Timeline/order of Events

Following for ideas.... I need to make mine within the week...
Right now I was thinking what you have but then if I were a guest I would want to know about cake so I might add that. Oh and I'm putting when our send off will be also. I don't want anyone leaving early if they wanted to stay for that - happened to me at my brother's wedding 😏 We stayed late but found out the next day that apparently ten mins after we left they did the send off! Would've been nice to know, we definitely would've waited.

My plan is to gather timing information from my: photographer, DOC, videographer, caterer, and DJ. Then I will be able to make an accurate timeline. Have you asked any of your vendors on their thoughts toward your timeline?

My DOC is in contact with all of my vendors and made our day of timeline for us. There are still some things that I want to add/break out in more detail (such as the getting ready schedule that morning) but overall she did a really good job and put a lot of detail into it such as the cake cutting, the first dance, parent dances, speeches, etc.. I think as PP said, the best approach is to get timing information from all the major vendors and then go from there.

I had a tentative timeline until we spoke with the caterer. With food being split up (appetizers 6-7; entree 7-8; 8:30 cake cutting), we split up some other events too. Our timeline is now:

6-7 event starts

6:10 bridal party intro, first dance

6:20-6:50: dancing and such

6:50-7: Toasts

7-8: entree buffet

7:30: groom/mother dance; longest married dance

7:40 dancing and such

8:30 cake cutting

8:55 last dance

Keep in mind, none of the food is formal "sit down right now" type of food. People can get up, move around and mingle. Almost like a cocktail wedding.

If you are providing it to your guests, I'd keep it minimal. What you have listed is fine. For your wedding party, parents, DJ, vendors, anyone helping - I'd add more specific items like the cake cutting, first dance, etc. Your guests can listen for the DJ to just announce the first dance/cake cutting - if you're running a little late or early, no one will know.

Agree with PPs - talk to your vendors to confirm the timeline.

The only advice I can give it that our DOC strongly suggested doing the speeches, then dropping the food, and she as well as the venue said for plated meals its about 20 minutes per course.

Here's my suggestion:

5:00 - Ceremony

5:30 - Cocktail Hour

6:30 - Dinner & Speeches

8:00 - Dance the night away!

(I removed 5:30-6:30 for cocktail hour for consistency and "hour" implies 5:30-6:30. Also moved 7pm dinner and speeches b/c people might feel like they have half an hour to meander around)

If you want to add first dance and cake cutting that's fine, but I don't think it's needed.

But you might think about adding a "farewell" or end time so that people know to leave (in case your venue will charge extra etc)

That’s pretty much all I put on mine! Didn’t want to give too much info or specific times and then we go off schedule for whatever reason.

🤔Still working on our reception time line,We’re firm on our DOC and MOC locking the Church doors at 2:00Pm
We don’t want no late comers,this is why we’re putting the time of our wedding at 2:00Pm
Yes We’ll have detailed information on our wedding website. 🍷

We had this in our welcome bags

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I thought about adding the cake cutting too BUT we're doing something a little untraditional and having cake available for guests immediately following dinner and then doing our ceremonial cake cutting later at like 9 pm. So I don't want to confuse guests, so I thought I'd leave it off! We're also not doing a send off, but I would totally add that to your timeline if you're doing one!!

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I've already made a timeline that I checked with my photographer and she said it looked great! But I know it's near impossible to stick to exact timelines, so I don't want to get TOO specific with times like, "First dance 6:40." I don't know...we're meeting with the venue tomorrow to look over the timeline so we'll see what she says too!

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I have a longer timeline similar to your's, but I guess I should've clarified I'm wondering what to include on our 16x20 sign that is for guests to see as they enter the ceremony space. Which items do you think are the most important for them to know?

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That's what I was thinking! I do have a long/more specific timeline, but didn't want to overwhelm guests with it! I just want to provide the basics!

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We're doing a buffet...how do you think I should handle that? I don't want people waiting too long for dinner! I did think about adding to the sign "10:45- Last dance" because we have the DJ until 11:00 and then we have one hour to clean everything up or we're charged extra! So good call.

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Exactly! I know how hard it's going to be to stay on schedule, so I don't want to get too specific either!

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Cute! I like the idea of adding "Dancing & Dessert" so it doesn't have to be two separate line items. I'm working hard on the dessert table, so I don't want people to forget about it!!

View Quoted Comment Yeah we had dinner in a separate area than our dancing. So I didn’t want people to think there was no dessert when the main course was cleared and we moved people into another area!

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I think the timeline how it is is fine! I'm not entirely sure about buffet time, but I would think 20-30 minutes to get food and 15-25 to eat.

You can always deviate from the timeline - at weddings I think people expect that!

If you have a day of coordinator, ask them. BUT if not, wedding DJs have timeline templates they can send you and assist you in filling out.

Our photographer was sooo incredibly helpful with the timeline, she basically told me what she thought it would/should be based on lighting outside, and then we backed into it from there. It includes intros, cake cutting, first dance, dinner, etc. She's also really familiar with our venue so that was incredibly helpful as well.