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Timeline Question!

CourtAACourtAA member
10 Comments First Anniversary 5 Love Its
in Chit Chat
Hi. Not sure if this is the right board to post this on, but I thought I'd give it a try.

My wedding is for next November and I am trying to work my day of timeline out.

I think we want the Ceremony to start at 4:00pm-4:45pm,then Cocktail hour from 5:00pm-6:00pm and the Reception from 6:00pm-11:00pm.

I am wondering what time I have to start getting hair & make up done. We want to do most of the pictures before the wedding, as well as a first look photos.

Anybody have any idea what time I should start the day? Or if I should move the ceremony back?

Help! Thanks!
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Re: Timeline Question!

  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
    5000 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer
    That seems long. Most ceremony & cocktail hours are 1.5 hours total and reception 4 hours. Do you have your venue yet? Some have set hours you have to use. 
    But it depends how many people you have getting their hair professionally done and stuff like that. I only have 2 BM's so it will take us less time to get ready than someone with 8 BM's. 
    Is the drive a factor? Mine is an hour from home. 
    I'm giving the first look pics and other formal pics about an hour and a half before the ceremony. 
    So I'd say if you stuck with a 4pm ceremony, you would want to be all done and start photos at 2:15 and work backwards from there as to how long hair will take. 

                                                                     

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  • AprilH81AprilH81 member
    2500 Comments 500 Love Its Third Anniversary 5 Answers
    Here is my timeline for a morning wedding, you can back it up and pad it as needed.

    6:30 am-Hair and Makeup for me, MOH and MOB and MOB (MOH only attendant)
    8:00-MOH and parents get dressed
    8:30-Bride and Groom get dressed
    9:00-First Look/pictures
    9:30-Bridal Party/Family Pictures (we only have an MOH and BM, and my MOH is my sister so there is a lot of "double dipping" for picture lists)
    10:15 we go into retreat
    10:30 Prelude/Guest arrival
    11:00 ceremony
    11:30 receiving line
    11:30-12:30 Cocktail Hour/Extended Family Pictures
    12:30-4:00 Reception

    Keep in mind that we have about we are getting ready and having the ceremony/receptino in one place, 80 guests, and we don't have a large bridal party, no flower girl or ring bearer and our parents are still married to each other (so no step-families to contend with).  Hopefully this will help.
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  • pumpkinsandturkeyspumpkinsandturkeys member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its Fourth Anniversary First Answer
    I don't think that timeline seems overly long re: ceremony/cocktail hour time (1.75 hrs vs 1.5), and having 5 hours vs 4 hours for reception is acceptable depending on when your courses are coming out, how many you have, and how much dancing you anticipate.

    I would plan to be fully made-up and ready to go no later than an hour ahead of time. Your hair and makeup trial should give you an idea of the timeline, but I'd say an hour for makeup and anywhere from 1 - 2 hours for hair (depending on whether they're curling it, etc). If you give yourself some buffer time, you'll be safe in case anything doesn't go according to plan, and also allow time for candid photos.


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  • dramamonkeydramamonkey member
    250 Love Its Third Anniversary 100 Comments First Answer
    So I had a 4pm November wedding, and my timeline looked like this

    I should note a couple of things, however...1. Sunset in November starts around 4:30, so outdoor sunset photos post ceremony are probably out for you since yours is longer than mine. 2. I did not have a venue change from ceremony to reception...just a room change 3. I did not have my photog do any photos before I put on the dress, so no makeup/hair photos. She started at 2. 4. Had about 100 guests. 5. Sunday evening wedding.

    11:00 am hairstylist arrives to start on my hair, followed by 2 BM and MOB, then finished on my hair. While she was working on other hair, a BM did my makeup. We were all done by 1ish

    1:45 left for venue from hotel

    2:00 - arrive at venue for getting dressed photos. Groom/GM/his family start on photos w/2nd shooter

    Photos from 2-3:30 (GM, his family, BM, me, my family, first look, bridal party photo

    3:30 private Ketubah signing (Jewish marriage contract- private, bp/ family)4:00 Walking down the aisle Ceremony start (tent)
    4:30 Ceremony end. cocktail "hour" begins (in mansion/ballroom) - b&g only for photos at sunset
    5:15 b&g announced, leading guests into dinner in tent w/salads preset
    5:30 Blessings, toasts 5:40 Dinner Served & b&g mingle with guests
    6:45 Dance floor opens in ballroom with First Dance, Father/Daughter/Mother/Son dance (all together) hora in here somewhere
    7:30 Cake cutting
    7:45 Anniversary Dance

    8:20- Last Dance

    So that was probably more detail than you needed....plus I know it might not be completely coherent - tried to cut and paste from the email I sent to our photographer 3 weeks out
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  • CourtAACourtAA member
    10 Comments First Anniversary 5 Love Its
    Thank you for your help!

    That definitely gives me a better understanding :)
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  • kiwikiss56kiwikiss56 member
    Knottie Warrior 100 Comments 25 Love Its Name Dropper
    If you are doing hair and makeup with your bridal party I would add at least an hour buffer.  Ex. if you have you + 5 BM doing hair and makeup and they take 45 mins each for hair and 30 mins each for makeup with 1 person doing hair and 1 person doing makeup that would take 4 1/2 hours.  I would add an hour to that time in case someone wants to re-do their hair, people are late etc. otherwise that eats into picture time.  The 2 weddings I've been in hair and makeup ran late and pictures got cut short.  If you only have 2-3 BMs you may not need a full hour buffer but you get the gist.
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  • lizandmark2014lizandmark2014 member
    100 Comments 25 Love Its First Answer First Anniversary
    The best advice I got for working this out was; start at the end. The other was to allow for travel time. Lastly a lot of things take longer than you think so add a little wiggle room/ time.
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  • CLI242009CLI242009 member
    250 Love Its 500 Comments First Answer Name Dropper
    lizandmark2014 said:
    The best advice I got for working this out was; start at the end. The other was to allow for travel time. Lastly a lot of things take longer than you think so add a little wiggle room/ time.
    I'm going to piggy back onto the bold. Depending on your location, (I'm in upper state NY) we have a 10am pickup time. Our ceremony isn't till 11am. It takes us 15-20 minutes to get to the church from our getting ready location. I am leaving so much room because we have to account for road conditions and weather conditions. We've had quite a few snow storms this winter and probably going to have some more. So take my bold into consideration. Just my thoughts.

    AprilH81 - Yay!! I'm not the only crazy bride having a morning ceremony hahaha. I have to get up at 5am but the beginning of your timeline is pretty much mine.
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  • KittyKaty20KittyKaty20 member
    250 Love Its 100 Comments First Anniversary Name Dropper
    This was super helpful! Our ceremony doesn't start until 1pm, but I am not the earliest riser, and we want to do pics before the ceremony...I feel better about not having to get up CRAZY early!
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  • CLI242009CLI242009 member
    250 Love Its 500 Comments First Answer Name Dropper
    KittyKaty20 said:
    This was super helpful! Our ceremony doesn't start until 1pm, but I am not the earliest riser, and we want to do pics before the ceremony...I feel better about not having to get up CRAZY early!
    Feb 8 is our wedding day and the only reason why I even agreed to do such an early morning ceremony is because by 4-430pm is when the sun starts to set. We have a beautiful backdrop up in Lake George, NY and if we were to have an afternoon ceremony we would miss all the light to have some good shots up by the lake and mountains. So it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make lol

    Also, as cold as it's been, I would really NOT want to have a late reception because that would be freezing. My ceremony and reception are both indoors but just imagining the patio door being opened for people to cool off at the reception is giving me chills haha
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  • PolarBearFitzPolarBearFitz member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments First Answer Name Dropper
    KittyKaty20 said:
    This was super helpful! Our ceremony doesn't start until 1pm, but I am not the earliest riser, and we want to do pics before the ceremony...I feel better about not having to get up CRAZY early!
    @kittykaty20 - are you providing lunch at your reception, dinner, or just heavy oer d'oeuvres? Or other ladies if you want to answer what is acceptable for a wedding reception in the mid-afternoon? I am considering this time and am considering heavy oer d'oeuvres...is that okay?
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  • AprilH81AprilH81 member
    2500 Comments 500 Love Its Third Anniversary 5 Answers
    aefitz29 said:
    KittyKaty20 said:
    This was super helpful! Our ceremony doesn't start until 1pm, but I am not the earliest riser, and we want to do pics before the ceremony...I feel better about not having to get up CRAZY early!
    @kittykaty20 - are you providing lunch at your reception, dinner, or just heavy oer d'oeuvres? Or other ladies if you want to answer what is acceptable for a wedding reception in the mid-afternoon? I am considering this time and am considering heavy oer d'oeuvres...is that okay?
    A 1:00 ceremony is still "lunch" so you need to serve enough food for people to have enough that they aren't hungry.

    A ceremony at 2:00 you can get away with appetizers, cake and punch.
    photo composite_14153800476219.jpg
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  • PolarBearFitzPolarBearFitz member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments First Answer Name Dropper
    I was thinking heavy oer d'oevres that would constitute a meal. So good to know.
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  • AprilH81AprilH81 member
    2500 Comments 500 Love Its Third Anniversary 5 Answers
    aefitz29 said:
    I was thinking heavy oer d'oevres that would constitute a meal. So good to know.
    As long as there is enough for everyone to constitute a meal you can still do heavy apps.  Just don't think that one of each app will be enough to satisfy people.  Going this route is usually more expensive than a "regular" meal would be if budget is a concern.
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  • PolarBearFitzPolarBearFitz member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments First Answer Name Dropper
    AprilH81 said:
    aefitz29 said:
    I was thinking heavy oer d'oevres that would constitute a meal. So good to know.
    As long as there is enough for everyone to constitute a meal you can still do heavy apps.  Just don't think that one of each app will be enough to satisfy people.  Going this route is usually more expensive than a "regular" meal would be if budget is a concern.
    Thanks! Most appreciated, I was already aiming to make sure guests had more than enough to be full. So I'm going to see if the oer d'oevres are substantial enough at my venue, see what we could do for a lunch,  and see what is cheaper but still going to fill everyone up!
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