Most wedding days go wrong in the same place: the morning. Make-up runs late, the photographer is waiting at the wrong house, and by the time the couple reach the church the whole day is an hour behind. This is the timeline we use, built backwards from the moment that matters most.
Start from the vows
Fix the time of the ceremony and work back. For a 12pm church service in Abuja we want the bride dressed by 10:30, which means make-up starting at 7:30 and hair at 6:30. Yes, it is early. That is the point.
build in thirty minutes of nothing. you will use it.
Traffic is a guest
From Gwarinpa to the Central Area on a Saturday morning can take twenty minutes or seventy. We allow sixty and send a car ahead to report. Guests get a WhatsApp at 9am with the best route and parking.
The reception
- Guests seated, MC warms the room: 4:00pm
- Couple's entrance and first dance: 4:45pm
- Prayers, toasts and the cake: 5:15pm
- Dinner served, all tables within 45 minutes: 5:30pm
- Families dance and spraying: 6:30pm
- Open floor: 7:30pm to close
One person with the timeline
Give the run of show to one person who is not in the wedding party, not a parent and not a bridesmaid. On our weddings that is the lead planner, with a radio and the authority to move things.
