How to Build a Wedding Day Timeline

There is so much planning that goes in to creating your dream wedding, but when it comes time for the day itself, you shouldn’t be worried about anything other than marrying the person you love! A huge part of having a stress-free wedding day is having a well-organized day of itinerary.

Like many parts of the wedding planning process, it can be daunting knowing where to start with your day of itinerary. If you are working with a wedding planner or day of coordinator, they will handle building a timeline for you, but if you are tackling things on your own, then here are some tips to get you started!

Start with the main time markers:

• Ceremony Start Time

• Ceremony End Time

• Cocktail Hour Start Time

• Cocktail Hour End Time

• Reception Start time

• Reception End Time

Consider any travel time that needs to be accounted for if you are hosting your ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception at more than one location.

Think through what your priorities are for your wedding day and where they fit in relation to the set start and end times:

• Is it important to you to join your guests at cocktail hour? Then maybe you should plan to do a first look so that you don’t need to spend time taking more photos after the ceremony.

• Do you want to make time throughout the day to spend one on one with your new spouse soaking in the moment? Perhaps you can plan for a private room reveal of the reception space or a last dance where everyone else is asked to leave the space to make room for a private moment.

• Is dancing the night away your idea of a dream wedding reception? It might be a good idea to limit formalities at the start of your reception so that you can get to dinner quicker and then be ready to hit the dance floor right away.

Avoid overscheduling yourself! Allow for some breathing room and buffer time. There’s a lot of planning that goes into your wedding day, and a timeline is a key puzzle piece that ensures all your vendors are on the same page, but once the day comes there’s also a lot of going with the flow and that’s okay too!

When in doubt, reach out to your vendors for guidance. Trust that you’ve hired a team of people who are invested in making your wedding day your dream come true, whatever that dream may be!

Anna G., Operations Manager