Wedding day timeline builder
Set the ceremony time; the morning is calculated backwards from it and the evening forwards. Move one number and the whole day moves with it — then print it or send it to your vendors.
Day starts
10:40 am
Hair & makeup
Day ends
12:00 am
Send-off
Total
13 hr 20 min
first block to send-off
| Starts | Block | Minutes | Edit row |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:40 am to 1:40 pm | Longest single block of the morning, and the one that overruns. | ||
| 1:40 pm to 2:40 pm | |||
| 2:40 pm to 3:10 pm | |||
| 3:10 pm to 3:30 pm | Door to door, plus parking. | ||
| 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm | |||
| 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm | pinned to the ceremony time | ||
| 4:30 pm to 4:50 pm | |||
| 4:50 pm to 5:50 pm | |||
| 5:50 pm to 6:10 pm | |||
| 6:10 pm to 7:10 pm | Runs while the portraits finish — shorten it if there is no travel. | ||
| 7:10 pm to 7:25 pm | |||
| 7:25 pm to 8:55 pm | |||
| 8:55 pm to 9:25 pm | |||
| 9:25 pm to 9:35 pm | |||
| 9:35 pm to 9:45 pm | |||
| 9:45 pm to 11:45 pm | |||
| 11:45 pm to 12:00 am |
Every duration above is an editable default, not a rule — your venue, your vendors and your family decide the real ones. Rename a block by typing over it.
The share link carries the schedule inside the address itself — send it to the photographer or the caterer and they see this page, already filled in. Nothing is uploaded.
Then seat everyone — free, no sign-up, saves in your browser.
Wedding day timeline
| 10:40 am | Hair & makeup | 3 hr |
| 1:40 pm | Getting-ready photos | 1 hr |
| 2:40 pm | Get dressed | 30 min |
| 3:10 pm | Travel to the ceremony | 20 min |
| 3:30 pm | Guests arrive & are seated | 30 min |
| 4:00 pm | Ceremony | 30 min |
| 4:30 pm | Receiving line & congratulations | 20 min |
| 4:50 pm | Family & couple portraits | 1 hr |
| 5:50 pm | Travel to the reception | 20 min |
| 6:10 pm | Cocktail hour | 1 hr |
| 7:10 pm | Guests seated & grand entrance | 15 min |
| 7:25 pm | Dinner service | 1 hr 30 min |
| 8:55 pm | Speeches & toasts | 30 min |
| 9:25 pm | First dance | 10 min |
| 9:35 pm | Cake cutting | 10 min |
| 9:45 pm | Dancing | 2 hr |
| 11:45 pm | Send-off | 15 min |
Ends 12:00 am · 13 hr 20 min from start to send-off
The wedding planning timeline — a 12-month checklist
The builder above plans the day. This plans the year that gets you to it. It is an order of operations rather than a calendar: start wherever your date puts you and work down.
12+ months
- Set the budget and the guest-count ceiling — they decide everything else.
- Book the venue and lock the date.
- Book the photographer and the band or DJ.
9 months
- Book the caterer if the venue does not cater.
- Order the dress or suit — alterations need the lead time, not the shop.
- Book accommodation blocks for travelling guests.
6 months
- Send save-the-dates.
- Book florist, cake, hair and makeup, transport.
- Choose the officiant and start the ceremony wording.
3 months
- Send invitations with an RSVP date three to four weeks before the day.
- Draft the day-of timeline above and send it to every vendor.
- Order table numbers, menus and signage.
6 weeks
- Chase the RSVPs that have not come back.
- Build the seating chart around the confirmed names.
- Final dress fitting.
2 weeks
- Give the venue and caterer the final headcount.
- Finalise the seating chart and print it.
- Confirm arrival times with every vendor against the timeline.
The week of
- Print the timeline, the seating chart and the per-table lists.
- Hand the timeline to whoever is running the day — not to yourselves.
- Pack, delegate, and stop making decisions.
Wedding day schedule template — but it recalculates
A downloaded template is a picture of somebody else's wedding. The moment your ceremony moves, or hair and makeup runs long, or the venue needs the room back an hour earlier, every row under it is wrong and you re-type the whole thing. Here the ceremony is pinned and the rest is arithmetic: change one duration and every time after it re-times itself, backwards through the morning and forwards into the evening.
Frequently asked
- How long is a wedding day timeline?
- From the first hairbrush to the send-off, most plans land somewhere between ten and fourteen hours, and the builder above tells you exactly which one yours is — it prints the total under the schedule. The two blocks that decide it are hair and makeup at the front and dancing at the back; trim either and the whole day contracts.
- When should the ceremony start?
- Work backwards, not forwards. Pick when you want dinner served and when you want the dancing to end, then let the calculator run the chain in reverse — it will tell you the ceremony hour that produces those. Ceremony time is the one number everything else hangs off, which is why it is the only field pinned in the builder.
- How does a first look change the timeline?
- It moves the couple portraits to before the ceremony, so the gap between the ceremony and the reception shrinks — usually by about half an hour, which is normally the difference between guests enjoying a cocktail hour and guests standing around. Toggle it above and watch the afternoon rearrange itself.
- How long should the cocktail hour be?
- Long enough to cover the portraits and the room flip, which is what it is actually for. If you are photographing at a second location, it needs the travel in it too. The default here is sixty minutes; change it and everything after it moves.
- Is this a wedding timeline template I can download?
- It is the thing a template cannot do: move the ceremony half an hour and every row re-times itself. When it is right, print the page, copy it as plain text, or send the share link — vendors open it and see the same schedule without installing anything.
- What should I send the photographer and the caterer?
- This page, as a link or a printout. Vendors want start times and durations for the blocks that involve them, and the share link carries the whole schedule in the URL itself — nothing you type here is uploaded or stored on a server.