Free wedding day timeline template (order of the day)

A wedding timeline isn't there to run the day like a train timetable. It is there so that a dozen people (photographer, caterer, DJ, witnesses, the person driving your grandmother) make the right decision at the right moment without coming to ask you.

Sample 14-hour wedding timeline

This first version follows a daytime wedding, with a ceremony around 1pm and a long lunch that turns into a party. It suits a summer wedding where the couple want to finish at a reasonable hour.

The classic evening version

Many weddings in France follow another rhythm: a civil ceremony at the town hall in the afternoon, a long drinks reception, then dinner and dancing late into the night.

Build in buffers

• Hair and makeup: add 30 minutes, and put the person getting married last in the chair, not first.
• Group photos: list the groups in advance and name a relative who gathers them. Ten groups take at least 20 minutes.
• Transfers: time the drive between venues at the same hour of the same weekday, then add parking and walking.
• Speeches: three to five minutes each. Ask for the running order in advance and share it with the caterer, so the food doesn't wait.

Two versions: one for suppliers, one for guests

The vendors' timeline starts with the flower delivery in the morning and ends with the noise limit at night, with phone numbers and setup times. Your guests need six lines: where and when the ceremony starts, how to get to the reception, when dinner begins, when the last shuttle leaves. Give each audience its own version, and keep both up to date in one place.

What always runs late

Some delays are so predictable that they belong in the timeline from the start. Plan for them and they stop being delays.

• The last person in the hair and makeup chair, usually a mother or a witness who said she only needed ten minutes.
• Guests leaving the ceremony: hugs and congratulations take a good fifteen minutes before anyone moves.
• Seating for dinner: a hundred people take twenty minutes to find their table, longer without a clear table plan.
• The main course, when the speeches before it overrun: tell the caterer who speaks when.

On the day, name one person, a witness or the planner, who holds the timeline and makes the small decisions: shorten the photos, move a speech, start dessert. Whatever happens, it shouldn't be you.

Timeline by season/daypart

1. Daytime (11am ceremony)Morning prep, light lunch, afternoon activities, early evening send-off.
2. Evening (6pm ceremony)Afternoon prep, ceremony at 6pm, dinner 7-10pm, dancing 10pm-midnight.
3. Summer (very long light)Extra time for outdoor photos. Dinner later (8pm) because it's still light at 7pm.
4. Winter (dark by 5pm)Morning ceremony (light), dinner earlier (5:30pm), dancing under string lights.