Wedding day timeline builder
Your wedding day timeline, hour by hour.
Tell us when you’re saying your vows and when the sun goes down. We’ll sketch the whole day around them, from the first cup of coffee to the send-off, with room to breathe and twenty minutes of golden light kept for the two of you.
· 30 min
Wake slowly, then breakfast
Half an hour that belongs to nobody. Eat something with protein before anyone picks up a hairbrush.
Read: The Morning Of: Letting the First Hours Breathe →· 150 min
Hair and makeup begin
Wedding party first, you last. This block already includes a thirty-minute buffer, because it always runs long.
· 45 min
Photographer arrives
Details first (rings, invitations, flowers), then candid getting-ready moments by the window.
· 25 min
Get dressed, read the letters
Only the people you want in the room. Ten quiet minutes before you step outside.
· 20 min
First look
Somewhere enclosed and softly lit, with fifteen or twenty steps of path. Then stay a while.
Read: A First Look Like a Film →· 40 min
Couple portraits
While you're both still glowing, and before the light gets busy.
· 30 min
Wedding party and immediate family photos
Everyone who'll be in the ceremony, dressed and ready. Leave the wider family for later.
· 30 min
Guests arrive, you're tucked away
Prelude music, ushers seating family at the front, phones away. You, out of sight with a glass of water.
· 30 min
Ceremony
Processional, welcome, a reading, vows, rings, the kiss and the walk back up the aisle.
Read: The Ceremony, Minute by Minute →· 60 min
Cocktail hour
Passed bites, a signature drink and a beautiful alcohol-free one, shade and seats for older guests.
Read: The Hour After “I Do” →· 10 min
Ten minutes alone together
Somewhere quiet with two glasses and a plate. The party will still be there.
· 20 min
Remaining family photos
Ten to fifteen groupings, largest first, with one relative calling names.
· 90 min
Grand entrance and dinner
Long tables, low candles. Light them before the sky starts to dim.
Read: Dinner Under an Open Sky →· 20 min
Toasts
Three or four speakers, three to five minutes each, with servers pausing while each one stands.
Read: Toasts Worth Raising →· 20 min
Golden hour portraits
Sunset is at 7:30 pm, so slip away between courses with your photographer. Twenty minutes is plenty.
Read: Chasing Golden Hour →· 10 min
First dance, then the floor opens
Two or three minutes is plenty. Invite everyone in halfway through, then parent dances.
Read: A First Dance Under the Lights →· 15 min
Late-night snack
Something easy to hold for the dancers. Ask the caterer to box up your own meal and two slices of cake.
· 10 min
A private last dance
Guests step outside to line the path; one more song for just the two of you.
Read: The Last Dance and the Quiet After →· 10 min
Send-off
Candles, ribbon wands or sparklers, then ten minutes together before you check a single phone.
The arithmetic
How long each part of the day takes
| Part of the day | Typical time | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Hair and makeup | 45–60 min per person | Add thirty minutes to the whole block. It always runs long. |
| Getting dressed | 15–25 min | Longer for corsets, many buttons or a bustle. |
| First look | 20 min | Followed by 30–45 minutes of couple portraits. |
| Wedding party photos | 20–30 min | Before the ceremony if you see each other first. |
| Family photos | 20–30 min | Ten to fifteen groupings at two or three minutes each. |
| Ceremony | 20–30 min | Many religious ceremonies run 45–90 minutes. |
| Cocktail hour | 60–75 min | Longer than that and the energy dips. |
| Golden hour portraits | 20 min | Starting about 35 minutes before sunset. |
| Dinner | 75–90 min | Toasts fit neatly between courses. |
| Toasts | 15–20 min | Three or four speakers, three to five minutes each. |
| First dance | 2–3 min | Fade the song early or invite everyone in. |
| Dancing | 2–3 hours | With a late-night snack about an hour before the end. |
| Send-off | 10 min | Plus ten minutes alone together afterward. |
Five rules for a timeline that breathes
- I
Start from the two fixed points
Your ceremony time and your sunset can't move, so place them first and let everything else arrange itself around them.
- II
Work the morning backward
Count back from the moment you need to be dressed, not forward from your alarm. Ask stylists how long each person takes and believe them. More on a calm morning.
- III
Give anything with a crowd a buffer
Any part of the day involving more than three people runs late. Fifteen spare minutes after hair and makeup, family photos and dinner absorbs almost everything.
- IV
Protect three small moments
Ten minutes alone after the ceremony, twenty minutes of golden hour, and a private last dance. They cost almost nothing and they’re what couples remember.
- V
Share one version with everyone
Two weeks before the day, send the final timeline to your planner, photographer, caterer, musicians, officiant and the friend who'll run the room, so everyone works from the same page.
Timeline questions