Wedding Day Timeline Guide

The best tip to make your wedding day easy breezy and stress free is to have a comprehensive and though out wedding timeline.

We all know planning a wedding is

1. A shit ton of work
2. Incredibly stressful

In my experience, the secret to the smoothest wedding possible always lies in a clear timeline, and clear communication about the timeline (meaning everyone has early access to it, and any changes are communicated to the whole group)

I’m going to lay out an example timeline based on a ceremony that takes place at 4:00 pm, and a couple that decides to do a first look (which we can totally work around if it’s not your style). I always leave plenty of cushion time in case anything goes wrong or someone gets lost on the way to the venue. It’s way better to be ahead of schedule then scrambling to get everything done. We want your day to be full of love and joy – not stress.

Sample Wedding Day Timeline

9:00 – Hair and Makeup

12:30 – Details and getting ready photos

1:30 – First look/Couple photo session

2:30 – Wedding party photos

3:00 – Family photos

3:30 – Line up for ceremony/Hide the bride

4:00 – Ceremony

4:30 – Move to reception for cocktail hour

5:00 – Grand entrance of newlyweds

5:30 – Dinner and toasts

6:30 – Formal dances

7:00 – Cake cutting

7:30 – Sneak away for sunset photos

8:00 – Bouquet/garter toss

8:30 – Partayyyyyy Time!

If a couple decides not to do a first look before the alter, you can adjust the timeline by adding in the joint wedding party/family photos to after the ceremony and before the cocktail hour (we can get some of the photos done before still, i.e. the bride and bridal party/the groom and groomsmen and the bride and her family/the groom and his family).

You can then decide if you want to squeeze in some solo couple photos at the same time, or if you want to extend the sunset photo timeframe and do them all then.

Hope this helps! Remember to give your timeline to everyone involved in the ceremony so everyone knows where to be and when, that will make everything go so smooth so you can focus on enjoying your day.