Wedding 9am-12pm

Talk to your vendors. They create timelines as part of their job description.

To make a schedule you'll need to know what all your wedding will entail. Will there be a cocktail hour? How long do you plan for your ceremony to be? How long will it take for you to get ready? Will you be allowing time for speeches during dinner? How long do you anticipate for clean up time?

Like PP mentioned above, speak to your venue and vendors. They usually have a generic timeline already created for you to look at and tweak so that it fits your wedding day needs! If you have a day of coordinator (if you don't, I highly suggest getting one!), then they should also be able to help you with this!

Your venue and vendors are going to be the best people to give you advice. The first thing to figure out is going to be your ceremony time. Our venue provided us a rough timeline from the start of the ceremony to the end of the reception. From there I spoke with the photographer to figure out what time we needed to be dressed and ready to go for pictures. After having a time set with her, we then spoke to our hair stylist and makeup artist to decide on what time hair and makeup should start. Our timeline was as followed.

8:00 AM - Started hair and makeup

12:00 PM - Photographers arrived. Lindsey (main photographer) started taking detail photos and getting ready photos and her husband, Jason (second shooter) scoped out the venue for good photo op locations then went and hung with the guys/took photos of them getting ready.

2:00 PM - Hair and makeup to be totally finished/ Jason (second shooter) start with groomsmen photos

2:30 PM - Me dressed by 2:30/ Start bridesmaids photos immediately after

3:00 PM - First look with me and my dad

3:10 PM - First look with my husband and I

3:10-3:40 PM - Photos of just my husband and I before the ceremony

3:45 PM - Bride hidden before guests arrived

4:30 PM - Ceremony begins

5:00 PM - Ceremony ends/ Cocktail hour begin

5:00-6:00 PM - Cocktail hour and family photos/ full wedding party photos/more photos of bride and groom if time.

6:15 PM - Formal introductions

6:20 PM - First dance

6:25 PM - Three toasts (father of the bride, brother of the bride/bridesman instead of maid of honor since she didn't want to give a toast, and best man)

6:35/6:40 PM - Salad course was served

6:45 PM - Buffet opened

7:30 PM - Cake Cutting

7:35 PM - Bride's dance with her dad immediately followed by Groom's dance with his mom

7:45 PM - Trivia Game

8:00 PM - Dance Floor Opened

9:55 PM - Last Dance

10:00 PM - Reception Ends/After Party Begins

You must communicate with your vendors and venue.

Talk to your photographer! Most of your day will be structured around pictures and so many things factor in to that. Our venue had a few sample timelines which I sent to my photographer but she said they were missing a lot. In the end, you get final say on your timeline but I highly suggest talking to your vendors and taking their suggestions! They know exactly how long things take and how much time you should allow for each aspect of the day.

I found this guide online that might help as well! How to Plan Your Wedding Day and Reception Timeline (brides.com)