You Need a Good Wedding Day Timeline

A good wedding day timeline is crucial to avoid stress on your wedding day, but you may be wondering how to start! Unless you work in the wedding industry, chances are you’ve never had to deal with wedding timelines before. This is the case for most brides I work with! Creating your wedding day timeline may feel daunting at first, but I hope this article can calm your nerves a bit! 

I’m going to be walking you through a few sample timelines based on a variety of wedding scenarios, but before we begin I want to give two caveats. Firstly, I recommend you work alongside a planner or coordinator* to come up with your timeline. You don’t have to do this alone! If you haven’t hired one yet, I HIGHLY recommend you do so. They’re worth every penny to keep you from unnecessary stress on your wedding day! Secondly, I am a wedding photographer, not a planner. That means much of my advice concentrates around the photo-heavy portions of your day. Please check with each of your vendors to make sure each part of the timeline fits their needs!

*If you are getting married at a venue that offers “event management” (this is often at hotels and golf-courses), their services may not include full wedding timeline assistance. They may just be helping you with general ceremony and reception start and end times. You really need someone to help you nail down details such as when to finish hair and makeup, when to have a first-look, etc. A true wedding planner or coordinator will help with this!

Before the Ceremony

Your pre-ceremony timeline will consist of hair and makeup, any first looks you may choose to have, and potentially portraits. This portion of the day will be largely affected by whether or not you have a bride-groom first look. For the sake of simplicity, I am going to show you two sample timelines with an estimated ceremony time of 4 pm. If your own ceremony starts an hour or two before or after this, just adjust accordingly. 

Timeline With First Look

• 7:00 – hair and makeup services begin
• 1:00 – hair and makeup done; bridesmaid pajama/robe pictures
• 1:15 – bridesmaids and mother-of-bride get dressed
• 1:30 – bride gets in dress
• 1:30 – groom arrives dressed (a second photographer may photograph him “getting ready”)
• 1:45 – bridal prep photographs (zipping up the dress, putting on earrings)
• 2:15 – bride and groom first look
• 2:30 – bride and groom portraits
• 3:00 – wedding party photos
• 3:30 – bride hidden away from guests
• 4:00 – ceremony

Timeline Without First Look

• 8:00 – hair and makeup services begin
• 1:45 – hair and makeup done; bridesmaid pajama/robe pictures
• 2:00 – bridesmaids and mother-of-bride get dressed
• 2:15 – bride gets in dress
• 2:15 – groom arrives dressed (a second photographer may photograph him “getting ready”)
• 2:30 – bridal prep photographs (zipping up the dress, putting on earrings)
• 3:00 – bridesmaid portraits, or first touch
• 3:30 – bride hidden away from guests
• 4:00 – ceremony

Important factors to consider in your pre-ceremony timeline: 

• The amount of time for hair and makeup depends on your individual makeup artist, how many bridesmaids you have, and how many hair and makeup artists are included. You may find a vastly different start time than the one I listed here. My main point is, you need to start early! Please talk to your hair and makeup artist to craft the timeline that works for you. Also talk to your photographer about when hair and makeup needs to be done so that you have ample time for pre-ceremony pictures.
• If you’re interested in a father-daughter first look or a reveal with your bridesmaids, please schedule in about 15 minutes for each! I recommend doing these right after you get dressed and have taken your “bridal prep” pictures.
• You don’t technically have to have pre-ceremony portraits if you do a first look. However, I highly recommend them, as it will save you a lot of time after your ceremony. You might even get to enjoy part of your cocktail hour!
• Some couples ask to take family portraits before the ceremony. While immediate family portraits are fairly easy to schedule beforehand, extended family is tougher. Not all guests arrive early enough to be photographed before the ceremony, and if you’re missing even one family member you’ll need to round everyone up again after the ceremony. If you’d like any family photos before the ceremony, please add at least 20-45 minutes beforehand, depending on how many combinations you are requesting.

You can see that there are so many factors to consider when planning your pre-ceremony wedding timeline! For this reason, I meet with every couple about 6-8 weeks before the wedding to help them craft the photography portion of their timeline. No need to do this all on your own! 

One more big piece of advice: ADD BUFFER TIME! If you think a task will take 5 minutes, schedule 10-15. Things run behind, and you’ll be happier if you have a few extra minutes leftover rather than scrambling to get done!

Your Wedding Ceremony

The timing of your wedding ceremony largely depends upon the time of year, personal preference, or your church, if you’re using one. Many churches will have a set time they offer to hold your ceremony. If you’re getting married at a venue other than a church, you may have more flexibility. 

Some factors to keep in mind are sunset and dinner. After daylight savings ends in November, the sun goes down pretty early. If you’d like time for portraits after the ceremony, you’ll need to start early enough, possibly 3 or 3:30 pm. Summer weddings, on the other hand, can be much later. If you’re having an outdoor summer wedding, you may want a later ceremony time so that it’s not as hot. However, if you wait too long then your guests start getting hungry for dinner! You may consider a 5 pm start time so that guests are eating by 7 pm. 

Traditional Catholic ceremonies with mass may last an hour, while most other wedding ceremonies last no more than 30 minutes. Talk to your officiant about the length of your ceremony.

The Cocktail Hour

Generally cocktail hours are scheduled as just that–an hour. If your ceremony and reception are in the same location, you’ll just schedule one hour for it. However, if you and your guests have to travel to the reception venue, you will need to schedule in this travel time. Depending on how much time you need for portraits, you may still need to give your guests a full cocktail hour after travel time, so that you have time to take all your pictures. This may be your situation if you did not do a first look.

Generally while guests are at cocktail hour, the bride and groom will be taking portraits, for at least a large portion of the hour. While every photographer approaches the day differently, most commonly you’ll see this order: 1) family portraits, 2) remaining wedding party portraits, 3) bride & groom portraits. This order prioritizes your family finishing up and getting to settle with some food first, which is particularly helpful when you have elderly or very young family members. It also allows the wedding party to not be kept waiting around too long either!

The Reception Timeline

Your reception timeline will vary depending upon your personal preferences and the needs of your catering team. Here are a few common elements that couples build into their reception timeline:

• Wedding party and bride/groom introductions (5-10 minutes)
• First dance, parent dances (<5 each) (may take place after dinner as well)
• Welcome speech (< 5 minutes)
• Blessing (<5 minutes)
• Dinner (20-45 minutes; time varies based on buffet vs plated, number of guests)
• Toasts/speeches (~5 minutes each)
• Cake Cutting
• Dance floor (typically lasts about 2 hours, give or take your love of dancing!)
• Send-off (optional)

Putting It All Together

Alright, now that we’ve gone over all the elements to a wedding day timeline, I want to share a couple sample timelines with you: 

Full Timeline With First Look, Plated Dinner

• 7:00 – hair and makeup services begin
• 1:00 – hair and makeup done; bridesmaid pajama/robe pictures
• 1:15 – bridesmaids and mother-of-bride get dressed
• 1:30 – bride gets in dress
• 1:45 – bridal prep photographs (zipping up the dress, putting on earrings)
• 2:15 – bride and groom first look
• 2:30 – bride and groom portraits
• 3:00 – wedding party photos
• 3:30 – bride hidden away from guests
• 4:00 – ceremony
• 4:30 – cocktail hour begins; post-ceremony portraits
• 5:30 – guests are seated
• 5:40 – introductions
• 5:50 – first dance, parent dances
• 6:05 – welcome speech, blessing
• 6:15 – plated dinner begins
• 7:00 – toasts begin (~5 minutes per toast)
• 7:15 – cake cutting
• 7:20 – open dance floor begins
• 9:45 – sparkler send-off
• 10:00 – reception ends

Full Timeline Without First Look, Buffet Dinner

• 8:00 – hair and makeup services begin
• 1:45 – hair and makeup done; bridesmaid pajama/robe pictures
• 2:00 – bridesmaids and mother-of-bride get dressed
• 2:15 – bride gets in dress
• 2:30 – bridal prep photographs (zipping up the dress, putting on earrings)
• 3:00 – bridesmaid portraits, or first touch
• 3:30 – bride hidden away from guests
• 4:00 – ceremony
• 4:30 – cocktail hour begins; post-ceremony portraits
• 5:30 – guests are seated
• 5:40 – introductions
• 5:50 – first dance, parent dances
• 6:05 – welcome speech, blessing
• 6:15 – buffet dinner begins
• 6:40 – toasts (~5 minutes per toast)
• 6:55 – cake cutting
• 7:00 – open dance floor begins
• 8:45 – sparkler send-off
• 9:00 – reception ends

Well there you have it! Just to reiterate, I highly recommend working with a planner or coordinator to craft the timeline. You don’t have to do this alone! And of course please check with each of your vendors to make sure this aligns with their workflow. If you’re in North Carolina and in need of a wedding photographer, please reach out! I just know you’re going to have an amazing wedding, and I’d love to chat with you about capturing it!