Wedding day timeline: a running order that actually works

How long each part of the day really takes

Most timelines go wrong in three places: hair and makeup starts too late, the drinks reception gets cut to an hour to make the meal time, and the speeches run into the turnaround. These durations prevent all three.

A sample timeline for a 1pm civil ceremony at the venue

A 1pm ceremony at the same venue as the reception is the easiest day to run: no travel between ceremony and party, a long afternoon, and a first dance before 8pm.

• 07:30 Hair and makeup begins for a party of five with two artists.
• 11:00 Photographer arrives. Details, outfits, a quiet ten minutes with parents.
• 12:15 Guests start arriving.
• 12:30 Registrar interviews each of you in turn.
• 12:55 Guests seated. Music begins.
• 13:00 Ceremony. It starts on time because the registrar has another after yours.
• 13:25 Confetti, congratulations, first drinks.
• 13:40 Drinks reception. Group photos from 13:50, couple portraits from 14:30.
• 15:00 Guests called through. Seated by 15:15.
• 15:15 Wedding breakfast and speeches, done by 17:30.
• 17:30 Turnaround. Guests to the bar or garden, couple out for twenty minutes of portraits.
• 18:45 Evening guests arrive.
• 19:30 Cake cutting, first dance, band's first set.
• 21:00 Evening food.
• 23:30 Last orders.
• 23:50 Last dance.
• 00:00 Carriages. Music off at midnight means the last song ends before it.

A sample timeline for a 2pm church ceremony with a separate venue

A church wedding adds an hour of ceremony and a journey, so a 2pm start pushes the drinks reception to nearly 4pm and the first dance past 8pm. Against a midnight curfew the evening is short, and this is the timeline that most needs the speeches kept to time. The example assumes 20 minutes between church and venue.

• 08:00 Hair and makeup begins.
• 11:30 Photographer arrives at the getting-ready house.
• 13:00 One partner, the ushers and the orders of service at the church.
• 13:15 Guests arrive.
• 13:50 The other partner leaves for a ten minute journey. Five minutes late is tradition; fifteen eats the drinks reception.
• 14:00 Ceremony, done by 15:00.
• 15:00 Confetti and the two or three group photos that need the church behind them.
• 15:30 Guests leave for the venue. Coaches first, then cars, the couple last.
• 15:50 Drinks reception. Remaining group photos from 16:10, couple portraits from 16:45.
• 17:15 Guests called through. Seated by 17:30.
• 17:30 Wedding breakfast and speeches, done by 19:45.
• 19:45 Turnaround. Evening guests arrive from 20:00.
• 20:15 Cake cutting and first dance, then the band.
• 21:30 Evening food.
• 23:30 Last orders.
• 00:00 Carriages.

The morning: hair, makeup and getting there

Work the morning backwards from the ceremony. You want to be dressed 45 minutes before it starts, with the photographer there for the 90 minutes before that. Allow 45 to 60 minutes per service per person, 60 to 90 minutes for each of your own, and divide by the number of artists. A party of five with one artist for hair and one for makeup needs around five hours, which is why 7:30 starts are normal for a 1pm ceremony.

Ask the artists for their schedule and put the couple in the middle of it, not last, because last leaves a delay nowhere to go. Travel gets the real drive time plus fifteen minutes, and coaches get a printed departure time fifteen minutes earlier than the one you need.

The ceremony: registrars, vicars and the 30 minutes before

For a civil ceremony at a licensed venue, the registrar needs you ready for a short interview 30 minutes before the start; Surrey's guidance is typical, and the interview is a legal requirement. They check your details are still correct and that you are both free and willing to marry, then run through the readings and who has the rings. Each partner is seen in turn, and the ceremony cannot be delayed for a late couple or late guests. The paperwork that gets you here, notice included, is in the giving notice guide.

Civil ceremonies run 20 to 30 minutes with two readings and music. Church of England services run 45 to 60 minutes with hymns, readings, an address and the register, and a full Catholic mass longer still. Ask your vicar or priest how long theirs usually run and plan to that number. Confetti and congratulations add 15 to 20 minutes whatever the ceremony, and a receiving line adds a minute per couple of guests.

Drinks reception and photos: 90 minutes and the light

Ninety minutes is the number. It gives 30 to 40 minutes for eight to ten group photos, 20 to 30 minutes for the two of you, and time for guests to get a drink and sit down. Cut it to an hour and the couple spend the whole reception being photographed while the guests wonder where they went. Give your photographer the group list a week ahead and nominate one loud usher to find people.

The light decides when the couple portraits happen. The last hour before sunset is the softest, and in the UK sunset moves by more than five hours across the year. In London it falls around 3:55pm in late December, around 6:30pm in late March jumping to 7:30pm once the clocks go forward, around 9:20pm in late June and around 7pm in late September; Scotland runs later in summer and earlier in winter, and a sunset table for your venue's town gives the exact time. A December wedding with a 1pm ceremony has usable light until about 3:30pm, so portraits go straight after the ceremony; a June wedding puts the best light in the band's first set, so slip out for fifteen minutes around 8:45pm.

The wedding breakfast and speeches: two to two and a half hours

Calling 80 people through and sitting them down takes 15 to 20 minutes, and the caterer's serve time is the one fixed point in the afternoon, so the coordinator starts calling people five minutes earlier than feels necessary. Three courses for 60 to 120 guests take 90 to 105 minutes of service. Three speeches at 8 to 12 minutes each take 30 to 45 minutes; tell each speaker ten, because everyone runs over and nobody has ever complained that a speech was too short.

Speeches before the starter mean the speakers eat their meal instead of staring at it, and the kitchen knows exactly when to serve. Speeches after the main course are traditional, but every overrun lands on the dessert and the turnaround. Either way, agree the slot with the caterer, because a kitchen that has plated 80 desserts does not want a surprise fourth speech.

The evening: turnaround, first dance, food and the curfew

The turnaround is the 45 to 60 minutes the venue needs to clear the tables, move the cake and let the band or DJ sound check. Evening guests arrive as it ends, and the cake cutting and first dance go back to back at the start of the first set so the room gathers once. A first dance between 7:30pm and 8:30pm is normal; later means the evening guests have been waiting.

Evening food goes out around 9pm, after the first set, when the daytime guests are hungry again and the evening guests have not eaten. Many UK venues hold a music licence to 11pm or midnight, some to 11:30pm, and a few rural ones earlier; the curfew is one of the questions to ask a venue before you book, because it fixes the whole back half of the day. Against a midnight licence, last orders at 11:30pm, the last dance at 11:50pm and carriages at midnight is the standard shape.

Buffers, who holds the timeline, and a running order to copy

Build 45 to 60 minutes of slack into the day and put it before the fixed points, not at the end: fifteen minutes after hair and makeup, fifteen before the registrar arrives, fifteen inside the drinks reception, fifteen after the speeches. A delay then eats a buffer instead of the next segment. The two points that will not move for you are the registrar's arrival and the caterer's serve time, so protect those first.

Someone other than the couple holds the timeline. At most venues that is the coordinator, but ask until what time they are on duty, because many leave after the meal is served. After that it is a nominated friend, an usher, or a paid on-the-day coordinator for £400 to £900. Give that person the running order with a phone number for every supplier, and tell the suppliers to ring them, not you. Two weeks before the day, send the same document to the venue, the caterer, the photographer, the band, the florist and the transport. The planning timeline has this as the last job of the final month, and the full planning guide covers every decision before it.

The times come out of your supplier emails, which is why it helps to have them in one place. Aisley keeps every venue and supplier reply in one inbox and chases the ones who have not confirmed, so the running order is built from what people actually agreed to.

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