The most important element in staging any successful event, especially a wedding, is the timeline.

A well prepared wedding day timeline will ensure that everything you want to include from formal portraits to cake cutting happens in an unhurried way with a natural flow. This is the case regardless of the style, location or budget of your wedding.

You should work with your wedding planner to create a timeline that works for you, your vendors and keeps the party from slowing down for your guests. If something is particularly important to you, make sure your planner allows a little more time for it.

If you are planning your own wedding, do a quick online search and look at some of the many, many examples on most of the major wedding sites. There are even apps to help you create your own wedding timeline. Using tools like these can help highlight anything you may have missed like vendor load in or rental delivery and returns.

Here are a few thing to keep in mind as you create your wedding day timeline:

• List all elements you want to include in your wedding reception. Some examples would be cake cutting, bouquet toss, toasts and first dance.

• Keep in mind the hours you have access to your venue. When can you get in to begin setup and what time must you and your vendors be off the property.

• Contact your photographer and discuss your expectations in terms of posed shots and how much time they will need and what time they will arrive.

• If you are having a hair and makeup stylist find out how much time they will need to style all the members of your wedding party that you will be including.

• Consider your guests enjoyment. Keep the time between the end of the ceremony and your entrance into the reception as brief as possible. No more than one hour is really acceptable.That’s why they call it the cocktail hour!

• Build in some buffers. This is a really special day, make sure that you leave yourselves time to enjoy it. Plan in some downtime to grab a bite to eat and set aside a few minute for the two of you to be alone post ceremony just to share this once in a lifetime moment.

This may sound like a monumental task at first but there are plenty of places to turn for help. After all the planning you have done to create the wedding of your dreams, this is the final step to make sure your day goes just the way you dreamed.