Every wedding day has one moment where everything either holds together beautifully… or starts slipping away without anyone noticing. And despite what people assume, it’s never the ceremony. It’s not even traffic, per se. It’s not the family member who runs late, or the guest who somehow can’t figure out where the venue is. And no, it also isn’t because you didn’t do a first look…! 

The real culprit is the getting-ready portion of the day — specifically, not allowing enough time for it. The hours when hair and makeup are happening, people are in and out of the room, questions are flying at you from every direction, and every small delay or setback quietly snowballs into something that impacts the rest of your wedding.

Most couples don’t realize it, but this is the part of the day that is most vulnerable, least protected, and most likely to spiral into chaos later. And it does spiral — all the time — even when everyone is “doing everything right.”

If you’re having a City Hall wedding, I have a specific guide to that as it presents additional pitfalls couples often fall into:

This article is here to walk you through why getting ready takes longer than you think, what actually happens behind the scenes, and how to prepare for the real-world version of a wedding morning… not the fantasy version we all picture when we think of “getting ready with friends” in a beautiful hotel room.

Why getting ready is the real timeline danger

Most people imagine a wedding morning as a calm, cozy few hours. You picture your glam team working their magic while you chat with your favorite people, sip something bubbly, and then slip into your dress effortlessly before strolling out the door. 

In reality, the wedding morning is the busiest, most unpredictable part of the entire day.

It’s also the least structured part of the day, which means it becomes the most vulnerable to delays.

When the morning gets off track, the timeline doesn’t actually shift. Your ceremony won’t start late. Your venue won’t push cocktail hour. Your officiant won’t wait an extra half hour because your makeup took longer than expected.

The only thing that shrinks is the photography time you paid for. The timeline you intentionally carved out – to have a relaxed first look, to take romantics, gather family and wedding party, and create the images you were hoping to cherish for a lifetime.

This loss is permanent. Once that time is gone, it’s gone.

Why getting dressed takes way longer than you think

Brides almost always assume that stepping into the dress will take five minutes. It doesn’t. Even simple dresses become a whole production on a real wedding morning.

Here’s what actually happens, almost every single time:

You think you’re about to step into your dress. Suddenly someone remembers boob tape. It ends up taking a really long time because it’s fiddly. 

And yes — it really is the boob tape. It is always the boob tape. 

Someone else is dealing with an undergarment malfunction. You’re overheated from hair and makeup. A bridesmaid is trying to fasten tiny buttons with long nails. No one knows exactly how the back of the dress works. Someone needs safety pins. Someone is looking for scissors. Mom walks in crying. You need one more bathroom break. Someone is steaming the veil for the fiftieth time. Someone forgot deodorant. Someone can’t figure out how to unhook the jewelry. Then you need perfume. Your shoes. A touch-up. Another adjustment.

Just physically getting into the dress might be five minutes. The entire process around it though might be fifteen to thirty minutes, consistently. Longer if it’s a button-back gown or anything more complex involving layers, tricky fastenings or maneuvering to get into. 

Meanwhile, I am stepping in and out of the room out of respect, which also stretches the process. But no-one lets me know when you’re decent so I can actually continue my job of photographing. By the time I’m let back in, the getting ready is already done, and now we need to ‘recreate’ getting ready moments, thus taking up even more time. 

None of this is anyone’s fault. It’s just how wedding mornings go.

Why trials are always faster than the real wedding morning 

Your hair and makeup trial is calm, focused, and predictable. It usually happens in a quiet space where no one needs anything from you and your attention isn’t being pulled in twelve directions. You aren’t fielding questions from vendors, answering texts from family, dealing with bridal party needs, or coordinating last-minute details. 

On the wedding day, all those small interactions make a difference. Even a quick conversation with a bridesmaid or a vendor popping in with a question slows the process down. That’s why a trial that took ninety minutes can easily stretch past two hours on the actual day. The work itself isn’t slower, but the environment is much more demanding. The artist can’t work on you non-stop without constantly stopping and starting. 

Undergarments and supportive elements take longer than expected

One of the biggest hidden delays on a wedding morning comes from undergarments and the various supportive elements brides use. Boob tape (yes, I’ll mention it again), adhesive cups, shapewear, and stick-on solutions all take time to position correctly, and they often need adjustments. 

This is especially true if the setup hasn’t been tested before the wedding day. Long nails also make it tricky for bridesmaids or family members to help with fastening or adjusting things quickly. Again, none of this is a problem — it’s just something that requires more time than people anticipate. Building that extra time into the schedule from the jump ensures the process isn’t rushed or stressful.

Getting dressed on your wedding day is not a five-minute task

I know that when I get ready to shoot a wedding, it takes me about 20 minutes. That’s me showing up as a vendor, wearing simple, practical clothes. I can’t imagine it would take a quarter of that time to get ready on your wedding day – when you’re wearing the most expensive and elaborate outfit of your entire life, and you literally want everything to be not just presentable but perfect.

Even the simplest wedding dresses take longer to get into than most people imagine. The physical act of stepping into the dress may be quick, but everything surrounding it takes time: fastening tiny buttons, adjusting layers, securing inner corsetry, smoothing fabric, checking the fit, adding accessories, and dealing with last-minute touch-ups. 

Structured gowns, button-back dresses, and dresses with complicated fastening systems can take even longer. It’s also common for the photographer or videographer to step out of the room for privacy during this part, which naturally slows the process as people wait for direction or space. Expecting the dressing process to take fifteen to thirty minutes.

The natural chaos of a wedding morning

Wedding mornings are full of tiny, unpredictable moments that add up to real delays. Family members arrive early and want a moment with you. Someone has a question about jewelry. A bridesmaid needs help with her dress. The florist asks where to place bouquets. A vendor needs clarification on timing. Someone misplaces socks or cufflinks. Someone realizes they don’t know how to tie a bow tie — and yes, that happens constantly, even after people attempt every YouTube tutorial on earth. 

These are normal parts of a high-emotion day. But they do need to be accounted for in the schedule so they don’t derail everything that comes next.

What actually needs to fit into the timeline after your hair & makeup is done

• Lotion the skin
• Apply deodorant
• Put on Spanx
• Apply pasties/sticky bra/ Boombas
• The damn boob tape
• Step into the dress (with help of loved one), then shimmy/twist into place
• Zip/snap secure inside hooks
• Ribbon or buttons on the back (that sometimes no-one on site can do up due to nails, especially with the small buttons that go through the tiny loops)
• Cut off hanging loops if they show
• Put on shoes (can be tricky/a team effort with limited mobility to bend down once in dress)
• Spray perfume
• Put on jewelry
• Put on veil (usually needs to be adjusted a few times without messing up hairstyle, or may require HMUA to advise how it should be placed)
• Final make-up touchups

And how it actually ends up feeling:

The last-minute pee, changing undergarments, brushing teeth, more body shimmer, where are my earrings?, drink of water and then quick makeup touch-up, boob tape… too sweaty to put my dress on… I need a minute… phone rings, lace up inner corset, inner belt, planner asks a question, sticky zippers, button closures…even if you had a professional seamstress or stylist on-site (which I’ve personally never seen before – everyone’s kind of winging it), it takes some time! This video also goes into all the things that need to fit into this timeslot after HMU is complete!

What about doing your own hair & makeup, or if you’re ‘just’ eloping (no guests?) 

You may be thinking, ‘well, this doesn’t apply to me. I’m eloping, or will be getting ready by myself’ or ‘I’ll be doing my own hair and makeup because I don’t want to be at the mercy of a professional, and I can do a perfectly good and quick job by myself’.

But the fact is, the advice in this guide applies just as much to brides doing their own hair and makeup, and to those who are getting ready alone or without any kind of wedding party adding to the mayhem. 

I recently had an eloping bride who skipped a pro artist because she’s extremely skilled at her own glam.

But on her elopement morning, her usual cluster lashes refused to stick. They kept adhering to the wrong part of her lash line, feeling irritating, and no matter what she tried, they wouldn’t sit right. 

She kept adjusting, reapplying, trying again, while I kept encouraging her and also gently suggesting that maybe her mascara would come in clutch right about now, but she was determined to get those lashes on, no matter what.

We ended up being almost an hour late to the ceremony. 

This was an elopement with no bridal party, no distractions, no chaos — just her, her partner, and her nerves. 

Even something you’ve done a hundred times perfectly can go sideways on a high-emotion day. Doing it yourself doesn’t remove the unpredictability; it just changes its form.

Why *actually leaving* always takes longer than planned

The process of actually leaving the getting-ready space (typically a hotel room) is its own timeline risk. Even when hair, makeup, and dressing are complete, most couples still need to consolidate their belongings, track down small items they forgot to pack, grab the essential items (rings, marriage license, IDs, etc) gather personal florals, check touch-ups, put on shoes, and make sure they have everything for the rest of the day. 

I’ll give you a bonus tip here: it’s always the bouquet that gets left behind, causing couples to have to return to the hotel room to pick it up (or have a family member that’s departing later bring it along, meaning it won’t be part of photos, sadly). People are obviously not used to remembering to bring flowers, and the flowers are usually sitting in a vase, doing their own thing, not with the rest of the wedding-day items. 

Calling a rideshare — and dealing with cancellations, delays, or tricky pickup points — also takes time. Even if you were mindful enough to hire a driver, you still need to allow time for them to make their way to where you’d like them to pick you up – sometimes this can take a minute in busy locations like downtown San Francisco.

For anyone getting married in hot climates or humid conditions, steaming the dress or veil the morning of the wedding is not an option; it will undo your hair and can ruin your makeup finish. Steaming must be done the night before, and it needs to be completely dry before you put anything on. These tiny logistical steps can quickly add fifteen or twenty unplanned minutes if you’re not prepared.

Travel time is rarely as smooth as you expect

Transportation is one of the most underestimated factors in a wedding timeline. Even short drives can be unexpectedly slow. Traffic patterns change without warning, rideshares cancel or reroute, and guests are often not ready when they thought they would be. In dense urban areas, it’s common for parking to add another ten or fifteen minutes, especially if you need to gather your belongings or walk through multiple levels of a garage. 

Couples often plan based on ideal travel conditions rather than real ones, and this is where timelines get tight. Always assume travel will take longer than your navigation app shows, and plan for the worst-case scenario rather than the best.

Real-world unpredictability will always play a role

Even the smoothest wedding mornings have interruptions. A bridesmaid may need emotional support. A parent may want a quiet first look moment. A flower girl may need help with shoes or hair. The planner may need your input on a detail. These interruptions are part of the wedding experience. 

They’re small, human moments, and the aim is not to nix them – to the contrary, we want to encourage these lovely little interactions — but they do take time. A realistic schedule anticipates these interruptions rather than viewing them as disruptions, helping the morning from spiraling into panic.

Why planners and photographers build in buffer time — and why it’s essential

Almost every couple believes they won’t need buffer time. I hear it constantly: “We’ll be fast,” “We don’t need extra time,” “We’re very low-maintenance.”, “My dress is very simple.” and “I’m doing my own hair and makeup.”

And truly, most couples are low-maintenance. The issue is not the couple — it’s the nature of the wedding morning. Even tiny delays compound quickly. A simple question, a five-minute search for an item, or a moment of emotion can push the schedule behind. 

Experienced planners, photographers, and hair & makeup artists build buffer time not because they expect chaos, but because they’ve seen firsthand how easily a morning can fall behind. That extra time protects you from stress, allows you to express natural emotions, and keeps the rest of the day running smoothly.

What really gets sacrificed when the morning runs late

This is the part couples don’t always consider: when the getting-ready portion runs late, nothing else shifts to accommodate it. The ceremony time doesn’t get pushed back. 

What gets reduced is the photography time — the portion you invested thousands of dollars in and the part that preserves your memories for decades. 

I’ve seen couples book photographers, videographers, transportation, and permits for gorgeous portrait locations, only to get there for five minutes because the morning ran over. A full hour of portraits can evaporate in an instant. 

The glam team often leaves unaware that their delay impacted anything, because by that point, you’re the one absorbing the stress. And please, for the love of God, do not let your hair & makeup artist or bridesmaid tell you, “The wedding can’t start without you! Take your time.” It sounds like kindness – and it is because when things have gone awry, there’s not much we can do – but it is terrible advice. 

Yes, the wedding will start, and the important photos you wanted of you, your partner, and your loved ones, will not exist.

How to protect your timeline — and your peace of mind

A smooth wedding morning is all about creating enough space for the natural, messy, human moments that will unfold. We never advocate for micromanaging the day. Instead, I want to encourage you to give yourself the breathing room to actually enjoy every moment. 

A helpful way to think about it is this: the getting-ready portion is the foundation of the entire timeline. 

When that foundation cracks, everything that sits on top of it shifts. And because nothing after the ceremony is flexible — not the officiant’s schedule, not your venue’s contracted hours, not the start of cocktail hour or what time dinner is served — the only part that can shrink is your photography time.

Which is wild, because for most couples, photography is one of the biggest line items of their whole wedding day. 

You don’t need a highly controlled, rigid morning with absolutely zero moments of spontaneous, joyful fun. You need a realistic morning with a lot more time than you and all your vendors think. 

Advice to help you make a realistic plan

• Start with hair and makeup artists who give honest timing estimates rather than aspirational ones. A seasoned hair and makeup artist will tell you the truth about how long their work takes, and they won’t try to squeeze it into a window that isn’t feasible in order to secure your booking or tell you words you want to hear. 
• A hair and makeup trial is the best way to understand the process, though it will always be much faster than the wedding day because it happens in a calm, distraction-free environment.
• Make sure everything that needs to be steamed, packed, or prepped is handled the day before. Steaming a dress or veil on the morning of the wedding isn’t just risky for your timeline; the steam can interfere with your hair and makeup, creating delays that snowball. 
• Keep all wedding-day details (rings, shoes, jewelry, stationery, keepsakes) together in one bag. This makes it easy for your photographer to grab them without interrupting your flow.
• Transportation deserves more attention than couples usually give it. Rideshares cancel. Traffic is unpredictable. Parking takes longer than you’d think. Even just locating your bouquet or touching up a lip before leaving the room can add minutes you didn’t anticipate. Planning travel with buffer time built in — and assuming you will hit a delay — is one of the simplest ways to stay calm
• Please don’t underestimate the small “life happens” moments. Someone will forget something. Someone will ask you a question. Someone will have a last-minute emotional spiral or need help with a button. An absolutely random thing will happen (it happens at every single wedding – hopefully yours will be something minor and easily solved, with time). This is all normal and human and doesn’t have to be stressful — as long as you’ve accounted for it. Allowing enough time for all the eventualities means you can actually enjoy your getting-ready time.

Protecting the timeline is about making space for real life to happen and be documented, without losing the time you paid for or the photographs you’re expecting.

For more about wedding photography timelines, I have two guides linked below depending on your wedding type:

Conclusion: a timeline that respects your experience

Weddings are big, emotional days, and the morning sets the tone for everything that follows. When the getting-ready process is rushed, the effects aren’t subtle. It creates tension, it steals time from the photo you invested so much in, and it forces your photographer to work reactively instead of intentionally.

But when the morning is thoughtfully planned, everything feels different. You move through the day with ease. You’re not fighting the clock. You’re not stressed about delays. You get the portraits you wanted, the family photos you envisioned, and the romantic portraits you’ll treasure for the rest of your life.

Most importantly, you get to be present rather than frantic.

You just need a plan that accounts for reality and respects the value of your time, your investment, and your memories.

If you want help shaping a timeline that actually works, I’m here for you. I’m invested in your whole experience, not just the parts I’m photographing. The way your wedding day unfolds shapes every photo that follows. You deserve a day that feels good from the very start, and the chance to actually enjoy every bit of it.

Zoe Larkin

I’m Zoe, a wedding photographer based in San Francisco! My style is candid, capturing authentic moments for my couples all over the Bay Area and Northern California. Creating content is my passion! Follow along on the blog, Instagram, TikTok & YouTube!

Zoe Larkin Photography