Share your wedding day timeline

We got ready fairly quickly and didn’t do a first look, and had a Sunday afternoon wedding lol so timing may not be super conventional, but regardless, here was my timeline that I sent to my bridesmaids.


However I think lunch didn’t end up being served until 2:15-30, and we changed cake cutting time to 4:15. Oh and I ended up having my bridesmaids arrive at 9:15.
It’s good to have a timeline but just be ready to be flexible if things change!

Hey Desiree!!

There are a lot of components to creating your wedding day timeline, but you are in a great position that you know all of your wedding details!

What time is your ceremony? What time does the bridal party need to arrive at the venue? Are you having photos taken before your ceremony, or only after?

Something you should try not to forget is that you should organize breakfast if you and your bridal party are getting ready in the morning together.

Also, don’t forget to factor in any traveling or transportation time (including potential traffic!).

This is the rough draft timeline I've made! I haven't run it by my DOC or photographer, but this is what I'm shooting for. Hope it helps
9:00 Arrive at venue to begin setup
11:00 Brief lunch break/begin getting ready
1:15 Pre-wedding photos (bride/dad first look, bride/family, groom/family, wedding parties)
2:15 Finish photos to return to bride/groom suites
2:30 Early bird guests start to arrive
3:00 Invite time
3:10 Ceremony Begins (to accommodate late comers if necessary)
3:35 Ceremony Ends/Guests move to reception area
3:40 Cocktail Hour/Post Ceremony Photos
4:40 Introduction of Bride & Groom/First Dance
4:50 Welcome (Father of the Bride)
4:55 Prayer from Grandfather of the Groom
5:00 Dinner begins (buffet style)
5:45 Toasts
6:00 Father/Daughter & Mother/Son Dances
6:10 Dancing/Sunset Photos
7:00 Cake cutting
7:15 Bouquet/Garter Toss
7:45 Last Dance
8:00 Send Off

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Hey Sinead!

To give you some background info, my ceremony is at 4 pm. I don't have any bridesmaids necessarily, but I'll be inviting my sisters and my best friend to get ready with me, so I'll probably invite them to the Suite with me to get ready around 12 pm. Is that too early? This is the part where I start second-guessing myself. We are doing some photos before the wedding, and some after. I have a rough draft of a timeline I will post to show everyone what I have so far, and I am open to suggestions.

Be at Hard Rock by
11:30am. Make sure to have all getting ready essentials + flowers/décor.

12:00-2:00 pm Getting Ready with the girls. Champagne, hair,
makeup, get into dress. (Photographer
takes detail photos.)

2:00-2:15 pm First Look with Andrew. (Photographer takes photos of me ugly crying. Definitely fix makeup
afterwards.)

2:15-3:15 pm Bride & Groom Portraits. (Refer to Shot List provided by bride.)

3:15-3:45 pm Wedding Party Photos. (Andrew with his groomsmen.Desiree with sisters.)

3:45-4:00 pm Get ready to walk down the aisle.

4:00-4:30 pm Ceremony

4:30-6:30 pm Reception (Eating,
open bar for 1 hour, cake cutting, toasts, first dance.)

6:30-7:30 pm Family Portraits, extra B & G Portraits. (Andrew with family, and B&G in sunset.)

7:30-Onward, after party to end the night at any of the City

Walk venues. (Ending photography.)

As you can tell, I made this to send to my photographer so I know exactly when/where I need them, and how many hours to pay them for. I will also be creating a shot list here in the next few weeks once this is pretty well finalized.

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This is an awesome timeline! Would you say that about 1 hour was enough time for your pre-wedding photos? I keep feeling like I'll need longer. What would your thoughts be on that?

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I haven't had my wedding yet, but I don't see it taking much longer than an hour. We have a small wedding party which includes our siblings and then our parents would be there also. All the photos of FH and I will be after the ceremony, so I think an hour would be enough time for the pre-ceremony photos. If you have a larger wedding party or more family members that will be involved in the pre-ceremony photos, I might tack on another half hour or so!

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Totally agree, and I'm similar to you in regards to having a rather small wedding party. How much time are you allotting for Bride and Groom Photos?

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I think most of the hour for the post-ceremony photos will be bride and groom photos, I'm sure that all the family and wedding party photos with the two of us together should only take maybe 15-20 minutes.

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That timeline seems great to me Desiree! Was your photographer comfortable with all the times you have allotted for the different photo situations? 😊

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She's actually on vacation, so I was going to finalize this suggestion and send it over. She'll get to it after Christmas but I was feeling pretty confident she will like this.