Planning A Perfect Wedding Day Timeline
You’ve got the ring! You’re gonna spend the rest of your life with the person you love. But now, you’ve got all these things to do! All these things to plan! People asking you questions, and you’ve most likely never been through this planning process before. Today we’re going to talk about planning a perfect wedding timeline!
Now, if you’ve got a wedding planner, or a day of coordinator, then they’ll be able to give you so much more help and guidance, but this will be a perfect place to get the ball rolling! So let’s dive in.
Figure out your starting time:
Ask your hair and makeup artist how much time they’re going to need to get everyone finished, including moms, bridesmaids, flower girls, and you!
You’ll also want to decide how what you want to be documented with your photographer and how much time you’ll need
A good estimate is for photography to start 2-3 hours before your ceremony starts if you do not have a first look. You’ll want your photography coverage to start right as hair and makeup are finishing up.
Matching these two times up gives you the perfect time to have your hair and makeup artist start, as well as the perfect time to have your photographer start. Let’s see it in practice:
Your Hair + Makeup Artist says it’s going to take 4 hours to complete every one. Your ceremony is at 3 pm, and you do not have a first look. Photo + Video coverage should comfortably start at 12pm (3 hours before the Ceremony). So you want your hair & makeup done by 12 pm, which puts you at an 8 am start time.
The start of your timeline will look like this:
8:00 am - Hair and Makeup Starts
12:00 pm - Hair and Makeup Finishes
12:00 pm - Iz and Liv Films (Or another Photo/Video Company) Arrives
12:00-3:00 pm - Pre-Ceremony Photos (Specifics TBD with Photographer + Videographer)
3:00 pm - Ceremony
Cocktail Hour A.K.A. The Photo Hour Timeline:
If you’re not having a first look before the ceremony, you can do one of two things. You can:
Keep cocktail hour to strictly one hour, which leaves approximately 20 minutes for family photos, 20 minutes for wedding party photos, and 20 minutes for couples photos.
Extend cocktail hour by 15-30 minutes which will allow for a little more breathing room when taking photos, which also allows for more time for creativity in the photos.
For example purposes, let’s say that we’re building a timeline with a slightly extended cocktail hour. The time of the sunset also plays a part in getting the best photos possible as well, so let’s assume that sunset is at 5:15pm. Let’s see it in practice:
Your ceremony will last from 3:00-3:30pm. After the ceremony, before your guests are ushered to cocktail hour, your officiant will make an announcement for all immediate family members to stay in the ceremony area for family photos. Family photos will take between 15-20 minutes, because we have a list pre-written so we can be time efficient. So family photos will happen between 3:40-4:00pm.
Wedding party photos should take between 20-30 minutes depending on how large your wedding party is. So wedding party photos will happen between 4:00-4:25pm.
Lastly, your couples photos. “Golden hour” is the hour before the sun sets, so with a 5:15pm sunset, golden hour starts at 4:15pm, so you’ll get perfect lighting for your couples photos!
The middle of your timeline will look like this:
3:00-3:30pm - Ceremony
3:40-4:00pm - Family Formal Photos
4:00-4:25pm - Wedding Party Photos
4:25-4:55pm - Couples Photos
5:00pm - Prep for Entrance into Reception
Reception Time:
Your reception details can be discussed much more at length with your DJ, Planner or Day of Coordinator, and your Photo/Video Team. There’s a lot of different ways to structure your reception depending on how you want to spend your reception time (playing games, special dances with wedding guests, or just straight partying on the dance floor).
For example purposes, we’re going to go keep the main events during the reception minimal, but we’ll give you two different example timelines. Take a look below:
Option #1 for the end of your timeline:
5:05pm - Enter into Reception
5:10pm - First Dance as a Couple
5:15pm - Parent Dances
5:20pm - Blessing (If Applicable) and Dinner
5:30pm - Speeches to be given during dinner (If Applicable)
6:20pm - Cake Cutting
6:30pm - Open Dancing!
Option #2 for the end of your timeline:
5:05pm - Enter into Reception
5:10pm - Blessing (If Applicable) and Dinner
5:15pm - Speeches to be given during dinner (If Applicable)
6:10pm - First Dance as a Couple
6:15pm - Parent Dances
6:20pm - Cake Cutting
6:30pm - Open Dancing!
A good rule of thumb for photo + video purposes, you want your photo + video team to be there for at least 1 hour after open dancing begins so that they have plenty of opportunity to capture you interacting with and having fun with your guests!
