A wedding day timeline, hour by hour
A wedding day that flows, from the first guests to the last dance. A sample timeline and practical tips for timing each part of the day.
A good timeline is not a plan down to the minute. It is a frame in which everyone knows what comes next. Feel free to reshape this example around your own day.
An example with an afternoon ceremony
- 2.30pm guests arrive, welcome drinks
- 3.00pm ceremony
- 3.45pm congratulations, group photo
- 4.30pm portraits for the two of you, a drinks reception for the guests
- 6.00pm dinner
- 8.00pm first dance
- 9.30pm cutting the cake
- 11.30pm last dance
Timing tips
- Leave some slack. Congratulations and the group photo almost always take longer than you plan.
- Time the portraits to the light. Ask your photographer when the light is at its best at the venue.
- Give the guests something to do while you are having your photos taken: drinks, music, a garden to wander in.
- Make sure everyone has the timeline: your MC or toastmaster if you have one, the photographer, the band or DJ and the venue.
The timeline in the invitation
For your guests, the main points are enough: arrival, ceremony, dinner, dancing. In Envelopio invitations you give this in the programme section. In Record Player it appears as a playlist, and in Star Map along an arc of the night sky. For the full run-up to the day, there is the Wedding planner.
