7 Wedding Timeline Tips

Table of Contents:

  • What is a Day-Of Wedding Timeline?
  • 7 Wedding Timeline Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Day


After photographing countless weddings, I’ve seen what works & doesn’t work when it comes to creating a day-of itinerary. Sooo, I’ve gathered my top 7 wedding timeline tips to help you get the most out of your celebration, and to make everything a heck of a lot easier when the day finally rolls around!

Now I DO want to make one thing clear before we get any further: you are totally welcome to ignore or adapt any of these tips if they don’t make sense for your unique wedding. It is your day, after all! But in order to do all of the things you want to do, and have the most stress-free experience possible, we need to have a solid timeline set in place beforehand.

Not to say that things absolutely can’t change or be adjusted day-of; no, flexibility is actually key to a successful wedding timeline! Having a pre-set schedule to keep us on track, though, will keep things running smoothly even if things are modified at the last minute.

Alright, enough with the disclaimers: let’s get to planning!!

What is a Day-Of Wedding Timeline?


I see you, my fellow overthinker—no need to make this too complicated! A wedding timeline is simply the order of the day’s events, just like any other schedule or itinerary you’d create for a trip, an event, a party, etc.


Sometimes you’ll have two separate timelines: one detailed timeline for you, your vendors, and your venue, and a simpler one for your guests that outlines the main events of the day.

What should we include in our wedding timeline?

Here are the most common components of a wedding that you’ll want to include in your detailed timeline:


  • Arrival of all vendors
  • Welcome party
  • Getting ready
  • First look (if applicable)
  • Family & wedding party portraits
  • Buffer time
  • Welcome guests
  • Ceremony
  • Sign marriage license
  • Cocktail hour
  • Couples portraits
  • Buffer time
  • Dinner
  • Toasts & speeches
  • Cake cutting
  • First dances
  • Afterparty


The simplified timeline/“Order of Events” for your guests to reference might only include:


  • Getting Ready/ Welcome Party
  • Ceremony
  • Cocktail hour
  • First Dances
  • Dinner
  • Cake cutting
  • Open Dance Floor
  • Afterparty


As a graphic designer who often provides my couples with custom wedding stationery, I’d be soooo happy to design a personalized Order of Events handout for you to give to guests 👀Just mention that you’re interested in stationery when you inquire!!


Who creates our wedding timeline?


If you hire a wedding planner or coordinator, they’ll typically be in charge of creating your main wedding timeline. They’ll send it to your vendors, coordinate everything with your venue, etc.


Your photographer will also play a part in your final day-of timeline! They know how long you’ll need for the different photos you want to get throughout the day—so they’ll often work with your planner as the day gets closer OR create a separate photo-specific timeline. I make this super easy by having you fill out a questionnaire for me, and then, with all that info, I’ll make a comprehensive timeline and family photo list. And when your wedding is close, we will have a final call to go through it all!

Feel like you’ve got a better handle on what exactly a wedding timeline is, let’s get into some deets about HOW to actually create one! Like I said, you’ll have help from your planner/coordinator and photographer with this. But it’s good to know what to look for when reviewing your timeline, and to know why certain timing decisions are smarter than others.


Follow these tips and I know you’ll have the most amazing, smooooth, and stress-free celebration from when you wake up all the way till the last dance of the night!


7 Wedding Timeline Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Day

1. Before anything else, decide if you want to have a first look


I love a first look and am all for a first look, if it feels right for you! If you don’t know what a first look is, it’s when, instead of waiting for the classic aisle reveal, you and your partner actually see each other before your ceremony. The reason this is an important decision to make early on is because the rest of your timeline will basically be built around whatever you decide! If you two are able to see each other before your ceremony, it means we can get a lot of portraits out of the way in advance, instead of after your ceremony.


I try to do the first look ~2 hours before your ceremony start time so that we have time for you to do the first look itself, say private vows if you wanna, do some couples portraits, and really soak in the moment together.

Doing a first look is amazing because it means you get to spend way more time together on your wedding day; you don’t have to spend hours apart in the morning, then only be with each other once your ceremony is over! If you’re worried about a first look taking away from the drama or the emotion of the moment you walk down the aisle, don’t be. The emotions will all still be there, and it will still be incredible because it’s your wedding day, DUH!

Want to still be a bit dramatic for the aisle moment? Don't have your veil on for the first look, and only wear it for the ceremony. Sorta like how my past bride, Abby, had her dad lift up her blusher halfway down the aisle to reveal her full look to her groom. (See her & Shane's dreamy fall wedding at Glen Magna Farms here!)

And if you like the idea of a first look but don’t want to do one with your partner, you can still do ones with your wedding party OR other loved ones—like Katie did with her dad!


2. Set aside extra time to get ready


No matter HOW professional and amazing your hair stylist/makeup artist/beauty team is, I am beggingggg you to add more time than you think you need for getting ready!


Not only will this account for anything (or anybody) that is running late, it’ll also make the morning so much more enjoyable for you. Trust me, you’ll want to be able to enjoy this time and truly be present with the besties & loved ones who are getting ready with you; it’s such a special part of your wedding day that couples often overlook when scheduling their timeline. We don’t want to have to rush your mimosa sipping or skip your fun group photos because you ran out of time!


3. Get family & bridal portraits done before your ceremony


If you do a first look, we’ll set aside at least 30 minutes or so to do family & wedding party portraits. This is one of the BEST parts of doing a first look: we can get the majority of your portraits outta the way before the ceremony, so that after you’re married, you can get straight to the party!

Then if we have extra time once we wrap up family & wedding party portraits, I’ll let you guys chill and spend some time together before the ceremony starts—unless you want to take more pics with just the two of you. I’m always a proponent of pre-ceremony couples portraits, because that way if you don’t feel like taking portraits later at sunset and you just wanna stay on the dance floor… we don't have to! We’ll already have gotten plenty earlier in the day.


If you’re NOT doing a first look, things will look a little different: I still make sure that, if at all possible, we do as many family and wedding party portraits before your ceremony. At separate spots at the venue so you don’t run into each other, of course!


This makes life sooo much easier after the ceremony, because we’ll only have a few groupings left to do during cocktail hour, with any people who weren’t at your ceremony early: i.e. grandparents, little kids, your officiant, etc. Plus a full wedding party photo! The best part is that we’ll only have to spend about 15 minutes or so doing those photos, since we’ve already knocked out a good chunk beforehand.

4. Add in buffer time


Want to know the secret to a smooth, worry-free wedding day that stays on track no matter what? Buffer time!


I have honestly never photographed a wedding where something didn’t fall behind or run into some sort of unexpected obstacle… it’s just what happens when you put on a big event like this with a TON of moving parts (and a ton of different people). Sooo instead of getting to the wedding day and realizing you didn’t build in enough time to transition between events, between locations at your venue, etc., you can add buffer time into your timeline in advance.  


Ideally, I’d recommend a 20-30 minute buffer between each major event of the day (e.g. your ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, etc.), and a 10-15 minute buffer between smaller events (e.g. your final getting ready photos, parent first looks, marriage license signing, guest arrivals, etc.). This way, you have plenty of built-in time for transitions, things falling behind, people being late, etc., without totally throwing off the flow of the day.


5. Be realistic about your ceremony time


Something to note about planning your ceremony time is that often, venues may put your ceremony start time at golden hour—which, in theory, will be beautiful. But if ANYTHING earlier in the day runs behind, then the ceremony will also be behind… and then we end up with barely any light for your ceremony, or your portraits afterward.


So this is something I always discuss with my couples, because it’s easy to think that a golden hour ceremony will be perfect and a dream come true, without thinking about the logistics! If you really really want a golden hour ceremony, I recommend either doing a first look so we can get portraits out of the way beforehand, or moving your ceremony time up juuust to be safe and assume that something will probably fall behind & affect the ceremony.

6. Use cocktail hour for couples portraits… or not!


When you join cocktail hour, I will be floating about with my second shooter to get any group shots you may want with other people you love. That shouldn't take us too too long, so I will leave the rest of the cocktail hour up to you; if you want to do 20 minutes of couples photos and then join cocktail hour, or just say screw it and join cocktail hour right away!


I’ll never pressure you to leave your people, your food, or your dance floor for the sake of portraits if that’s not what you’re feeling in the moment—especially if we already got plenty of portraits before the ceremony. See how those would come in handy later in the evening?! ;)


7. Lean on your photographer!


Finally, LEAN ON YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER! They are the expert, and they’ve done this manyyyy more times than you have. It’s sooo important to have someone by your side who you can trust to support you with all the logistics, just as it’s essential that you have experienced vendors to keep the timeline moving no matter what happens.


Whether you’re doing a first look or not, no matter when you do your family and wedding party portraits… my biggest goal as your photographer is just to make life easiest for everyone. I want you to have a stress-free, simple day, so I’ll go over the timeline with you months in advance & keep tweaking it up until a few weeks before the wedding, once everything is finalized. I’ll always offer my best recommendations, but ultimately, it’s up to YOU to make decisions that will help you create the day of your dreams 🫶


If you’re ready to stop trying to do it all on your own & find said photographer^^ to be by your side, get in touch and let’s create the most stress-free day ever!! ✨