Wedding Day Timeline: How to Plan Your Day of Wedding Schedule
A wedding day timeline is the document that holds your entire event together. Without one, vendors arrive at different times, photos run over, and the reception starts late. With a well-built wedding day timeline, every person involved — photographers, caterers, hair and makeup artists, venue coordinators — knows exactly when to be where and what to expect next.
Building a day of wedding timeline starts four to six weeks before the wedding date. That window gives you time to confirm vendor arrival times, account for travel between locations, and build in the buffer gaps that prevent one delay from cascading through the whole day.
How to Build a Typical Wedding Day Timeline
A typical wedding day timeline follows a consistent arc: getting ready, first look and portraits, ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. The total span for most weddings runs 10 to 14 hours from when the first vendor arrives to when the last guest leaves. The ceremony itself usually takes 20 to 45 minutes. Everything before and after that anchor point gets built around it.
Work backward from your ceremony time. If the ceremony starts at 4:00 p.m., cocktail hour runs 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., and reception kicks off at 6:00 p.m. Before the ceremony, count backward: 45 minutes for portraits with the wedding party, 30 minutes for couple portraits, 20 minutes of buffer, hair and makeup complete by 1:30 p.m. That structure is the core of any timeline for wedding day planning.
Building Buffer Into Your Schedule
A wedding timeline day of plan should include a minimum 15-minute buffer after every major block. Hair and makeup almost always run 20 to 30 minutes longer than estimated when the full party is involved. First looks frequently extend when couples get emotional — and that’s a good thing, but it eats time.
Add a 10-minute travel buffer between any two locations. Even a short drive of two miles can run long with wedding party logistics, parking constraints, or a vendor who needs loading time.
Coordinating Vendor Times in Your Day of Wedding Timeline
Your day of wedding timeline needs to list every vendor arrival time separately. Photographer and second shooter arrive 30 minutes before getting-ready coverage starts. Florist delivers two hours before the ceremony. Caterer sets up four hours before the reception dinner service. When you send the timeline to each vendor, include only the sections relevant to them — a 10-page master document overwhelms people who need three specific call times.
A wedding timeline day of document should include a contact list on the first page. List every vendor’s name, phone number, and role. If someone is late or lost, the venue coordinator can make the call without coming to you on your wedding morning.
Final Timeline Checks Before the Wedding
Review your typical wedding day timeline with your photographer two weeks out. Photographers often spot gaps — a portrait location that’s a 12-minute drive you hadn’t accounted for, or a lighting window that closes at 6:30 p.m. in your season. Their experience with dozens of timelines catches issues your fresh eyes miss.
Send the final timeline for wedding day to all vendors five days before the event. Follow up with a call or text confirmation 48 hours out. Vendors who confirm twice are the ones who arrive on time. The timeline only works when everyone has read it, understood their role, and confirmed their arrival window.