How to create a wedding day timeline
Build a running order for your wedding day: start from the fixed points, work back for the morning, add buffers and share it. With three example schedules.
A wedding day runs on a timetable whether or not anyone writes it down. Writing it down means the timetable is yours, rather than something that happens to you, and it lets everyone else (suppliers, venue staff, your wedding party) quietly keep things moving while you enjoy the day.
This guide shows how to build a running order from scratch. The example schedules further down are examples only: every venue, ceremony type and season is different, so use them as a starting point and check timings with your venue and suppliers.
Step 1: Find your fixed points
Some times are set by other people, and everything else gets arranged around them. List yours first:
- The ceremony time. This is usually agreed with your registrar, celebrant or church, and it's the hardest time to move. Registrars in particular often have several ceremonies in a day, so they'll need to arrive and leave on time.
- Venue access and finish times: when you, your guests and your suppliers can arrive, and when music has to stop and the building has to be empty.
- When food is served. Kitchens work to a schedule, and a meal that's delayed by half an hour is a meal that's not at its best.
- Sunset, if you want outdoor photos in daylight or golden-hour portraits. In London, the sun sets before 4pm in mid-December and after 9pm in late June, and later still further north, so check the time for your date and location.
- Suppliers' hours: how long your photographer, videographer, band or DJ are booked for.
- Travel time, if the ceremony and reception are in different places. Check the route at the same time of day and day of the week.
Step 2: Work backwards for the morning
The morning is where timelines most often slip, usually because hair and makeup run long. Start from the time you need to leave, or to be ready if you're getting married where you're getting ready, and work backwards:
- Leave a buffer of 20 to 30 minutes before you need to go. Something will take longer than planned.
- Getting dressed: allow longer than you think, especially for anything with buttons, lacing or a veil, and for photos of it happening.
- Hair and makeup: ask your artists how long they need for each person, then add it all up. Many allow somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour for each look, and longer for the person getting married. If several people are having it done, the start time can be very early.
- Photographer arrival, if they're covering preparations: usually an hour or two before you leave.
- Breakfast, which everyone getting ready should actually eat.
Step 3: Work forwards from the ceremony, with buffers
After the ceremony, each part of the day takes a little longer than it seems it should:
- Guests leaving the ceremony and moving to drinks takes 10 to 20 minutes, longer with confetti, congratulations and a receiving line.
- Group photos go faster with a list and a helper who knows the families. Keep the list short, plan the order (largest group first lets people leave), and allow a few minutes per group.
- Drinks reception: often an hour and a half to two hours. This is the main buffer of the day, and where couple portraits usually happen.
- The meal: three courses with speeches can easily take two and a half hours. The guide to the wedding breakfast has more on how the afternoon usually runs.
- Speeches: five to ten minutes each is a good aim. Decide whether they're before, during or after the meal, and tell the kitchen. See drinks and toasts.
- Turning the room around from dinner to evening: often 30 to 60 minutes, while guests move to another space.
Step 4: Fill in the evening
Evening guests usually arrive once the room has been turned around. Then: cutting the cake, the first dance if you're having one, music, evening food (usually a couple of hours after evening guests arrive), last orders and carriages. Agree with your band or DJ when breaks happen, and make sure evening food doesn't clash with a set.
Example schedules
These are three quite different days, to show how the shape changes. Adjust everything to your venue, suppliers and season.
Example 1: a 1pm ceremony and reception at the same venue
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 7.30am | Hair and makeup starts for the wedding party |
| 10.30am | Photographer arrives for preparations |
| 11.45am | Getting dressed |
| 12.15pm | Guests start arriving; ushers direct them to the ceremony room |
| 12.30pm | Registrars meet the couple (often separately) to check details |
| 1.00pm | Ceremony (around 20 to 30 minutes for a civil ceremony) |
| 1.30pm | Confetti, then drinks reception and canapés |
| 1.45pm | Group photos, then couple portraits |
| 3.15pm | Guests called to find their seats |
| 3.30pm | Wedding breakfast |
| 5.30pm | Speeches |
| 6.00pm | Room turnaround; guests move to the bar or garden |
| 7.00pm | Evening guests arrive |
| 7.30pm | Cake cutting and first dance |
| 9.00pm | Evening food |
| 11.30pm | Last orders and last song |
| Midnight | Carriages |
Example 2: a church ceremony with a reception elsewhere
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 11.30am | Guests arrive at the church |
| 12.00pm | Ceremony (often 45 minutes to an hour with hymns and readings) |
| 1.00pm | Photos outside the church, then guests travel to the reception |
| 1.45pm | Couple arrives at the reception venue after a short portrait stop |
| 2.00pm | Drinks reception (the first guests have been waiting since about 1.30pm) |
| 3.45pm | Wedding breakfast, with speeches before the meal |
| 6.30pm | Room turnaround |
| 7.30pm | Evening guests arrive; first dance |
| 9.30pm | Evening food |
| 11.45pm | Carriages |
When there's travel in the middle of the day, plan for the slowest car, not the fastest. Make sure guests know where to go and where to park, and give the venue a realistic arrival time so drinks are ready.
Example 3: a small register office wedding and lunch
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 10.15am | Arrive at the register office with your two witnesses and guests |
| 10.30am | Ceremony (often around 15 to 20 minutes) |
| 10.50am | Photos outside, or at a nearby park |
| 12.00pm | Lunch for 20 at a restaurant, in a private room |
| 2.00pm | Speeches and cake over coffee |
| 3.00pm | Done, or on to the pub |
Small weddings still benefit from a timeline. Register office slots are tightly scheduled, so arrive early, and agree with the restaurant when food will be served and how long you have the room.
Step 5: Share it with the right people
A timeline only works if the people running the day have it. Make two versions:
- The full version, with supplier arrival times, contact numbers, who's responsible for each moment and the list of group photos. This goes to your venue coordinator, photographer, wedding party and one trusted "go-to" person who isn't you.
- The guest version, with just the ceremony time, roughly when food is, and when it finishes. Put it on your invitation, website or a sign at the venue.
Send the full version to every supplier about two weeks before the day, and ask them to confirm their timings in writing. The checklist has a reminder in the final month.
Common pinch points
- Hair and makeup running late. Build in a buffer, and schedule the person getting married early in the order rather than last.
- Group photos dragging on. Keep the list short, and give a family member the job of gathering people.
- Guests getting hungry. If the drinks reception is long, make sure there's plenty of food.
- Speeches overrunning. Brief every speaker on their time slot.
- No time for the two of you. Schedule ten minutes alone after the ceremony, and a few minutes at golden hour. It won't happen unless it's on the timeline.
