When you’re new to this wedding lark, which most people are, one of the most difficult things to work out is how much time to assign to each part of the day. Although you’ve probably been to plenty of weddings, you’ve not organised your own before and so it’s tricky to know how long you’ll need for each event in the day. This is where the voice of experience can be a great help. Having attended hundreds of weddings myself either as a photographer, videographer or musician, I have definitely seen my fair share, and would love to help you figure this wedding timeline business out.
I picture time on a wedding day a bit like a concertina. If you stretch one bit of the day out longer, that may have the knock on effect of shortening other parts of the day. So if you give yourselves a lot of time getting ready in the morning so that your ceremony is later, this might compress your drinks reception and mean very little time for mingling with your guests before you’re all called for photos and then the wedding breakfast.
Obviously, all weddings are different and there are thousands of variables, so take this advice accordingly! Anyway, here’s my guide to the wedding day timeline…
Morning Preparations – Bride – 2-6 hours
Hair and makeup
Start nice and early. The more people you have in your bridal party, then the earlier you need to start. This will also depend on the number of people in your hair and makeup team. They’ll be able to best advise you about how much time you need. Really, the goal here isn’t to be rushing at any point. You should have enough time for everyone to get hair and makeup done, get dressed and have time to spare for photo and video, reveals to dad and bridesmaids etc before leaving for the ceremony.
I always advise brides to have hair and makeup done not necessarily first, but definitely not last. If all the other bridesmaids’ hair and makeup takes longer than expected, then you’ll be sitting there fretting and you may end up pressed for time which means you might have to forego certain photos and be in a stressed, hurried frame of mind. I’ve been at plenty of weddings where this happens, and the photographer and videographer have to leave for the ceremony before the bride is even in her dress. You don’t want this!
If you’re worried about the opposite, which is having too much time on your hands – don’t. Too much time is rarely ever an issue, because there’s always something to do to fill the time – like getting great group shots of your bridal party, or beautiful portraits of you on your own with your dress and makeup pristine.
The more people in your bridal party, the more room there is for complications too, so it’s not just hair and makeup. More people sometimes means more issues cropping up. However, it also means more people to solve them.
On site / remote
Whether or not you’re on-site at the ceremony venue or remote at home or a hotel etc, will also determine how early you start.
Travel is usually a known quantity, but it pays to check the route on the day to make sure there’s no traffic surprises like road works. If you’re not getting ready at the venue where the ceremony is to be held, then definitely factor that additional time that everyone will need to get there.
Morning Preparations – Groom – About 1-2 hours
The groom’s morning prep is usually a lot more straight forward than the bride’s. However, try not to fall into the trap of thinking that you can just spend the morning at the pub. Time moves extra fast on a wedding day, and there are still plenty of complications that can arise with the groom’s party – so factor in plenty of time to get ready too. Get ready first and then hit the pub if you have to!
You’ll need to be at the ceremony venue at least half an hour before the ceremony to welcome guests and do any last minute arrangements that could involve flowers, music, orders of service and so on.
The Ceremony – 30mins – 1 hour
Providing everyone is on time to the venue, most ceremonies run to time. Build in additional time for if the bride is late, and also for confetti and congratulations afterwards.
People are notoriously slow to move on after a ceremony, and if the ceremony venue is different to the reception, there’s more time involved travelling.
When to have the ceremony
Typically, church weddings are held earlier – around 12pm, which means an earlier start for the bridal party preparations, but this also means there’s more time for the reception, and travelling around between venues. In my experience, for church weddings, 1pm is ideal – it takes some of the pressure off the morning prep, but it’s still early enough to allow the reception to breathe – and there’s a lot to fit in, including group photos, couple photos, and you’ll want to have some time to actually talk to your guests!
Those couples with smaller bridal parties might be ok with an earlier ceremony as they won’t need as much time for morning preparations. When the ceremony is at the same venue as the reception, this takes the pressure off timings as there’s less travel involved. You can just walk to the ceremony room when you’re ready. Many couples schedule a 2pm ceremony when everything’s on site. This gives a luxuriously long morning and ealy afternoon to get ready, but I’ve still seen brides turn up late to their 2pm ceremonies even so! The fact that it’s only ’round the corner’ can make you complacent.
Also, 2pm ceremonies can squish the drinks reception time down if you need to be seating your guests around 4pm leaving a very small window for mingling and photos. Unless you’re seating your guests later – say 5pm onwards, it’s all a bit tight and the drinks reception will feel too short to fit everything in. So for most British weddings, I’d recommend a 1/1:30pm ceremony time.
Drinks Reception – 1.5-2 hours
I’ve mentioned the concertina effect of the time impacting the drinks reception above. It can only start once everyone’s left the ceremony venue and got to the reception venue. Even if that’s on the same site, it can still take a long time to move people along.
Photos have to be considered because they can be quite time consuming. You’ll also want to enjoy talking to all your guests, which will be significantly delayed if you have to wait until after the speeches to be able to do so. I recommend no less than an hour and a half for the drinks reception. 2 hours is ideal. That’s enough time for you to enjoy your guests as well as get most photo sessions done.
Don’t forget also, that the photographer will want to whisk you away for 20 minutes (usually) before the wedding breakfast to get some portrait photos. These are some of the best photos you’ll receive and you won’t want to miss this – even if you don’t like having your photo taken! What works in my experience is for the couple to go off with the photographer (and videographer) about 10 minutes before everyone is asked to move along to the wedding breakfast room, and then spend a further 10 minutes whilst everyone is settling down. Then it’s straight into the grand entrance and your first course.
If you have a videographer, I don’t recommend doing speeches before the first course because they’ll need to set up tripods, cameras, mics and often lighting too. Whilst it may be possible to do this earlier in the day, it isn’t always, and they’ll be going from the couple portrait session to the grand entrance and there’s just no time if you’re going into the first speech straight after that. At least be prepared to delay the first speech by 10-15 minutes if you’re set on having speeches before the first course to accommodate the videographer. (Speaking from experience here, people!)
The Wedding Breakfast – 2-4 hours
Most wedding breakfasts will run around 2.5-3 hours long. Usually enough time to serve 3 courses and do some speeches. Speak with your venue and caterer to get a good idea of how long will be needed. Think about how speech lengths may affect the timeline here. Fathers of the bride are the biggest culprits for going on and on, as are best men – make sure you get them to stick to a defined length to protect your timeline.
When to do speeches
Speeches are traditionally done after the meal has finished in the UK, but these days it’s wherever and however you want it.
I touched on speeches a little in the last section to safeguard the videographer against having to rush from portraits straight into shooting the speeches. I recommend most speakers don’t speak for longer than 20 minutes maximum. This helps people stay tuned in, and especially if it’s before the first course, stops people grumbling from being too hungry. It’s for this reason, why in my experience, it works better to delay speeches until after the 2nd course, so everyone’s full and satisfied, and have had a chance to drink themselves into a nice little laughter-conducive state.
I know that a lot of times, people like going first because it gets the nerve-wracking public speaking out the way and they can then just relax, but just be mindful of going on too long, or not giving your vendors enough time to set up, if you do decide to do that.
The Evening Party 4-5 hours
At most weddings I’ve attended, the meal and speeches is usually wrapping up somewhere between 6:30-7:30pm. It’s during this time that your DJ or band will be arriving and setting up. It’s a good time to serve coffee (to make sure no-one falls asleep after all that food and drink).
It’s also the perfect time to nip off with the photographer and videographer for an early evening photo session around the grounds of the venue for 20 minutes. This sort of time during Spring and Autumn especially, the light is perfect and beautifully soft and golden, and is THE best time for photos. You’ll have done a session earlier in the day, but these evening shots will be the absolute best. By the time you’re done, your evening guests should be arriving and you can do a little more mingling before the cake is cut and the dancing starts.
If you need to do a change of clothing, now is also a good time.
Some top tips: have a spare shirt (guys) to change into, and ladies, you might consider a pair of comfier shoes for dancing. (comfy shoes or even pumps or flip flops can be useful for getting around the venue during a photoshoot without having your heels sink into grass, or your feet getting wet.)
If the meal and speeches are finished too early, this part of the day before the dancing starts, can feel like a bit of a lull in proceedings. You really only need an hour between the end of the meal/speeches and the first dance, but you do need some time, so don’t go straight from speeches to dancing if you can help it.
8pm is a great time to kick off with the cake cutting and first dance.
At most weddings, the cake cutting is used to gather everyone together around the dance floor so that the couple can go straight into the first dance, ensuring that you don’t have to round everyone up again at a later point. This way the dance floor is full to start the dancing and you’ll feel like the party has truly begun.
Having more time between the cake cutting and the dancing can also produce a lull where it doesn’t feel like anything’s happening. I’ve heard plenty of complaints from bored guests over the years with this kind of set up.
A band will usually perform their material in 2 or more sets. This is usually designed to coincide with any evening food being served. It’s also a good time to do a sparkler exit or fireworks (even if hardly any couples actually exit anywhere these days!). Of course you could also finish off the night with fireworks which might feel like a bit more of a crescendo to finish on.
When couples choose to do fireworks may well depend on how long the photographer and videographer are staying until. However, my final bit of advice would definitely be to consider an ‘ending’ of some kind. Far too many weddings I’ve been at just fizzle out, and then it just resembles a sort of sad scene where the bride and groom and their parents are left tidying things up or gathering decorations before leaving.
So before that bit on your printed timeline that says ‘carriages’, my advice would be to think of a way that you can go out with a bang. Also, it’s worth noting that traditionally a bride and groom would leave the reception early. Whilst you may not want to miss anything that goes on at your wedding, there’s definitely some pro’s to having a grand exit. You get a proper ending, and you get to leave whilst the party is still going, meaning you’re not watching it slowly fizzle out in a drunken haze. Just a thought.
Conclusion
Creating a great wedding timeline is a finely balanced juggling act. Your wedding will be unique and you’ll have your own set of variables to deal with, but most weddings in the UK follow something similar to the process I’ve outlined above.
The goal is to have no part of the day feeling either rushed or too drawn out.
Finally, here are some tools to help you plan your timeline:
https://wedmatch.com/wedding-planning-tools/timeline-generator