Wedding Timeline with 3pm Ceremony

There are loads of great suggested timelines online which you can adjust to the time of your ceremony.

Really it depends on things like if you're having speeches, whether they will be before or after food and whether you're having a sit down meal.

We had a 2.30pm ceremony and told guests to be there for 2pm.

Here's our schedule:

2pm - guest arrival

3pm - photos / mingling / drinks

5pm - food (buffet)

6pm - speeches

6.30pm - cake cutting

7pm - evening reception (with our extra evening guests arriving)

11pm - bride & groom send off

11.30pm - bar closed

Midnight - GTFO lol

A couple of things to note on the above timings... food took a bit longer than expected!

We also had enough cake for the evening reception guests to have some which was important as a lot of people were still eating cake when they arrived, so we were able to offer them some cake on arrival

In hindsight we could have very easily reduced the photos/drinks bit to 1 hour, but it was nice to have a relaxing time after the photos before we went into food etc.

Is there a reason for no cocktail hour? What will guests do when you're taking pictures?


My photographer, hair and makeup team, and DOC helped put our timeline together. I would talk to those vendors and see how much time they need before starting on your timeline.

I’d highly recommend talking to your photographer. They’re great with helping on timelines because they’ve been by the side of so many couples throughout their whole day (if it’s an experienced one).

Your HMUA team and photographer should be able to assist here. HMUA would be able to say when you'll be ready for getting ready pictures, done with hair and makeup, and when you'll be able to be pulled away for portraits. Your photographer can also advise how much time would be needed for pre-ceremony shots, post-ceremony shots, and how to work the rest of the reception highlights into the timeframe they're available.

I would recommend having something for guests to do between the ceremony and reception though. Otherwise they'll just be standing around awkwardly waiting for the reception to begin.

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I really appreciate your answer! I didnt even think to ask them. but like i said, we do have an open bar and there will be a cookie table. its just not an actual cocktail hour with sides and snacks. The reception area will be open for guests to get their drinks and some sweets as they find their tables they will be assigned at. But thank you so much for the recommendation!

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Oh I gotcha! I was registering cookie table as being a dessert thing. Best of luck!

So I'm confused. Without a cocktail hour what are guests going to do between ceremony and when the reception starts? You're not having a first look? You're going to need to host your guests with something.