i need opinions on day-of schedule

Thank you everyone for your recommendations and responses! We have talked together and with our families and we have decided to start our pictures before everyone gets there. We are going to have a reveal with just the two of us and then wedding party/family shots soon after. Thanks to everyone who responded as you really helped out stuff into perspective and I feel like a weight has been lifted!

I agree that she should try to do as much set up as possible before the wedding! Can she do a mock-up of a table a week before the wedding so she can give exact pictures to the staff and she can just check to make sure everything is correct?

I'd also think about doing a first look! You can get all of your pictures out of the way before the wedding which makes everything easier logistically You could still take more pictures of just the two of you during cocktail hour, but if you could finish family pictures before the ceremony that would make everything easier! Also if you do a first look you could ask the wedding party help your mom with the table setup during cocktail hour to speed everything up.

The Pros and Cons of Doing a First Look

Because the tables will be moved around your best bet is to have your mom set-up the centerpieces first thing that day - before hair and make-up. Arrange with the staff to have her set them all up on an empty table in the corner. When they move the tables in place, their staff can set them out.

Our caterer told us to have our centerpieces and everything on the bare tables when they showed up. His staff would then know what it was supposed to look like and would move stuff to set up linens and place settings and then just put the centerpieces back in place. Maybe your mum could do something like that? I know for our photos we just wrangled each group together for photos and then they could go back to socializing.

You can ask your dad or both sets of parents to help your mom set up the tables and ce terpieces while you and your bridesmaids and groomsmen are doing the wedding photos for an hour, during the last 30 minutes of cocktail hour, have the parents join you just for bride + groom plus parent photos

Mine is all in the same place as well, except we should have some space for a dance floor. In terms of photos, I made a wedding arch just for pictures that will be just outside of the reception hall, which is also where the cocktail hour will take place.

Could she go ahead of time, like before the ceremony? If not, your suggestion of setting one up as an example for them to then replicate sounds like the best plan.