Winter wedding timeline/itinerary

Mine is January first, so in a similar boat. Having a destination wedding in key largo, so I'm seeing it as a feature, not a bug. Will get those gorgeous sunset pictures without having to leave the party.

My strategy is to get as many wedding party and family pictures done before the ceremony, so the one hour we have from 4:30-5:30 is maximized. I also don't want too many of those standard /posed bridal party pics, so an hour should be plenty of time.

Hi Ryan! How long do you think your ceremony will last? If it's only going to be 30 minutes or less, I think a timeline of 4-10 will work fine! I would recommend doing a first look and family pictures before, then sunset pictures with your wedding party after!

January wedding here
445 sunset (no 1st look)
230 ceremony (30 min)
345 cocktail hr
5-9 reception.
I feel comfortable with almost 2 hrs between the end of the ceremony and sunset.
With your timeline I would do a first look or push up the ceremony. If you have a 30 min ceremony that only puts 50 min between the end and the start of sunset.

Daughter's wedding is mid-January. The super experienced coordinator at her venue suggested ceremony begins at 3:30, immediately followed by cocktail hour on adjoining patio 4-5, then we move to reception just before sunset around 5:15. They are starting first look, wedding party and immediate family photos around 1 pm, and will then move to a room we're referring to as the "sequester room" about 2:45 for light snacks, where they will be out of sight of arriving guests. Unless we add some extra time to the reception, the wedding/reception timeline will be 3:30-9:30 pm, and we'll be on-site at the venue beginning around 12:30 pm. Wedding is in So Cal.

EDT: they are planning on doing some more pictures immediately following the ceremony, but want to be able to enjoy at least part of cocktail hour with the guests so they are trying to limit that as much as possible.

YAY!!! ANOTHER 12-2019 BRIDE!!! Hello!!!

Our wedding is at 4pm. And FH is refusing a first look, so 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m a sucker for sunset pictures! I think they’ll look beautiful!

I got married on December 23rd last year. This was my timeline:

9 a.m. Begin getting ready in bridal suite; breakfast of croissants, cheese and fruit

11:30 a.m. Lunch of sandwiches and wraps is served

12:30 p.m. Photographer arrives to take detail shots and getting ready shots

1-1:30 p.m. First look pics

1:30-2:45 p.m. Wedding party and VIP pics

2:50 p.m. Drive to church (10 minutes away)

3-4 p.m. Ceremony

4:15-5:45 p.m. Cocktail hour (ours was 90 minutes) Our wedding party and VIPs stayed behind at church to take more pics but as they finished they left for cocktail hour. Bride and groom stayed until about 5 p.m. and then joined cocktail hour.

5:45 p.m. Dinner announced, doors open for guests to take their escort card and find seat

6-7:30 p.m. Plated dinner served

6:05 p.m. Bride gives welcome toast

7:30 p.m. Bridesmaid gives toast on behalf of wedding party

7:45 p.m. Cake cutting

7:55 p.m. First dance, 30 seconds into it we had bandleader invite everyone to join us

8 p.m. Dance floor open; photo booth open

8:30 p.m. Cake served

9 p.m. Smores served around fire pit

10 p.m. Grilled cheese sandwiches served

11 p.m. Last dance; end of reception

January 2019 Bride here, following this forum! I haven't gotten as far as the day of timeline, but definitely will start thinking something up soon. Earias- Thank you as always for such great inspo!!!

Mine is nov 24 in the mountains so I pushed my times up. I am doing 3:00 for the ceremony so we can do photos 3:30-4:30 and then start the reception

View Quoted Comment

You are welcome, and thank you for those kind words!

View Quoted Comment Aha I love that timeline! The only thing is we cannot move into the venue until noon of our wedding day. So I don't think I can push the ceremony up too far.

I had always wanted to get married on that date BECAUSE it was the shortest! My mom convinced me that it was too close to Christmas so we settled on the week before because I only lose a few seconds of dark. Sunset around here is around 4 - a little before so we arent starting our ceremony until then so it can be completely candlelit - the reason I wanted a short day, so I could have a candlelit ceremony before normal dinner time! We are going to be doing a first look so we can get outside photos before the ceremony - then it will be all candles and indoor shots after, except for leaving the church to go ring the bell - but the lights will be on.