
08/10/2025
Let’s talk wedding day timelines ⏰💍
Every wedding is unique, but this breakdown is a great starting point for pretty much any wedding day! It even includes buffer time — because let’s be honest, things don’t always run perfectly to the minute. The goal? Keep things smooth and stress-free, no clock-chasing required. 😅✨
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Here’s an example timeline:
🕞 Ceremony — 3:30pm start
👋 Guests arrive 30 mins prior — 3pm
💒 Ceremony runs 45 mins — 3:30 to 4:15pm
🎉 Congrats & mingling — 15 mins (4:15–4:30pm)
📷 Family photos — 30 mins (4:30–5pm)
📸 Wedding party portraits — 30–60 mins (5–6pm)
🍸 Cocktail hour kicks off around 4:30pm
💡 Hot tip: If you’ve allowed an hour for portraits but still want to enjoy cocktail hour, let your photo + video team know! They’ll guide you based on the flow of the day so you get the best of both worlds.
🚗Add travel time if your ceremony and reception are in different locations, and allow for parking time for your vendors!
Now, rewind ⏪ to prep:
👰 Partner 2 prep — 1.5 hrs (1:30–3:00pm)
💄 Hair + makeup finished by 1:30pm (start time depends on your artist)
🤵 Partner 1 prep — 1 hr (12:30–1:30pm)
🚗 Travel to ceremony — 30 mins (3:00pm arrival)
And now for the reception timeline 🍽️🎤💃
🪑 Guests enter reception — 15 mins (5:45pm; allow longer for 100+ guests)
🎉 Formal entrances & cake cutting — 15 mins (6:00pm)
🥂 Entrée — around 6:15pm (check with your caterer)
🍽️ Main — 1 hour after entrée (7:15pm)
🌅 Sunset photos — 30 mins around sunset (e.g. 7:45–8:15pm; check your wedding date + location on Google and your media team for exact timing)
🍰 Dessert — 1 hour after main (8:15pm)
🎙️ Speeches — 15 mins total (8:45pm; aim for 3–5 mins per speech!)
👨👩👧 Family dances — 9:00pm
💞 First dance — 9:05pm
🎶 Dancefloor opens — 9:10pm (lead straight in from your first dance!)
🚫 Don’t start dancing until all formalities + meals are done, once people sit down again, it’s hard to get them back up!
🕺 Up to 3-hour dancefloor rule, people rarely dance longer than that.
🍷 Drinks finish 30 mins before event close (11:00pm)
✨ End of night / exit — 11:30pm
Did this help you break down your day? Tag a