What is a wedding timeline for the day?

A wedding day timeline is the hour-by-hour schedule of the wedding day itself, from breakfast and hair and makeup to the last song. It is built backward from the ceremony time, and it tells the couple, the wedding party and every vendor where to be and when.

Each line gives a time, what happens, where, and who needs to be there. Write two versions:

• The full schedule goes to the wedding party, the photographer, the caterer, the band or DJ and the venue.
• The guest version needs four things: when to arrive, when the ceremony starts, when dinner is served and any change of location.

A wedding day timeline is also called a day-of timeline or a wedding day schedule. It is a different document from a wedding planning timeline, which covers the months before the wedding.

A typical wedding day timeline with a 17.00 (5 pm) ceremony starts with breakfast at 09.00 and hair and makeup at 10.30. The first look is at 13.30, guests arrive at 16.30, cocktail hour starts at 17.45, dinner is served at 19.20, and dancing runs from 22.00 until the music stops at midnight (00.00).

This sample wedding day timeline is an evening-ceremony Saturday. If your ceremony is earlier or later, move every row by the same amount.

To build this schedule around your own ceremony time, with or without a first look, use the wedding day timeline generator, or download the wedding day timeline template as a PDF or spreadsheet. The evening is covered in detail in the wedding reception timeline, and speeches in the wedding toast guide.

To create a wedding day timeline, fix the ceremony time first, then work backward to the morning and forward to the venue's music curfew. Allow 60 to 75 minutes per person for hair and makeup and 25 to 40 minutes for the ceremony, and serve dinner about 90 minutes after the ceremony ends.

1. Fix the ceremony time. For an outdoor ceremony, that is one to two hours before sunset on your date. Agree it with the venue and the officiant first.
2. Work backward to the morning. Guests arrive 30 minutes before the ceremony. Before that come the portraits, the first look, and hair and makeup, which is roughly a four-hour block for a wedding party of six plus the couple.
3. Decide on a first look. It moves the couple's portraits to before the ceremony and saves about 90 minutes afterwards.
4. Work forward to the curfew. Start cocktail hour 15 minutes after the recessional and dinner about 90 minutes after the ceremony ends. In the sample, the ceremony ends at 17.30, the reception opens at 19.00 and the first course is served at 19.20. Leave at least two hours of dancing before the music has to stop.
5. Add buffers. Put 15 minutes of cushion between major blocks, and 30 minutes before anything guests have to travel to.
6. Share it. Send the full timeline to every vendor at least two weeks before the wedding, and give a printed copy to one person who is not getting married: a planner, a coordinator or an organised friend. If any part is outdoors, write in the time by which you will decide on the rain plan.

A wedding ceremony is 25 to 40 minutes long in a typical timeline, and about 30 minutes is the sweet spot. Under 20 minutes feels rushed, and after 40 minutes guests start to drift. That time covers the processional, welcome, readings, vows, rings, pronouncement, kiss and recessional.

• A ritual such as a hand-fasting or a unity candle adds five to ten minutes.
• The length depends on the type of ceremony, so ask the officiant how long theirs runs. Zola's sample wedding day timeline blocks out an hour at most.
• Guests arrive 30 minutes before the start, and the processional music begins ten minutes before.

A wedding lasts about seven and a half hours for guests in this sample timeline, from arrivals at 16.30 to the music stopping at 00.00. Zola's planning guide puts the part of a wedding after guests arrive at around six hours. For the couple, the day runs about 15 hours, from a 09.00 breakfast to a 00.15 exit.

Weddings usually start in the afternoon or early evening. The Knot puts the most common start times between 2 pm and 7 pm, and most of the planners it interviewed favoured 5.30 pm. The ceremony in this sample timeline is at 17.00 (5 pm), with guests arriving from 16.30.

For an outdoor ceremony, set the start one to two hours before sunset, so that the ceremony and the portraits after it get the best light of the day. Sunset moves with the month and the latitude, so look it up for your date and venue. The US Naval Observatory's sun data calculator gives it for any date and coordinates. Its figures for 2027:

The sample timeline on this page fits the Florence September row. Midsummer is the exception: a 19.00 ceremony moves every row of the sample two hours later and opens the dance floor at 00.00, the music curfew at most destination venues. For a June wedding in Europe, keep the ceremony at roughly 17.00 to 18.00 and plan a short break between dinner courses for golden-hour portraits. For a different start, the generator has ready-made schedules, such as a timeline for a 4 pm ceremony.