Wedding Timelines

I started creating the wedding schedule for 1pm ahead of the ceremony time for the photos of all the outfits/suits/accessories/etc. to get done and 1 hour each for grooms with families getting ready shots along with the wedding party. The ceremony itself was followed with group shots and a family photo of both families and my side. Cocktail hour started at 5pm as reception was for 6pm start.

Our current time line is this:

4pm ceremony

430pm photos with immediate family and bridal party and cocktail hour for other guests

530pm reception doors open

6pm bridal party entrance and first dance

630pm dinner

730 speeches and thank yous

8pm cake cutting

830pm party starts!

Hello Malyssa,
First off, I love the spelling of your name. Never seen it spent that way! Cool!!

This is the wedding timeline we put together for our wedding. Since our ceremony started at 4pm. https://pin.it/2erXv4P
Also, we had a day of wedding timeline to assist with everything until the ceremony. https://pin.it/3G6zvGF

I only have myself and a maid of honour so getting ready isn't too long. My maid of honour is very gifted at doing her own hair and makeup so she can do hers while mine is getting done. My mother will get hair and makeup. My daughter will have her hair done and mother in law wants her hair done.
8:30 breakfast in room (continnental so we can eat while getting ready as well)
9-11:30 hair and makeup
11:30 drive to first look12-2 first look, family and bridal party pictures2:00 drive to chapel for wedding2:30 guests arrive2:45 ceremony3:30 pictures with guests outside chapel4:00 head to venue (hopefully have time to stop at my work to see residents for 15 minutes)4:30 cocktail hour6:15 dinner After dinner cake cuttingFirst dance to start (hopefully dancing)10:30 late night buffet12:30 we are done!

Here's what we did last September:

9am - 1pm: Bridesmaids get ready, Groomsmen setup

1pm - 2pm: Lunch

2pm - 3pm: Change

3pm - 4pm: Tea Ceremony (Chinese family tradition)

4pm - 5pm: Change into wedding outfit

5pm - Guests arrive

5:30pm - 6pm: Wedding Ceremony

6pm - 6:30pm: Photos with guests

6:30pm - 7:30pm: Cocktail hour/Bridal Photo session

7:30pm - 11:30pm: Reception/Dinner/Games (we didn't have a dance party)

For us, sundown happened closer to 8pm so figuring out when that is where you are will likely help you work backwards, especially if your ceremony is outdoors.

Here's a screenshot of what ours was. You can't see the whole right side for some reason lol - cocktail hour started at 6:15. Dinner started at 7:30. You could easily shift this if it's too late for you.

View quoted message Glad to help! I'd definitely recommend reaching out to your photographer to see how much time they would like for the photos! That was a huge help for me!

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Thanks Liberty! This is very helpful as those are the order of how I want to handle things too, just trying to come up with the right timing.

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OOoof I feel this one. hahah I don't want folks to get hangry but also want to ensure we get all the photos we want, ect. Ceremony wouldn't be long but also want to capture as much sunlight as possible (being an October wedding)

All we have so far is the ceremony is at 3 dinner for 530/6 ! It's a very laid back wedding though we have no time limit when we want to end which is nice!

Timeline has been the hardest part of planning my wedding!!! Lol I don’t know why.. but I just don’t know how long we will need between each event but I’ve come up with a basic one for now
We are not doing a first look which I feel makes it so everything has to be rushed but my fiancé did not want to do one so I compromised!

3:00PM WE DO!

3:40pm FAMILY/WEDDING PARTY PORTRAITS

4:00PM- 5:30PM COCKTAIL HOUR

6:00PM WE DINE

6:00PM - 7:00PM SPEECH’S & TOAST’S

8:00PM - 1:00AM WE DANCE

Then somewhere between 6:45 and 7 we need to do sunset photos 🤷🏼‍♀️We are doing the speeches staggered through dinner so guests don’t have to wait to eat.

Our timeline will be something like this

3:30-5:30 Pictures

6:30- Ceremony

7:30 - Dinner

I keep going back and forth on whether or not the 6:30 PM ceremony is too late, but I also don't want a gap between the ceremony and the dinner for us to do pictures and I don't want to do pictures too early in the afternoon.

So far our timeline looks like:

1:30-2:30 first look
2:30-3:30- bridal party photos
4pm- Ceremony4:30-5:30- Family Pictures5pm- reception doors open6pm- bridal party entrance 6:05- first dance 6:15- dinner service starts 6:45- speeches start (after last table has food)7:15- cake cutting/dessert (once speeches are done)
Hope that helps a bit!

So far my fiance and I have chosen we will have our ceremony at 330pm 5pm cocktails and 6pm dinner