Wedding Day Timeline

Will you do photos beforehand? what entertainment are you having? heres a general thing you could do

hair and make up - 10 am
photos - 12:30 pm

travel to ceremony - 2pm

ceremony - 3pm

family photos at ceremony location - 3:45 pm

cocktail hour - 5 pm

entrances - 5:50 pm

reception - 6 pm

speeches - 6:15 pm

first dance 6:45 pm

dinner - 7 pm

mom and son dance - 8pm

dad and daughter dance - 8:10 pm

bouquet toss - 8:15 pm

entertainment (ie dancers etc) 8:20 pm

garter toss 8:40 pm

cake cutting 8:55 pm

party - 9 pm

Work backwards from your ceremony is honestly the best thing to do.
If you have booked a photographer, ask them for some help as they are the ones who will have a great idea for how long they need for pictures.

My photographer pretty much did our timeline for us and we tweaked a couple things!

Make sure when planning to give yourself travel time between locations, and some buffer time so you aren't stressed if you run late

My ceremony is at 3pm as well, and our dinner starts at 6:30pm (Cocktail hour is at 5:30pm).

We have to be out of the room by 1am so I worked from those figures.

So my timeline looks like this:

8am - start hair and makeup (everyone is coming to us in the bridal suite)

1:30pm - finished with hair and makeup, eat, get dresses on

2pm - photographer arrives for getting ready photos

2:30pm - guests start to arrive

3pm - ceremony start

3:30pm - ceremony end

3:30pm-5:30pm - photos

5:30pm - cocktail hour

5:45pm - grand entrance

6:30pm - dinner served

8pm - speeches

8:30pm - cake cutting, followed by first dance, parent dances

9:00pm (latest) - dancefloor opens up

12:30am - last call, FH and I will leave around this time

1am - tear down

I just worked backwards with specific things that were planned.

I knew I wanted the dance floor to open by 9pm or latest 9:30pm

I knew I wanted dinner to start at 7pm

I knew our cocktail hour started at 5:30pm

I knew our ceremony was 1-2pm

I knew each person needed 1 hour for hair and 1 hour for makeup.

After figuring all that out, it was easy to make a timeline.

I agree, talk to your photographer. Once I found out how long he wanted for photos of us vs our family portraits (both at 2 different locations), I was able to put in my 100% not movable times (makeup, hair, ceremony) then worked with in that. Not going to lie, I did at least 4 different versions until I was happy with it. Also expect to run late anyway, my Dj was saying hiccups will happen and to prepare for at least a 30 min delay at some point.

Good luck!

Creating a wedding day schedule is the same as your day planner with consideration.

Think about how long each task will take based on your events.

Getting ready

Hair/Make up

Photos with family, bridal party and first look (if doing)

Ceremony

Cocktail hour

Reception

First Dance

Father/Daughter Dance

Cake cutting (if doing)

Dinner