How to Build a Wedding Day Timeline
A solid wedding day timeline is an event’s best chance of success. Not only does it function as a tool to communicate ‘the plan’ to all your vendors ahead of time, but it is also a comprehensive process for you to ensure you’ve thought everything through! Having created over 100 wedding day timelines, I’ve come up with a detailed step by step process to ensure you don’t forget anything important. Open up a fresh word doc, spreadsheet or Aisle Planner account and follow along!
Set the Basic Outline
(do this before you send our your invitations)
Use these first steps to determine your ideal ceremony start time.
Look up the sunset time on your wedding day! I always google the day, month and year along with the city name to get an accurate sunset time. Adding the actual sunset time is the starting point.
If you would like to get some “golden hour” photos, add in sunset photo time 20-30 minutes before actual sunset.
Determine if you would like to wait until the sun sets to start dinner OR start dinner about 40-50 minutes prior to the actual sunset and slip away for sunset photos while your guests are dining. Once you determine which strategy works best for you, add dinner start time to your timeline.
Now you can start working backwards
Welcome or blessing of the meal (give approx 5 minutes for this)
Grand entrance(s)
Newlyweds (give 1-2 minutes)
Wedding party (give 2-5 minutes depending on the wedding party size and how long their introductions are)
Guests invited to sit (give guests 10-15 minutes to find their seats) time
Once those things are determined, you can work backwards to determine the cocktail hour start time (1-1.5 hours is standard)
Next, confirm ceremony length (30 minutes is pretty standard) and add that on top of the cocktail hour start time. Keep in mind travel time if the ceremony and reception are at two different locations.
Program Details
(finalize 1.5 months out)
Now that you have the basics set, let’s add in some important details.
Family photos typically take place immediately after the ceremony ends. I suggest allocating about 30-40 minutes for family and group photos. This will likely overlap with the start of the cocktail hour.
Determine the length of dinner. This will depend on how many guests you have as well as the style of dinner service. I recommend you ask your caterer how long it will take all the guests to get their meal.
Now that you know how long dinner will take, it’s time to pencil in toasts. I suggest starting toasts while guests are still finishing up their meal, but not before they are seated and have their dinner in front of them. I recommend 2-5 toasts total and 3 - 5 minutes for each one.
Once toasts are complete, I suggest they are followed by a thank you from the newlyweds (typically 3-5 minutes).
After that, it is always a smooth transition into the cake cutting (approx 5 minutes).
From there, it is a great natural transition into the first dance (approx 5 minutes).
And then the father-daughter dance (approx 5 minutes).
And then the mother-son dance (approx 5 minutes).
Keep in mind you can always combine parent dances in one song
After that, it is up to you if you want to incorporate anything else into the program before opening up the dance floor. Some common things include:
bouquet toss (approx 5 minutes).
garter toss (approx 5 minutes).
Once the formal program is complete, guests are typically invited to dance until the end of the event. I always aim for a minimum 2 hour open dancefloor.
Be sure to add what time the event is finished. Here in Hawaii it is always 10 pm for outdoor events.
Wedding Party Logistics
(fill this in about 1 month before)
Now that you know what is happening throughout the event, it is time to add the details your wedding party will need to know.
Build from the ceremony up
Pencil in bride, groom and wedding party arrival times at the venue.
Account for travel time and add in when everyone needs to leave their getting ready locations.
Add in dressed and ready finish times for both sides of the wedding party.
Add in getting ready start times. You will want to ask your stylist how much time they need. I always suggest padding the timeline by about 30 minutes, just to be safe.
Add in ceremony details.
Add in order your wedding party will enter into the ceremony.
Add in your ceremony song choices. I always suggest listing the name of the song and the artist.
Add in reception details.
Add in order your wedding party will enter into the reception as well as how you would like them to be introduced.
Add in the names and order of who will be giving a toast. Be specific about how you want them introduced.
Add in the songs for the grand entrance(s), cake cutting, first dance, parent dances and anything else that requires a specific song.
Vendor Logistics
(fill this in about 1 month before)
This is the final stretch to working out the timeline logistics. I suggest you reach out to each of your vendors for their feedback on what they need included in the timeline as well as how they suggest you allocate their time. If you’ve hired a day-of coordinator, this step is something they will likely help you with.
Photographer and videographer start and end time.
Rental set up and breakdown times.
Caterer arrival time and service details.
Music set up time, start time and details.
Florist arrival and set up complete time.
Officiant arrival and ready time.
Any other applicable vendor start and end times.
If you made it through all these steps, HIGH FIVE! I know creating a wedding day timeline can be tedious, but when you think it through from beginning to end, it will be well worth the effort. Should you need a little extra help, feel free to reach out to book a one-on-one timeline consulting session!
Happy Planning!