Wedding day
timeline.
A free wedding day timeline generator. Set your ceremony time and leave with the whole run of the day — from the first hairpin to the last dance — adjusted for a first look and your reception length.
- Based on
- 5,962 venues
- Destinations
- 40 covered
- Time to result
- ~40 seconds
- Basis
- Modeled estimate
From 11:00 AM when hair and makeup begins to 9:30 PM at the send-off — here is the run of the day, set around your ceremony.
- 11:00 AM1Hair & makeup beginsAllow five hours for a party of four to six.
- 2:00 PM2Photographer arrivesDetails, dress, and getting-ready frames.
- 2:30 PM3First look & couple’s portraitsA private moment before the guests.
- 2:45 PM4Wedding party & family photosDone early so you join your own cocktail hour.
- 3:30 PM5Guests arrive & are seatedDoors open; ushers seat the front rows.
- 4:00 PM6Ceremony beginsProcessional to recessional, about thirty minutes.
- 4:30 PM7Cocktail hour beginsDrinks and canapés while the room is turned.
- 5:30 PM8Grand entrance & guests seatedIntroductions, then everyone finds their table.
- 5:45 PM9Dinner is servedCourses out; the room settles in.
- 6:30 PM10ToastsKeep them to three; warn the speakers in advance.
- 6:50 PM11First danceThen straight into the night.
- 7:00 PM12Parent dancesOptional — many couples fold these in.
- 7:15 PM13The floor opensBand or DJ takes it from here.
- 8:00 PM14Cake cuttingA quiet lull, then back to dancing.
- 9:30 PM15Last dance & send-offSparklers, a getaway car, or simply the lights up.
The timeline lives or dies on photography, not dinner. The single biggest cause of a day running late is family photos with no first look — a 30-guest extended family can eat 45 minutes you scheduled 15 for. Either do a first look, or assign a bossy relative a printed shot list and a hard stop. And build in a 20-minute buffer before the ceremony you tell no one about; it absorbs the late hairstylist, the missing boutonnière, and the dress that needs one more pin.
Modeled from 5,962 venues.
Every number in these tools is a modeled estimate, researched per venue across the Aisle marketplace and currency-normalized — not a figure pulled from booked weddings. Treat them as planning ranges and confirm with the venue.
- Data source
- Marketplace cost research
- Last refresh
- June 2026, Q2
- Next refresh
- September 2026
- Basis
- Modeled estimate
- Sample size
- 5,962 venues analyzed
- Corrections
- hello@aisle.wedding