about their arrival. So one of the things that I always like to do, especially for Sikh weddings, if the family can flip the hospitality bill is

shuttling guests in and like going straight into some sort of like a hospitality breakfast or like light snacks because it allows people to have like that gathering point before if you are doing a baraat before that takes place and that I feel like gives you a little bit of cushion room that in case people didn't make like shuttle number one that they're able to make that secondary shuttle and then obviously you're gonna just have to deal with the fact that there are going to be

guests that definitely just are not punctual are gonna show up late and that's okay, just formulate a plan of how you want those situations to be handled. So for example, for a lot of wedding ceremonies, couples will say, listen, if guests are arriving and we've already started the procession, meaning sending people down the aisle, please hold them in the foyer until after the bride has made her way down the aisle. Simply because you've got photo video going on and we don't want like the loud door

open or kind of like some guest being in the background of all of your photo and video at your big moment walking down the aisle. So just making sure you kind of communicate what your expectations are for late arrivals and things to that end. You know, and same thing like when it comes to like Hindu weddings, for example, there's a lot of extra time that goes into the setup for these events. So for example, if you really are a bride that wants decor shots of your mandaap or your space, understand

Brittany (10:20.746)
that we love our pundits, but they do take time to set up the ceremony, right? Maybe between 30, 45 minutes. I've had some people take an hour. And so if our intention is that we definitely want to have decor shots, we also want to be respectful of how long that pundit or vendor would require in order to set up and be ready. So another element to also take into consideration is just guest movement, right?

your guests do not teleport. It's so funny because I swear it's like the little things. But when your baraat's over, your guests don't like teleport into the ballroom, right? Like usually there's some sort of like a welcoming from the families and then guests like physically have to move from where the baraat concluded to the actual inside of the ceremony. And if this requires that your guests are moving floors, meaning they're going from the baseline up to elevator floor six or eight, this is

to take some time, right? So just making sure that in the timeline development that you're like allowing some cushion room for, you know, just movement of people and the fact that they obviously don't teleport. And if you can, working with your venue coordinator to make sure that like, hey, can we get like a couple elevator banks dedicated to us just for these 15 minutes that only go to floor such and such so that they're not having like other guests get on the same elevators and go to like floor three, four and

five as they're trying to get to the top level or whatever it might be. And so those types of logistics are just, think, important for building like a good base.

Couple other things I wanna mention is just some key components to incorporate into your timeline. So while every wedding is unique, there are key moments to consider in every timeline. So the trick really is customizing them. So for example, some of the most personalized moments are,

Brittany (12:21.302)
you know, your parents or your loved ones giving us a heartfelt speech at your functions. And so making sure that you are communicating with that individual how much time that you feel like they need. I love my couples. They're always like, two minutes.

And while of course you can tell someone they have two minutes, there's nothing wrong with that, understand again that the guest physically has to get out of their seat, they have to grab the mic, they need to situate themselves on the dance floor, give their speech, pass the mic back and sit down. So think about is two minutes really realistic? Two minutes is probably gonna turn into five minutes pretty easily, right? And so just understanding that like there are some cushion room that you need to allow just for like the general movement and things to that end.

you

So I wanna stop talking about logistics and harping on everyone for cushion room and talk about creating or giving personalization to your event. So I feel that some of the most special moments that I've witnessed with couples is them being able to make sure each day they take a quiet moment for themselves. So this quiet moment can be everything from after the first look before the groom goes to the baraat, that they're doing photos and just some time together.

It also could be, you know, before they go inside for the cocktail and dinner reception, they're having their own private meal simply because the opportunity for you to eat is very slim because everyone's very excited to chat with you and meet you and congratulate you. And so if you try to eat dinner when the guests are eating dinner, I feel like you're going to constantly have guests coming up to you wanting to chat, which is fabulous. But at the same time, like sometimes a lot of couples are now opting to have like that quiet moment together.

Brittany (14:11.77)
just take in the day. I had a couple of mine recently that when the ceremony was over and they were sussed out and did like their moment where everyone was throwing rose petals and it was beautiful, they were sussed into a meeting room by themselves and they had just like a glass of champagne, they had a little bit of bites from the lunch before we went into what we call the organized chaos of the post-ceremony photos. So I feel like that part of it is really important. You want to make sure that you're taking

time with your fiance because obviously you are combining your union that weekend to just have some intentional time together. Another one of my personal favorites, which also pro tip makes for the best photos is just practicing your first dance in the ballroom before all the guests come inside. So the last maybe 20 minutes before we open doors, like practicing that first dance, those are some really great candid shots that the photo video team is able to also incorporate, which I think is

which I think is really special. And One of the things that I did want to just kind of...

end on as part of this bespoke timeline discussion is again flexibility and managing expectations. So even with the perfect timeline, things can always go off course. And so I think it's important that you're aware that this is an event. It's a living breathing sort of thing that is happening over the course of those days. I mean, we've seen everything from like the dhol player got stuck in traffic, the baraat car didn't show up because the couple got it from Turo and

I guess that person decided not to come instead of like hiring a professional company and having it, by the way, always want your baraat car to be on property the day before the event. like it's instances and situations like that are gonna happen. And I think it's important that you discuss in advance who's gonna kind of troubleshoot those things 9 times out of 10, obviously that needs to be your planner. But I think it's really important to have conversations with

Brittany (16:14.216)
Knowing your personality type. We talked about some other episodes like if a rain call needs to be made like who is the person kind of making that call with the professionals because I highly always recommend that couples kind of if they can stay out of it if they prefer to stay in it they can but you want to just kind of delegate a little bit of those little nuances of like hey in the situation Who is the table who is the vendors and family point of contacts that are going to round table should something come up?

they can find a quick solution and things to that end.

I feel like I would get a lot of heat if I did not mention that a timeline only works if everyone is on the same page. So it's so important and critical that all of your vendors are aware in advance of where you're tracking with your timeline. So I love a good vendor touch base call. My office knows this, all my girls know this. And so basically what that means is after you get

through the phase that you've hired all your professionals, you probably have the skeleton work of your schedule, meaning like start and end times, things to that end, right? But you haven't really dived into everything that we've just been talking about, like how you want to feel that day, like what your expectations are, who's going to get ready with you in the room, what's your expectations for photo and video. And so it's really important that let's just call it halfway mark of planning, that you're not making assumptions on what the vendors will or will not do.

For example, this was a fabulous learning lesson for me a number of years ago. We had flown in a very talented photographer, I believe from New York, and I'm so glad that we did a halfway touch base point because what that included was, let's review the schedule together and let's just see if this is in alignment with how much time your team is going to need for getting ready shots, bridal portraits, things to that end. Because I'm a really big firm believer

Brittany (18:19.632)
that I create these timelines, but I have to create them within the boundaries of what the vendors also give feedback on. so including them in the development of that schedule is just vital. And it's just also just good vendor relation, right? You want to make sure that you're hearing what everybody has to share because they have expertise in their own field. So when I was working with this photographer,

I was asking for them to do like the getting ready shots and then we were moving into first look and then we were moving into the next thing and he was like, listen, like all of the portraits or you'll notice on my portfolio, like everything has that like soft lighting and that requires there to be like a sun in the sky or sunrise. And so we were going to be taking pictures literally in the middle of the dark. And so that is something that you have to consider, right? Like what is the sunrise time on the morning of your event?

and how is that going to impact photo video? Because a lot of photo video likes to have natural lighting. That's where you get some of the best features for your event, if you will. And so one of the pivot things that we did early on is we said, okay, let's pre-shoot all of the bridal outfits, detail shoes, jewelry, the whole nine yards, the day of the sangeet, so we're not rushed on the day of the wedding. We can kind of back up when the photo video team's coming into the room and we can just go straight into bridal shots.

and maybe like.

can't like, how do I say, staged photos of like the bride getting ready with her mom. And it worked out really beautifully and the pictures ended up being fabulous. And I think that having that type of team collaboration halfway through, and then I always say like about a month prior, regroup again, hey, here's where we're at, because that allows your vendors to also speak up, have a voice, share their expertise. And if there's any tweaks that need to be made, like let's make them, now's the time. And I think it will avoid a

Brittany (20:13.438)
of confusion and a lot of on-site adjustments. I'm not a big on-site adjustment person for anyone that's worked with me definitely knows that because I feel like if we've given you the opportunity to like speak up halfway through contracting and 30 days prior but then on the day of the event you're trying to switch things up on me

Usually that doesn't fly. It's got to be a really good reason. Obviously, we're not rigid, but we have a lot of responsibility, right, and moving things forward. And we don't want to have to get the couple back in what we call planning mode, having to ask them like,

questions and details about things that they just they shouldn't be asked a lot of questions that day. They should be enjoying and going with the flow of how things are going. So in conclusion, y'all, when it comes to your wedding day, no two stories are alike and neither should two timelines. So work with your planners, share your intentions on how you want to feel, how you want your family to feel, how you want your day to flow, what is most important to you, where are the elements that are not important to you. So if you take

anything away from today's episode, let it be this: Start planning your timeline early and don't hesitate to make it your own. Chime in and make sure that you're sharing what you want your expectations of your day to be. So as always, y'all, we love getting your DMs. We love you guys asking us additional questions. Don't hesitate to continue reaching out to us on those platforms. And I would so appreciate you guys taking the time to actually subscribe to our channel. It really

supports us in our ever growing community and it really means the world to me. It takes obviously a lot of time, energy, effort and a behind the scenes team to make these podcasts efficient and effective for you. So please do subscribe and be sure to share with anyone you feel would also benefit from the information. Thank you again.

Brittany (22:13.536)
take baby one