How to Create Your Own Wedding Timeline
Hello and happy planning! Let’s talk about the wedding day holy-grail, the beacon in the night, the vendor’s bible - of course, we are talking about nothing other than THE WEDDING DAY TIMELINE! Having a clearly laid out, realistic, and accurate timeline is key to ensuring your day flows as planned.
Note: The following timeline sample timeline is only intended to exemplify a potential flow of a wedding day. When we create timelines, they are formatted in a much more comprehensive format that allows for more details and easier access to information. We create custom timelines for all of our couples! If you are one of ours, we got you :)
General Organization & Getting Started
I typically divide my timeline’s into a few sections:
A section at the very top outlining key locations and information
Vendor arrival time (w/ contact info & contracted service start time)
Getting ready
Pre-ceremony (guest arrival) & Ceremony
Cocktail hour
Reception
After I have the general sections of my timeline carved out, it is time to begin filling in details.
First thing is first, I always say that almost everything in the timeline is as flexible or inflexible as you’d like them to be (with a solid team of vendors and a punctual group of guests, of course), but there are three things in the day that aren’t particularly flexible: the time dinner is ready, a firm “out” time from your venue, and the sunset. Of course, with enough notice, the kitchen can slow dinner to a point and some venues may be willing to add on extra time at the end of the night, though it’s more common for venue contracts to include firm “out” times with hefty fines should the contracted end time be surpassed. The sunset, however, waits for no one.
With that in mind, I begin my timelines by Googling the sunset for the date and location in question. That goes into my timeline first. From there, I add in my “vendor access” time and “vendor out” time. If the venue has specified actual event start and end times, then I will fill those in next.
Key Information Section
At the top of the timeline it is important to include the most basic, most pivotal information for you, your family, and your vendors!
Make sure the following information is prominently displayed:
Getting ready locations (for both you and your fiance) including hotel name & address
Reception & Ceremony locations (list separately if not the same venue!!). Make sure to list venue names & addresses!
Coordination team contact information & venue liaison contact information is also super important to place right at the top of the timeline document for easy access to vendors should they have any issues finding the venue, parking, or locating the load-in area!
Bonus: Whenever I create a timeline I always include a “snapshot” of the huge details at the very top of the timeline. This will include:
Guest arrival time
Ceremony start time
Cocktail hour start time
Dinner served time
Reception end time
Vendor out time
This is beneficial for you to keep in mind these key times, and also makes the times easier to reference for vendors.
After the “Key Information” is clearly laid out at the top of your timeline document, you can begin filling in the rest.
Vendor Arrival Section
The first section I include in my timeline is entirely dedicated to vendor arrival times. Although most of this happens simultaneously to the getting ready activities, but I like to clearly list it in its own section so vendors don’t get confused by all of the details that specifically pertain to your getting ready process and vice versa.
Vendor arrival times can typically be found on contracts OR simply ask your vendors what time they plan to arrive based on their service start time! Mine might looks something like this:
Vendor Arrival Timeline Example
11am Vendor access to venue begins
11am Coordinator arrives at venue
11am Hair & makeup arrives to begin setting up
11am Rental company arrives to drop off & set up rentals
12pm Florist arrives to begin setting up
1pm Photographer arrives to take getting ready pictures
2pm Caterer arrives to begin setting up
2pm DJ arrives to begin setting up
2:30pm Bartender arrives to begin setting up
2:30pm Shuttle arrives at hotel to pick up groom & groomsmen
4pm Officiant arrives for sound check w/ DJ
Getting Ready Section
From there, I typically skip to the end of the “Getting Ready” section and work backwards. For example, if guests are arriving at 4pm, I would skip ahead to the end of “Getting Ready” and fill in whatever you will be doing at the time and then work backwards through the day until I figure out what time the hair and makeup team should arrive. When I’m done, it might look something like this:
Getting Ready Timeline Example
11am Bridesmaids arrive at venue to get settled in bridal suite
11am Hair & makeup team arrives to set up
11:15am Bridesmaids hair and makeup started
11:30am Bride eats early lunch
12pm Bride hair and makeup started
2pm Bride finishing touches on hair and makeup
2:30pm Bride dress goes on
2:45pm Bridesmaids photos
2:45pm Groom & groomsmen in shuttle on the way to venue
3:15pm Groom & groomsmen arrive at venue
3:30pm First look w/ bride & groom
3:50pm Bride hidden away in bridal suite w/ bridesmaids for guest arrival at 4pm
3:50pm Groomsmen photos
Pre-Ceremony & Ceremony
From there we move to the “Pre-ceremony/Ceremony” section. This is fairly simple. Start with whatever time you put on your invites (I recommend listing the invite time as 30 minutes prior to your ceremony start time). Make sure to confirm with your officiant the estimated ceremony length. They will have practiced several times and should have a fairly accurate estimate. My timeline might look something like this:
Ceremony Timeline Example
4pm Guests begin arriving / Pre-ceremony music playing / water station open
4:25pm Guests asked to take their seats for ceremony
4:25pm Bridal party lined up for processional
4:30pm Processional Begins
5pm Ceremony Concludes
5pm Couple recesses to bridal suite to take 15 minutes to process ceremony
Cocktail Hour Section
From there, we move to cocktail hour. Be sure to confirm with your catering and bar team their start times and service plans. The cocktail hour section is typically straight forward as well. Mine might look something like this:
Cocktail Hour Timeline Example
5pm Cocktail hour begins
5pm Bar opens
5pm Appetizers served
5pm Lawn games open to guests
5:15pm Officiant, witnesses, & photographer join couple to sign marriage license
5:30pm Family photos
5:50pm Group photos of bridal party
5:55pm Guests asked to take their seats in reception area
Reception Section
That brings us to the reception portion of your timeline. These can very greatly, so before we get to my example, I’ll give you some insight into why I make some of the suggestions I do to so many of my couples:
Pro-tip #1: When guests are initially asked to take their seats for the reception, they have a tendency to make a mass bee-line for the bar instead. Have the announcement made 5 minutes early and plan the next activity 10 minutes after the “official” start of the reception.
Pro-tip #2: If you are planning on doing a grand entrance and involving your bridal party in it, make a clear plan of where they will stand/sit after the entrance. This is especially important if you are going straight into your first dance after. Typically the bridal party will stand around the dance floor out of the way of photos and other guests’ view to watch the first dance and avoid distraction by all attempting to find their seats in the midst of an important moment.
Pro-tip #3: Whether you are eating a plated dinner or going through a buffet, make sure to be the first to eat (most catering, coordination, and venue teams will make sure this happens anyway!). This way you have a chance to eat before you jump into the next round of activities.
Pro-tip #4: If you plan to do table photos, expect to spend about 3-7 minutes at each table. It doesn’t sound like a ton of time, but if you multiply the ladder by 15 tables you’ve suddenly spent almost 2 hours of your night taking table photos!
Pro-tip #5: We typically average toasts out to ~5 minutes each, but take that with a MASSIVE grain of salt. You know your friends! If they are long winded, give them a maximum amount of speaking time and schedule extra time anyway! If your loved ones tend to be on the shy side, plan on 5 minutes anyway! It is better to have extra time baked in than find yourself behind schedule!
Pro-tip #6: Sunset WILL NOT wait. Golden hour starts about an hour before true sunset and lasts about 5-10 minutes after depending on the weather and your location. Take your venue into consideration, though! If you are planning a wedding in the mountains, the sun has a tendency to slip behind them way before true sunset and you’ll need to start your photos earlier!
Pro-tip #7: Cake cutting is fun and people want to see it. If anyone is planning on leaving early though, they will usually wait for dessert. For that reason, you don’t want to schedule it too early, but you also don’t want to schedule it so late that anyone becomes uncomfortable while trying to be polite.
Pro-tip #8: Cake cutting can pull people’s attention from the dance floor. Bring energy back to the dance floor by immediately following it with the bouquet & garter toss, or if you’re skipping those activities, planning a fun upbeat song to follow the cake cutting and running back out to the dance floor yourself!
Reception Timeline Example
6:10pm Grand entrance
6:15pm First dance
6:20pm Bride and groom served plated dinner from caterer before buffet opens
6:30pm Buffet open, DJ releases tables
6:45pm Bride and groom take pictures with each of the tables
7:15pm Toasts (4 toasts)
7:35pm Father/bride dance
7:40pm Groom/mom dance
7:45pm Open dance floor
7:45pm Couple leaves for sunset photos
8:17pm SUNSET
8:30pm Couple returns from sunset photos
8:45pm Cake cutting
8:50pm Bouquet toss
8:55pm Garter toss
9pm Dessert bar open
9pm Open dancing until the end of the night
10pm Music off
10pm Rentals return to collect items
11pm Vendors out
If you have any questions or need guidance on creating your own timeline, feel free to reach out! I’d love to help you! Happy planning!