3 Tips For Planning Your Wedding Day Timeline in Toronto (Logistics and Driving)
Planning your wedding day timeline in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) can be a little difficult, but implementing these tips when planning the timeline can avoid undue stress for you, your partner, family and friends!
1.Plan Double The Time For Driving
When most people look at drive time for travelling to different locations and venues during the day, they forget about the time that it takes to get to and from the car or vehicle.
Ex: Let’s say you are a bride getting ready at a hotel room, and you are leaving that location to go for your first look/portraits.
Most people do not factor in the amount of time that it takes from getting out of the hotel room, going to the elevator or stairs, going down the elevator into the lobby, then out into the car/limo, etc. Sometimes this could take 10-15 minutes depending on the location. That 15 minute drive to your portrait location just turned into 25-30 minutes. Now you are 10-15 minutes behind. If this happens a couple times throughout the day, you could end up over an hour behind schedule.
2. Check Construction Plans and Routes
Oh Toronto and construction season! Wedding season and construction season often coincide with each other, so it’s important to factor this into your timeline too. A great website that shows the affected construction zone areas in Toronto, would be the Infrastructure Viewer. You can choose specific years, type of construction (transportation services, Toronto Transit Commission, etc). Here’s the website link for you to use:
Planning alternate routes, or being aware of construction plans can alleviate big headaches on your wedding day :)
Another tip is to map out your routes using google maps, and also map it at the time that you would typically be travelling. If you are driving to a location at noon for portraits, and you are using google maps at 9pm, it won’t show a true picture of how long the trip will take. Toronto traffic at noon is usually congested, whereas 9pm is a little more manageable.
Google maps is my preferred tool for routing:
3.Check Parking Availability
Parking, ohhh parking!! This is a big thing to consider when selecting venues for the ceremony, portraits and the reception. Many downtown locations that I have been to for weddings don’t have parking available, and you need to find either Green P city parking lots, or other private commercial lots. Sometimes there is street parking available, but usually it is very limited. On several streets downtown, there’s often no street parking available at all.
If you do opt for street parking or a Green P location, download the Green P app, so you can pay via your phone and don’t have to worry about carrying cash or putting your credit card into a machine. https://mobilepay.greenp.com/
During the evenings, you can often get deals at commercial parking lots but it depends on where you are downtown. Friends and family may have to park a 5-10 minute walk away depending on availability, so this is something to be aware of. Parking costs can range from a couple dollars per hour , up to $5 or $6, sometimes more!
If you are having your wedding at a hotel, sometimes they have parking available or can give you a rate… but it’s not guaranteed.
Usually when you get further north, parking becomes less of a headache...however it all depends on the area.
If you like this resource, please share it with a friend who is planning their wedding in the Greater Toronto Area!