Ultimate Guide To A Wedding Day Timeline - Stress Free Wedding Day

Many of our brides ask us for some tips and tricks when creating their wedding day timeline. For some of you, planning may have started many years ago, for some right after you got engaged, and for others you may be less than 6 months out wondering when to cut the cake or when to have your first dance. That is why we put together this ultimate guide to planning your wedding day timeline. If you are looking for tips or tricks on how to have a stress free wedding day or need answers to "How early should your hair and makeup be done before your wedding" then this guide is for you.

What is a wedding day timeline and why do i need it?

There is a lot that happens on a wedding day and the larger the wedding the more important it becomes to lay out what is called a wedding timeline. A wedding timeline is a document where you lay out the times and locations of everything that is happening on your wedding day. Things like when the brides makeup needs to start and where or what time the groom should arrive to the ceremony location (don't want him to see the bride by accident).

6 Tips To Laying Out Your Wedding Day Timeline

1.) PAD Your Timeline

The first and most important thing we can share with you is to pad your timeline! We can not stress this enough that you want to make sure you have extra time built into your wedding day so that you are not stressed and that a minor delay won't mess up the rest of the timeline. It doesn't matter how well you are prepared weddings are notorious for having weird situations pop up out of nowhere so plan ahead for the "unexpected".

2.) Decide if you want to do a first look or first touch.

Many of our couples ask if they should do a "first look" or "first touch" which we discussed in a different article and you can check it out there. However, since this article is about wedding day timeline that is what we are discussing. It is important when planning out your stress free timeline that you decide early on if you want to do a first look. While these can be relatively short lasting only a few minutes they can take on average 5-15 minutes and you should plan for that.

3.) Add an extra hour for hair and makeup!

Regardless of if your doing your own hair and makeup or you have a professional makeup artist helping, you should add one extra hour for your hair and makeup. It isn't the makeup or hair persons fault it just happens. Members in your bridal party have hair that takes longer or they ask for last minute changes which could push your entire timeline back. That is why we always recommend for our brides to add one extra hour in their timeline. If you end up not needing it your photographer or videographer may thank you because it gives them some more time to get beautiful detail shots of the finished look.

Extra Tip: Make a "hard stop" time for all hair and makeup. That applies to everyone and allows your hair and makeup artist to know when they need to be done by.

4.) Schedule Time To Eat Lunch!

Nothing like being hungry to put a damper on your mood. It is easy to get caught up in everything that is going on and all the details you have to think about that many people forget to eat lunch. Especially if your getting up early to start hair and makeup. Make sure you plan at least a half an hour for it.

5.) Talk to your wedding photographer how long your photos will last.

Every photographer is different with their shot list and how long your formal pictures will take. It is important to talk with your photographer to get a sense of how long your photos might take so you can plan ample time to get those dreamy wedding photos your looking for.

Typical timeline for photos:

Getting Ready Photos - 30 minutes

Bride Putting On Here Dress - 30 minutes

Bridesmaid and Groomsman Pictures - 20 minutes each

Full Bridal Party - 30 minutes

Family Photos - 30 to 45 minutes.

6.) Decide if you are going to have a receiving line.

A receiving line is where you stand at a single location and have all of your guest walk by you. This is typically done after the ceremony when you have walked back down the isle as a married couple. If you are going to have a receiving line just know it will take on average of 15-20 minutes for about 100 guest. If you are going to have more than that amount of guest consider skipping it and just visit guest at their tables instead.

Complete Sample Wedding-Day Timeline

The timeline checklist below is based on a wedding ceremony being at 5pm. We have also listed the rough amount of time each thing takes. The first step in creating your timeline is determining what time you want your ceremony to start and working backwards with the suggested time allotments we have listed below. You can of course always ask your wedding photographer or wedding planner about your timeline. If you have a wedding planner they usually put together a separate vendor timeline in addition to a detailed timeline for the wedding couple. We also recommend if you don't have a wedding planner to send your wedding day timeline to each of your vendors asking for their feedback. That doesn't mean you have to take it but as an extra step it may be helpful to catch something your research may not have gotten.

9:00 a.m Hair and makeup arrive on-site
12:00 p.m. Hair and makeup prep begins
1:00 p.m. Photographer arrives on-site
1:45 p.m. Videographer arrives on-site
2:15 p.m. Wedding party gets dressed
2:40 p.m. Couple first look and photos
3:30 p.m. Wedding party and family shots
3:30 p.m. Shuttles from hotels begin
4:30 p.m. Wedding party arrives on-site
4:30 p.m. Ceremony musicians arrive and begin to play
5:00 p.m. Wedding invitation start time/DJ or reception band to arrive on-site
6:00 p.m. Ceremony ends/cocktails begin
7:00 p.m. Cocktails ends and guests are ushered into the reception
7:20 p.m. Introduction and first dance—guests asked to join after
7:45 p.m. Guests take their seats and first course is served
8:00 p.m. Welcome speech from parents
8:10 p.m. First course cleared and main course set
8:45 p.m. Toasts from maid of honor and best man
9:00 p.m. Parent dances
10:30 p.m. Cake cutting
10:45 p.m. First shuttle leaves for hotels
11:30 p.m. Second shuttle leaves for hotels