How to Create your Wedding Day Timeline

Your wedding day timeline is one of the most important factors in your wedding planning process. Every vendor that you work with will want to have this information. They start off asking in your original meeting when your ceremony and reception is going to be but by about a month prior to your wedding they will want to know every single detail in your timeline.

 

So, how do you create your wedding day timeline?

 

My favorite method is to first figure out when you want your ceremony to start. Why do I have you start by figuring out when the ceremony starts and not when you want to wake up? Because this is your most important milestone! You literally can not get married without the ceremony. Once we know when your ceremony is going to be we can figure out the rest of your day using basic math and knowing how long certain parts of your day take.

 

Let’s start off by working backwards from your ceremony start time. First, you are going to want your entire wedding party (Bride, Groom, Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, Officiant, parents of the bride and groom, flower girls, and ring bearers) at the venue at least 30 minutes prior to your ceremony time. This gives you time to hide/get in place prior to your guests showing up. If you or anyone in your wedding party is known for being late, be sure to get to the venue an hour before your ceremony start time.

 

So let’s say your wedding ceremony starts at 5:00 PM.

You are going to want to arrive at the venue between 4 and 4:30 PM.

 

Next, I am going to take you through some questions to figure out what other events you will need to schedule in prior to your ceremony start time.

Are you having a first Look? Do you want any bridal party portraits? Do you want getting ready photos?

If you said yes to the above, here are some helpful tips to creating your timeline. First Looks typically take about 45 minutes to an hour for the best photos. These are typically taken along with any bridal party portraits that you will have. If you are planning on having photos with your bridesmaids and/or groomsmen these will take another 30 minutes. If you want getting ready photos add another 30 min for one photographer and 15 minutes if you have 2 photographers. Your timeline should look something like this so far:

2:15 PM- Getting Ready and Detail Photos

2:35 PM- head to First Look Location

2:45 PM- First Look

3:30 PM- Bridal Party Portraits

4:00 PM- head to venue

4:30 PM- Guests arrive

4:45 PM- Line Up for Processional

5:00 PM- Ceremony Starts

 

One thing that I like to tell my couples is if they are planning on any detail or getting ready photos that they need to be prepared for when the photographer arrives. This means that prior to the photographer arriving they need to clean up the room a bit, put the dress on a nice hangar, and pile up detail items like shoes, perfume, vows, rings, jewelry, and your wedding invitation suite so that the photographer can easily access them and take photos.

Are you having your hair and makeup done?

Bridal hair and makeup takes about 1 hour and a half to complete. For every bridesmaid getting hair done add 30 minutes and for every bridesmaid getting makeup done add 15 minutes. IF your bridesmaids are getting both hair and makeup done, you guessed it put 45 minutes. I also suggest scheduling your photographer to arrive only 15 min prior to your hair and makeup artist finishing for your “getting ready” photos.

 

PROTIP: Getting Ready photos are staged! You want to make sure that you look good for ALL of your wedding photos so why would you want the photographer to take photos of you not already completely ready save for maybe some lipstick?

 

Let’s say that you have 5 bridesmaids getting hair and makeup done with 2 hair and makeup professionals, you are planning on having getting ready photos and the ceremony starts at 5 pm.

 

This is what your wedding day timeline should look like so far:

10:30 AM- Bridesmaid 1- Hair; Bridesmaid 2 Makeup

11:00 AM- Bridesmaid 3- Hair; Bridesmaid 4- Makeup

11:30 AM- Bridesmaid 4- Hair; Bridesmaid 5- Makeup

12:00 PM- Bridesmaid 5- Hair; Bridesmaid 1- Makeup

12:30 PM- Bride- Hair; Bridesmaid 3- Makeup

1:30 PM- Bridesmaid 2- Hair; Bride- Makeup

1:45 PM- Clean room, pile up detail items, put dress on hanger

2:00 PM- Photographer Arrives, Everyone is ready

2:15 PM- Getting Ready and Detail Photos

2:35 PM- head to First Look Location

2:45 PM- First Look

3:30 PM- Bridal Party Portraits

4:00 PM- head to venue

4:30 PM- Guests arrive

4:45 PM- Line Up for Processional

5:00 PM- Ceremony Starts

 

Now let’s focus on what happens AFTER your ceremony.

If your ceremony starts at 5pm, when does it end?

This depends on the type of ceremony that you are having. Typically for all nondenominational, civil, same sex, non-religious ceremonies they take about 30 minutes. If you are planning a religious ceremony like in a catholic church or full jewish ceremony, expect an hour. This includes the processional, ceremony and recessional.

 

Are you having a cocktail hour? Add an hour 😉

After cocktail hour what events are you planning before dinner?

Introductions? Add 15 min. First Dance? Add 5 min. Parent Dances? 5 min per dance. Speeches? Typically speeches are about 5 min per person (give or take). Blessing? Add another 5 min. These can happen before or after dinner. Feel free to choose when you add them!

 

Let’s say you are having a non-religious wedding ceremony, a cocktail hour and your reception will start out with Introductions, a Fist Dance, a Blessing and Speeches by your Maid of Honor and Best Man but you are saving the parent dances till the end. This is what your wedding day timeline would look like:

 

5:00 PM- Ceremony

5:30 PM- Cocktail Hour

6:30 PM- Usher guests to seats

6:40 PM- Introductions

6:45 PM- First Dance

6:50 PM- Speech by Best Man

6:55 PM- Speech by Maid of Honor

7:00 PM- Blessing

7:05 PM- Dinner

 

What’s for dinner?

Are you planning a buffet? Most weddings take about an hour for dinner. If you are having a buffet for over 100 guests, add about 20 mins for every additional 50 guests to compensate for the extra time it’ll take to go through the line to get food. If you are having a full course meal that is served, I’d estimate about 2 hours for dinner.

After Dinner Events

I like to have the parent dances after dinner because this is a great way to get the party started for your guests, making it a smooth transition for them to get out of their seats and joining you on the dance floor. Once you do your parent dances, I suggest opening up the dance floor and waiting at least 30 minutes to start in on other events. By staggering your events like this, I have found that it allows your guests to feel more comfortable dancing and gives them set times for breaks instead of the ebb and flow of the dance floor that happens naturally.

For the events after the parent dances here is the times you should add

Cake Cutting: Add 15 min (be sure to warn your photographer of when this is happening)

Bouquet Toss: 5 min

Garter Removal: 5 min

Garter Toss: 5 min

Shoe Game: 10 min

Anniversary Dance: 5 min

Dollar Dance: 5 min

 

PROTIP: I always make the songs 5 minutes even if it’s a short 1.30 min song because of the time it can take to get you onto the dance floor and off. If it’s under, GREAT! You can use that extra time for other things.

 

What are you ending your night with?

Sparklers take about 15 min to get your guests outside and sparkler in hand. Same with bubbles or anything that your guests need to throw. Be sure if you don’t have a Day of Coordinator to have someone you trust not to get drunk throughout the night be responsible for handing out the items and getting your guests to line up. Bonus points if this person can get super loud and enjoys dealing with drunk people! If I can be real for one second, having a Day of Coordinator is a lifesaver saver! You should definitely consider one if you don’t want to have a watch on you, if you want to enjoy your night, and if you want everything to go smoothly. If you’re ending with a last song, have it set for 5 min before your reception ends. It’ll give the DJ/Band some wiggle room if one of the songs runs long.

 

Your Final Wedding Day Timeline Should Look Like This:

10:30 AM- Bridesmaid 1- Hair; Bridesmaid 2 Makeup

11:00 AM- Bridesmaid 3- Hair; Bridesmaid 4- Makeup

11:30 AM- Bridesmaid 4- Hair; Bridesmaid 5- Makeup

12:00 PM- Bridesmaid 5- Hair; Bridesmaid 1- Makeup

12:30 PM- Bride- Hair; Bridesmaid 3- Makeup

1:30 PM- Bridesmaid 2- Hair; Bride- Makeup

1:45 PM- Clean room, pile up detail items, put dress on hanger

2:00 PM- Photographer Arrives, Everyone is ready

2:15 PM- Getting Ready and Detail Photos

2:35 PM- head to First Look Location

2:45 PM- First Look

3:00 PM- Vendors to Arrive for Set up at Venue

3:30 PM- Bridal Party Portraits

4:00 PM- head to venue

4:30 PM- Guests arrive

4:45 PM- Line Up for Processional

5:00 PM- Ceremony Starts

5:30 PM- Cocktail Hour

6:30 PM- Usher guests to seats

6:40 PM- Introductions

6:45 PM- First Dance

6:50 PM- Speech by Best Man

6:55 PM- Speech by Maid of Honor

7:00 PM- Blessing

7:05 PM- Buffet Dinner

8:00 PM- Mother/Son Dance

8:05 PM- Father/Daughter Dance

8:10 PM- Open Dance Floor

8:45 PM- Cake Cutting

8:50 PM- Dollar Dance

8:55 PM- Open Dance Floor

9:30 PM- Bouquet Toss

9:35 PM- Garter Removal/Toss

9:40 PM- Open Dance Floor

10:45 PM- Usher Guests out for Sparkler Exit

11:00 PM- END Reception/ Start Breakdown

12:00 PM- End of Venue Contract

 

I truly hope this helps you figure out your Wedding Day Timeline! Best of Luck to you all! And if you get the chance to be sure to download our EventSlayer App as it’ll help you plan your wedding! 

Need more help planning your wedding? Be sure to check out our blog on How to Plan a Wedding.