🕐 Wedding Day Timeline Generator

Enter your ceremony start time to generate a suggested wedding day timeline, working backward and forward through the typical schedule of events.

Ceremony Start Time

How the schedule is built

Every line is a fixed offset in minutes from the one time you enter:

event time = ceremony start + offset
hair and makeup -300   ceremony 0     cocktail hour ends +90
photographer   -150    ends    +30    dinner        +130
first look      -60                   send-off      +320

Set the default 4:00 PM ceremony and hair starts at 11:00 AM, the photographer arrives at 1:30 PM, cocktail hour runs 4:30 to 5:30, dinner is served at 6:10 and the last dance is at 9:20 PM. Nothing you enter changes the gaps - the whole template slides as a block, so a 2:00 PM ceremony simply moves every row two hours earlier.

The four assumptions built into the offsets

A 30-minute ceremony. A full Mass or a traditional Hindu or Jewish ceremony runs 60-90 minutes, and everything after it shifts by the difference.
One venue, no travel. Only five minutes separate the end of cocktail hour from the grand entrance. A separate reception site needs 30-45 minutes inserted, plus the same again for guests to move and park.
A first look before the ceremony. Skip it and the wedding party and family photos have to fit inside cocktail hour, which is the usual reason that hour overruns.
A 60-minute plated dinner. A buffet for 150 guests through a single line takes closer to 90.

Check the offsets against sunset before you commit. A 4:00 PM ceremony in midwinter puts the 3:00 PM first look in flat, fading light and the confetti photos in the dark; in midsummer the same times are ideal.

Frequently asked questions

What time should a wedding ceremony start?

Work back from sunset rather than forward from breakfast. A start about four hours before sunset leaves the golden hour free for couple portraits and still allows a reception that ends before midnight.

How long does hair and makeup take?

This template allows five hours before the ceremony, which suits one artist and a party of four to six. Budget 45 minutes a person for hair and 45 for makeup, and finish the bride second to last.

How long should cocktail hour be?

An hour, as scheduled here, if the photos are already done. Stretch it to 90 minutes when there is no first look, and feed people - guests who have not eaten since breakfast drink at twice the rate.