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So many brides want to schedule their wedding day down to the minute. As a wedding planner, we always create a wedding day and week of itinerary for our clients. I thought it would be a good idea to help you figure out how to schedule your wedding day so you can relax and enjoy the big moment!
Probably the most traditional wedding day schedule, here’s the order that most brides follow:
Ushers/Groomsmen arrive at ceremony location to welcome guests
Guests arrive at ceremony site
Bridal Party arrives at ceremony site
Ceremony begins
Ceremony ends
Guests leave for cocktail hour
Cocktail hour begins
Bridal Party takes formal photos
Guests invited to dinner
Introductions
First Dance
Welcome speech
Best Man speech
Maid of Honor speech
Salads served
Entrees served
Entrees cleared
Cake cutting
Bride and groom thank you speech
Parent dances
Open dancing begins
Evening ends
Now let’s put an actual timeline together for you to see…. let’s say the ceremony starts at 4:00 pm and the location is the same as the reception:
3:15 pm- Ushers/Groomsmen arrive at ceremony location to welcome guests
3:30 pm - Guests arrive at ceremony site
3:50 pm- Bridal party arrives at ceremony site
4:00 pm- Wedding ceremony begins
4:30 pm- Wedding ceremony ends
4:30-4:45 pm- Guests walk to cocktail hour
4:30-6:00 pm- Cocktail hour, depending on the number of guests, I would suggest a slightly longer cocktail hour for weddings of over 150 guests, especially if you’d like to be at your cocktail hour
5:45 pm- Guests invited to dinner
6:00 pm- Introductions; depending on how many people are introduced.. let’s say just the bride and groom
6:05 pm- First dance
6:10 pm- Welcome speech; usually parents of the bride, or whoever is hosting the event
6:15 pm- Best Man speech
6:20 pm- Maid of Honor speech
6:30 pm- Salad course
7:00 pm- Entree’s served
7:45 pm- Cake cutting
7:50 pm- Bride and Groom thank you speech
7:55 pm- Parent dances
8:00 pm- Open dancing
11:00 pm- Evening ends
There are a lot of factors that will adjust your schedule -the more guests you have, the longer it takes to serve, eat, and clear each course. If you don’t want parent dances or you decide to just walk into the reception without being formally introduced, these items will be removed from the schedule. A major difference would be if your ceremony was not on site -you will need to add in the time it takes your guests to get to the reception when deciding on what time to begin your cocktail hour. Sometimes due to ceremony start time vs. cocktail hour start time you can be asking your guests to wait around for up to 3 hours. I would suggest not allowing this to happen because of a few different reasons.
First, guests are usually unfamiliar with the area so asking them to explore for a bit can be daunting. Their other option is to go back to their hotel rooms and wait around- if they are staying overnight. Also, from start to finish, a wedding usually last anywhere from 6-8 hours. Adding in up to 3 hours of lag time between your ceremony and cocktail hour can create quite a bit of energy let down, and it can be challenging to keep the momentum going to the end of the evening when your guests have already been attentive all day. When it comes to the dance party, try to create a timeline that allows anywhere from 2-3 hours of open dancing for all of your guests. Any longer and everyone tends to get tired and the event ends on not such a high note. Any less time and your guests will feel like they’re just getting started when the party ends.
Now, if this schedule isn’t what you had in mind, here are a few things you can change around:
A lot of brides and grooms want to have some dancing before dinner is formally served. While I usually do not recommend this for food service purposes, if you have your heart set on it, here’s what we would suggest for a schedule:
Keeping with the 6:00 pm introductions:
6:00 pm- Introductions; bride and groom only
6:05 pm- First Dance
6:10 pm- 2 open dances; have your DJ or band make an announcement
** Some brides would like the salads to be placed while these two dances are happening. Ask your caterer if this is possible for them to do at this time.
6:25 pm- Guests are seated for the Welcome Speech. Have your DJ or band play VERY mellow music at this point to get your guests to stop dancing and make their way to their seats.
If you don’t want to have all of your formal speeches at the beginning of the dinner service, here’s another way to place them:
6:00 pm- Introductions; bride and groom only
6:05 pm- First dance
6:10 pm- Welcome speech
6:15 pm- Salads served
6:25 pm- Best Man speech
6:30 pm- Maid of Honor speech
6:45 pm- Entrees served
or
6:00 pm- Introductions; bride and groom only
6:05 pm- First dance
6:10 pm- Welcome speech
6:15 pm- Salads served
6:45 pm- Entrees served
6:55 pm- Best Man speech
7:00 pm- Maid of Honor speech
7:30 pm- Cake cutting
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer here and whatever you decide works best for your family and friends is the right answer. Be sure to check with your caterer/banquet manager to make sure you are on the same page. Sometimes there are specific schedules that they prefer to not deviate from so you will have to be a bit flexible in your vision. Also, make sure you give this schedule to the vendors who really need it- your photographer, videographer, and musical entertainment. They will be able to do their jobs much better if they know what to expect and the approximate times things are happening. That leads me to my last point about your day of schedule. Although this looks very detailed, down to the exact minute, please remember that things happen that are out of your control and that will affect your timeline. As long as you follow the same order there’s nothing to worry about if things get shifted around by 5-15 minutes. You might be running late, traffic might interfere, the weather is so beautiful that you want to extend your cocktail hour a bit longer, dinner service might take a few extra minutes, or you might want to pay your band overtime to stay an extra 30 minutes. Enjoy your day, knowing you’ve planned it out to the best of your abilities and relax and have a great time! 
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This is very helpful! I’m wondering though, how a timeline would look for a less traditional wedding - say and afternoon wedding where just hors’ dourves are served and cake are served?
@lala: Hmmmm… interesting dilemma. Maybe it is a New England tradition, but the main challenge is getting your guests to sit down in a timely manner so your food quality isn’t compromised. I would tell your caterer that you are really adamant about dancing during specific times throughout the night. Let them know exactly when you want your guests to dance instead of just saying you want the dance floor open all night long. That way they can prepare the food according and they can make sure it’s served on time. You will need to schedule speeches so that would be a time where people would be seated and can be served one course for sure. Good Luck! KP
@Kim: An afternoon wedding with hors d’oeuvres and cake…. would there be the same formalities- introductions, first dance, speeches? If I have a bit more information I’m more than happy to come up with a schedule for you! KP
The timeline is one of the next things I need to tackle - THANK YOU!
I’m not really a fan of the micro-managed timeline…though it is important in some ways (knowing when to have the cake cutting so that the guests won’t all be gone, knowing how long — approximately — each toast should be), but I think it creates a bit too much stress.
This is a great list but nothing goes completely as planned. Many times an overly detailed bride doesn’t leave room for the unexpected which always happens.
I’ve been in the business for over 20 years and the unexpected ALWAYS happens.
Please visit my blog:
So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager
While things can come up, with good pre-planning and expert vendors, the unexpected DOESN’T always have to happen. I would rather have my clients come to me with a detailed vision of their wedding day instead of showing up and not knowing when to toast, cut the cake, or end their cocktail hour. As I mentioned in the blog post, the timing of things can shift according to the days unexpected adjustments, but having an order really helps all of the vendors involved, especially the banquet manager. The food service timing can be more precise and the photographer and videographers won’t miss important moments because they know what’s coming next. I have been in business for almost 7 years now and we have been fortunate enough not to have the unexpected happen to the point that our schedule goes out the window. Pre-planning takes care of any last minute surprises. I think brides these days are too smart and savvy to not have a day of schedule. They deserve to have their wedding go as smoothly as it can and being prepared is one of the ways to achieve that!
I would so appreciate any ideas you have Kate! Our wedding is a pretty casual afternoon wedding with the wedding and reception taking place at the same place (all starting at 2:00pm). There will be a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres during the change over in the main room. Then we’ll head back in for the reception where there’ll be cake and ice cream. I am thinking though that there will be many of the same formalities - introductions, first dance, speeches.
Thanks for the time line lesson — we’re trying to finalize ours right now!
Hello! You are like an angel sent from heaven! This schedule is almost exactly what I had in mind and as I am my own wedding planner it is helpful to see what wedding schedule should look like! Thanks so much for all this great information!!!
@Kim: Hi Kim, so a schedule for you starting at 2:00 pm might look like this:
2:00-2:30 pm Ceremony- on site
2:30-2:45 pm- Guests make their way to the cocktail hour
2:30-4:00 pm- Cocktail Hour
3:45 pm- Guests invited inside for dessert
4:00 pm Bride and Groom introduction
4:05 pm First Dance
4:05 pm Welcome Speech/Explanation of reception ** since this is a slightly different reception style, I would suggest the host/hostess explain a bit as to the rest of the evening- cake and ice cream and dancing soiree or something like that 
4:10 pm Best Man Speech
4:15 pm Maid of Honor Speech
4:20 pm Cake Cutting
**4:25 pm- Cake and Ice Cream service- if it’s a sit down situation.
5:00 pm Thank you Speech- Bride and Groom
5:05 pm Parent Dances
5:15 pm Open Dancing and Ice Cream and Cake eating for the rest of the evening
If it’s a buffet service you can continue your formalities without stopping for food service. That would bump everything up by about 30 minutes so your open dancing would start at around 4:45 pm. Hope this helps! KP
Would you recommend completing a sit down dinner and then beginning dancing? Or would you recommend serving a course, dancing, serving a course, dancing etc? We have a younger crowd and I want to keep the party going but I also think it can be nicer to let everyone relax and enjoy dinner and then begin the dancing. Any thoughts would be appreciated. This is such a helpful post. Truly. Thanks in advance!
@Valerie: Hi Valerie, great question! Here’s what I tell most of my clients: Dancing with a young crowd is tons of fun, but when to dance is always an issue. Your food service depends on guests being seated… a server will not or at least should not drop a plate at an empty seat. If you have dancing during courses it’s very difficult to get your guests to sit back down in a timely fashion. I would suggest getting all of your “formal” activities finished before you invite your guests to the dance floor for the evening. That would include any speeches, food courses, cake cutting, and parent dances. If you have your heart set on some dancing beforehand I would have two open dances right after your first dance at the beginning of the night… then ask your band to mellow out the song choices so people will get to their seats and enjoy their dinner. Most of your guests were just standing around for an hour or so during your cocktail hour so they will want to sit down for a bit to relax and enjoy the company around them. Hope this helps! KP
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Kate Parker, New Hampshire
Vendor: Wedding Planner
Website: Kate Parker Weddings
About Me: Kate Parker is the owner of Kate Parker Weddings, a wedding planning and floral and event design studio located on the Seacoast of NH. KPW specializes in simple and sophisticated weddings throughout New England and New York and also provides lighting services, paper products, custom out of town welcome baskets and music entertainment. Kate loves to work with as many details as possible- ribbon banding, monograms, favor tags etc to make each wedding unique and fabulous! She lives in Somersworth, NH with her husband Ryan, son Zachary, and chihuahua Lola. Although she doesn't have much free time, Kate loves to travel, read a good book, and entertain for close friends.
Thanks for this! One interesting thing is that at NYC weddings, dancing takes place throughout the entire wedding. But it seems like in NE, it happens after dessert. We are having trouble getting our caterer in New England to understand that we want to dance throughout the whole reception. Any thoughts?