Wedding Day Timeline Builder

The Wedding Talk Membership

Wedding Day Timeline Builder

Let's work on the first draft of your Wedding Day Timeline. Walk through this form, and it will help build up your timeline the way I would: backwards from the ceremony, forward into reception, and with buffers and photography accounted for. Once you're done, bring it to our live calls to check it out and confirm with your vendors that this works for them too!

Your answers save as you go. Everything you type stays in this browser on this device, so you can close the tab and come back to finish whenever you want.

1. The basics

Why I ask: Your ceremony start is the anchor.

Your first name

Your partner's first name

I use your names all through your timeline.

Wedding date

Ceremony start time

Guest count

Ceremony type

Civil or non-religious Full religious service Cultural ceremony

If your officiant has given you a length, enter it below and it wins.

Ceremony length from your officiant (minutes)

Is the ceremony at a church or house of worship?

Churches usually have a time cap on photos at the altar and a time you need to be out.

Minutes the church allows for photos at the altar

Where is everything happening?

Ceremony and reception at the same place Ceremony and reception at different places

Ceremony location name

Reception location name

Where are you getting ready?

Name of the spot

Where is your partner getting ready?

Name of the spot

Most venues have a getting ready suite on site. Whoever gets ready at the venue has no travel before the ceremony. I only add drive time for someone coming from somewhere else.

Does the same room need to be flipped between ceremony and reception?

2. Getting from place to place

Why I ask: Travel is where timelines fall apart. I add real minutes for the drive plus the part everyone forgets: getting fifteen people, a dress, and a bouquet into the vehicles. Estimate each leg with a maps app, and I'll add the loading time.

Any of these apply?

City traffic, a Saturday, or an event or parade in town (adds 15 minutes to every drive)

Are guests being shuttled from the ceremony to the reception?

Shuttle capacity (people per trip)

Number of shuttles running

3. The people

Why I ask: The morning is math, not vibes. How many people are in a chair, how many artists are working, and how many family groupings you want all decide when your alarm goes off.

Wedding party on your side (not counting you)

Wedding party on your partner's side (not counting them)

Hair and makeup

People getting hair done (including you)

People getting makeup done (including you)

Hair artists working

Makeup artists working

Is your partner getting hair or makeup done too?

People getting hair done with your partner (including them)

People getting makeup done with your partner (including them)

Their hair artists

Their makeup artists

A note on the chair order: Your beauty vendor decides who sits when, and they will probably rearrange whatever we put here. That's fine. I'm calculating total time, not who goes first. Confirm the order with your artist.

Family photos

Immediate family groupings

Parents and siblings. Build your list in my shot list tool (photographer vendor section) and count the groupings.

When do you want immediate family photos?

No first look? Each of you gets photographed with your own family before the ceremony, and the groupings with both of you happen after.

Extended family groupings (optional)

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.

When do you want extended family photos?

Most extended family arrives for the ceremony. Only pick before if they'll be with you early.

Do you have a family wrangler? (someone who is not you, with the list, calling names)

Without one, family photos take about 50% longer. Pick a loud cousin.

4. Your photographer

Why I ask: A posed, editorial photographer needs noticeably more time than a documentary photographer for details, couple portraits, and the wedding party. Neither is wrong. But your timeline has to be built for the one you hired.

Photographer style

Documentary / candid Blended (most photographers) Posed / editorial

Not sure? Ask them. "Do you pose us a lot, or mostly capture things as they happen?" Blended is the safe guess.

Hours of coverage in your package

Second shooter?

If you're getting ready in separate rooms or places, a second shooter can cover your partner at the same time.

Videographer?

Photos you want (uncheck anything that isn't yours)

Detail flat lay (dress, rings, shoes, invitations, florals) Getting ready candids Couple portraits Wedding party photos Family formals Full guest group photo Golden hour portraits Night portraits with off camera lighting Reception details before guests enter Photographer stays for the send-off

Add-on: a portrait trip to another spot

Yes, we're leaving the venue (or taking a long walk) for extra portraits somewhere special

Your regular couple portraits are already in your timeline. This is only for a separate trip, like a downtown spot, a lake, or a family farm.

Where are you going?

Minutes to get there (one way)

5. Your photo path

Why I ask: First look or no first look is the single biggest fork in your day. With one, most of your portraits happen before the ceremony. Without one, they happen during cocktail hour. Both are beautiful; this just tells me where to place your photo time. Private vows get their own spot too.

Are you doing a first look?

Yes, a first look No, we'll see each other at the aisle

First look location

Are you doing private vows before the ceremony?

Without seeing each other means back to back or around a door, so the aisle is still your first look. Private vows get their own block, and if you're doing a first look too, I'll put your vows right after it.

Since you're not doing a first look, will you take separate wedding party photos before the ceremony?

This takes pressure off cocktail hour, and each side gets photographed separately, so the two of you never cross paths. Family photo timing is set in step 3.

Where do you get dressed and take your pre-ceremony photos?

Cocktail hour length (minutes)

Golden hour portraits?

Sunset on your date

Your state (I'll estimate sunset)

Or enter the exact sunset time

Look it up for your exact date and town. Exact wins over my estimate.

Photographer note: Your best portrait light is thirty minutes to an hour before the sun actually goes down. Once you're inside that last half hour, it's gone. I'll place your step-out accordingly.

6. The reception

Why I ask: Every moment you add is a moment the music stops and people sit back down. Pick the ones that are yours. Everything you cut goes back to the dance floor.

Meal service

Number of plated courses

Number of buffet lines

Number of toast speakers

Parent dances

Grand entrance

Music

Venue hard end time

Does breakdown count inside that end time?

Your moments

First dance Welcome toast Blessing or grace Cake cutting Anniversary or money dance Bouquet or garter toss Late night snack Sparkler or send-off exit Receiving line after the ceremony Photo booth Surprise performance

7. Vendor constraints

Why I ask: Venue access secretly controls everything. If florals can't load in until noon, your ceremony cannot be at noon. And your photographer's coverage window has to actually contain the photos you asked for.

Do vendors get into the venue the day before?

Earliest vendors can access the venue on the wedding day

Any fixed religious or cultural timing? (notes)

One last thought from me: Building in buffers is crucial for giving yourself time to catch up or simply enjoy being present with your favorite people. I'm going to include them in your timeline, please check with your vendors to ensure it works for them!

Your draft timeline

Wedding day timeline

This is my recommendation, and it's yours to adjust. Change any block's minutes and the whole day recalculates. Tap Edit on any line to change its time, rename it, add a note, or remove it, and add anything I missed with "Add your own event" under the timeline. Time changes made with Edit don't move anything else, so check the lines around them. Buffers are in italics. They're your breathing room, so try to keep them in.

Master timeline

Copy and paste

Vendor arrival and departure

Your vendors need their own line on the timeline. I filled in what I can calculate; fill in the rest as vendors confirm. Add each vendor's social handle so everyone who gets this timeline can find and connect with each other.

Before you call it final

You have a draft. Now it becomes a real timeline. Send it to each of these people and ask them the question next to their name. Every one of them knows something about their own timing that you cannot know from the outside.

Photographer and videographer	Is there enough time for the photos we asked for? Does golden hour land where you would want it? Is our coverage window right?
Planner or day of coordinator	Does this hold up logistically? What did we forget?
Venue coordinator	Are our access and end times correct? Does anything conflict with your rules or another event?
Caterer	Is our dinner window realistic for our guest count and service style? When do you need to start plating?
DJ or band	Is there enough dance floor time? Are our formal moments spaced well? When do you need to load in and sound check?
Hair and makeup artist	Is the start time early enough for our headcount? How much buffer do you want? What order will you take people in?
Florist	When do you need access, and how long does the ceremony to reception flip take?
Officiant	How long is the ceremony as you plan to run it?
Transportation	Are the pickup times right, and how many trips will this take?

Then: update this draft with every correction, send the final version to all vendors, your wedding party, and both sets of parents, print a few copies for the day, and assign one person who is not you to be the timekeeper. Then hand it off and go get married.

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Wedding Day Timeline Builder

1. The basics

2. Getting from place to place

3. The people

Hair and makeup

Family photos

4. Your photographer

5. Your photo path

6. The reception

7. Vendor constraints

Wedding day timeline

Copy and paste

Vendor arrival and departure

Before you call it final

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