A wedding day timeline is the one document that makes a day feel effortless, and it works by being boring: arrival times, a start time for every part, and enough slack that a delay does not cascade. The one below is for a four o'clock ceremony with the reception in the same place, which is the most common shape. Shift every time by the same amount for an earlier or later ceremony.
The morning
9:00 · Hair and makeup begin
Allow forty-five minutes to an hour per person, and the bride last so her look is freshest. A wedding party of four needs a stylist from nine for a one o'clock finish.
11:00 · Photographer arrives at the getting-ready room
For the details, the dress on its hanger, the last hour of getting ready. Eat something before this.
13:00 · Bride dressed
Thirty minutes for the dress, the shoes, the jewellery, and a moment alone.
13:30 · First look, if there is one
Twenty minutes, somewhere private. It moves the couple portraits before the ceremony and gives back an hour later.
14:00 · Wedding party portraits
Thirty to forty-five minutes. Family formals after the ceremony instead; families are never all present before it.
15:00 · Couple rests, guests begin to arrive
The hour that always gets eaten. Protect it: sit down, drink water, do nothing.
The ceremony and the hour after
15:30 · Guests seated
Music playing. Ushers know where immediate family sits.
16:00 · Ceremony
Twenty to thirty minutes for a civil ceremony, forty-five to sixty for a religious one. Start on time; a ceremony that begins late ends dinner late.
16:30 · Confetti, then family formals
Fifteen minutes for the confetti and the walk out. Twenty minutes for family photographs from a printed list, with one named person gathering each group.
17:00 · Drinks reception
Ninety minutes is the right length: long enough for the couple to take a short portrait walk and greet everyone, short enough that nobody is hungry. Canapés from the first minute.
The evening
18:30 · Guests called to dinner
Fifteen minutes to seat a hundred people. Announce it twice.
18:45 · The couple enters, and the first speech
Speeches before dinner, or between courses, keep them short and the food hot. Three speeches, seven minutes each, is the limit.
19:00 · Dinner
Ninety minutes for three courses. Tell the caterer the speech plan so the courses land around them.
20:30 · Cake, then first dance
Cutting the cake first means it is served during dancing rather than stopping it.
20:45 · Band or DJ begins
Two sets with a break, or a DJ straight through.
22:30 · Late food
Something hot and hand-held. The most appreciated thing served all day.
23:45 · Last song
Announced. A last song that everyone knows is the last song is the difference between an ending and a fizzle.
00:00 · Carriages
Or whatever the venue's curfew is. Transport pre-booked for the time on the contract, not the time you hope for.
Two things every couple underestimates: how long family photographs take, and how much they will want the hour between three and four to be empty.
Who gets the timeline
Every supplier, a week before, with their own arrival time highlighted. The wedding party and both sets of parents, with the morning and the photographs highlighted. One person who is not the couple holds the master copy and the phone numbers on the day. UNSTAGED's Schedule keeps the timeline in one place both of you can edit and exports it as the one-page version suppliers actually read.
A good timeline is mostly gaps. The events take care of themselves; the gaps are what you plan.
— The UNSTAGED Studio
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