Building a wedding day timeline is hard enough when everyone lives ten minutes from the venue. When your guests, your vendors, and sometimes even you are flying in from another time zone, it takes an extra layer of planning to get right.

Why a destination wedding timeline needs extra care

A local wedding timeline assumes everyone is well-rested, familiar with the roads, and arriving from nearby. None of that applies to a destination wedding: guests may land the same day as the ceremony, vendors may need extra time to find unfamiliar venues, and you yourselves may still be adjusting to a new time zone. Building in more margin than you think you need is the single best piece of advice we can give.

Building the day backwards from your last dance

The most reliable way to build a timeline is to start from your last planned moment, typically the end of the reception, and work backwards, allowing generous time for each preceding step: golden hour portraits, dinner, cocktail hour, the ceremony itself, and hair and makeup. Working backwards surfaces scheduling conflicts far earlier than building forwards does, while there's still time to adjust.

Jet lag, travel days and a realistic arrival schedule

We generally recommend arriving at least two to three days before the wedding, more if you're travelling from outside Europe, to allow time to adjust to the time difference, recover from travel, and enjoy a proper rehearsal or site visit without feeling rushed or fatigued. This buffer also gives your photographer time to scout your venue with you in person, ironing out timeline details before the day itself.

"On a destination wedding, the timeline isn't just a schedule, it's the thing that lets you actually be present, instead of watching the clock."

A sample timeline for a French wedding day

  • Morning: hair, makeup and getting-ready details, photographed candidly as they happen
  • Early afternoon: ceremony (civil, religious, or both, depending on your plans)
  • Late afternoon: cocktail hour and family portraits, with a short window reserved for the two of you alone
  • Golden hour: couple portraits, timed to your venue's specific sunset, which we confirm in advance
  • Evening: dinner, speeches and first dances, photographed through to as late in the night as your coverage allows

Want help mapping out your own day? We build a personalized timeline with every couple well before the wedding itself. Read more about planning a wedding in Bordeaux, or get in touch to start planning yours.