A typical wedding day runs 10 to 14 hours from the first hair appointment to the last dance. The ceremony itself takes 20 to 45 minutes; everything surrounding it (getting ready, portraits, cocktail hour, dinner, dancing) fills the rest of the day. The two sample timelines below are built around a 4pm ceremony and a 6pm ceremony, the two most common formats in the US. Use them as starting points and adjust for your venue's load-in requirements, the time of sunset, and your vendors' minimums.
What does a typical wedding day look like from start to finish?
Getting ready is the anchor of the day and consistently takes longer than couples expect. Work backwards from the ceremony start time to set the hair and makeup call time. The table below shows how both common ceremony formats map onto the full day.
| Time | 4pm ceremony | 6pm ceremony |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | Hair and makeup begins (bridesmaids) | Hair and makeup begins (bridesmaids) |
| 10:00 AM | Bride's hair begins | Bride's hair begins |
| 12:00 PM | Bride's makeup | Bride's makeup |
| 1:00 PM | First look (optional) | First look (optional) |
| 1:30 PM | Wedding party portraits | Couples portraits (golden hour) |
| 2:30 PM | Family formal photos | Wedding party portraits |
| 3:15 PM | Guests begin arriving | Family formals; guests begin arriving ~5:30 PM |
| 4:00 PM | Ceremony begins | 6:00 PM: ceremony begins |
| 4:30–4:45 PM | Ceremony ends | 6:30–6:45 PM: ceremony ends |
| 4:45 PM | Cocktail hour | 6:45 PM: cocktail hour |
| 5:45 PM | Reception begins | 7:45 PM: reception begins |
| 6:00 PM | First dances and toasts | 8:00 PM: first dances and toasts |
| 7:00 PM | Dinner | 8:45 PM: dinner |
| 9:00 PM | Open dancing | 10:00 PM: open dancing |
| 10:45 PM | Last dance and send-off | 11:30 PM: last dance and send-off |
The 6pm timeline assumes a summer or late-spring date where golden hour falls around 7:30 to 8pm. For a winter wedding with sunset at 5pm, a 4pm ceremony is better suited to capturing good light.
How much time should you plan for getting ready?
Allow 45 to 60 minutes per person for hair and 30 to 45 minutes for makeup. For a bridal party of six (bride plus five) with two stylists, that works out to roughly 5 to 6 hours. Add 30 minutes of buffer for the bride's final look, touch-ups, and getting dressed. Most couples underestimate this block by 30 to 60 minutes.
Getting-ready photos typically take 30 to 60 minutes and are most useful in the final 90 minutes of preparation: the dress going on, accessories being added, quiet moments before leaving. Budget this into the photographer's start time, usually 60 to 90 minutes before the bridal party is fully ready.
The calculation for the start time: Take your ceremony time, subtract travel time to the venue, subtract your buffer before the ceremony (at least 30 minutes), subtract the portrait session, subtract the total getting-ready hours. That gives you the start time for the first person in the hair chair.
How much time do you need for wedding photos?
Family formals take longer than most couples budget for. Allow 20 to 30 minutes for a moderate family size (two sets of parents, siblings, grandparents). For a large extended family with many grouping combinations, 40 to 45 minutes is realistic. Create a list of every family grouping you want and share it with your photographer in advance so they can move efficiently.
Wedding party portraits: 20 to 30 minutes for a party of 8 to 12 people. Couples portraits: 30 to 60 minutes is ideal; less than 30 minutes often feels rushed. For golden hour portraits specifically, the window is only 15 to 20 minutes at most. Schedule this block intentionally by checking the sunset time for your wedding date and location, then subtracting 20 minutes.
What are the most common wedding day timeline mistakes?
Insufficient buffer between getting ready and the ceremony start time. Couples often budget for the time to finish getting ready but not for the time to travel, settle in, and be present before the processional. Arriving 5 minutes before walking down the aisle is stressful. Arriving 30 minutes before is not.
Scheduling family formals during cocktail hour means the couple misses their own cocktail hour, which many couples say afterward they wish they had attended. Schedule formals immediately after the ceremony (when everyone is together anyway) and keep them to 25 minutes so you can join your guests for at least half the cocktail hour.
Underestimating hair and makeup time by 30 to 60 minutes is the single most common timeline issue. It pushes everything after it later, which often means rushing portraits or cutting them short.
The Sera Planner's Dashboard shows days until the wedding and your next 5 upcoming tasks. As the date gets close, use the Notes tab to build out your day-of timeline and share it with every vendor at least one week before the wedding.
How do you share the day-of timeline with vendors?
Send a finalized timeline to every vendor at least one week before the wedding. Include for each vendor: their specific arrival time, the load-in location, a point of contact on the day with a phone number, and their departure time. Your caterer, photographer, DJ, and coordinator all need this document.
The vendor timeline is different from the guest timeline. Vendors need to know when they arrive and when they leave. Guests need to know when the ceremony starts and when dinner is. Create two separate documents: one for vendors, one for guests (which can go on the wedding website or program).
The Sera Planner vendor directory keeps every vendor's contact information in one place, which makes distributing the final timeline a matter of copy-pasting rather than searching through emails.
A vendor directory, task timeline, and notes tab all in one place. Build your day-of timeline and distribute it to every vendor without searching through a year of emails.
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Frequently asked questions
What time should a wedding ceremony start?
4pm and 6pm are the most common start times. A 4pm ceremony allows for daylight portraits before and gives a natural flow into an evening reception. A 6pm ceremony suits warmer months when golden hour comes later and guests prefer a later dinner.
How long does a wedding ceremony last?
Between 20 and 45 minutes for most non-denominational and civil ceremonies. Religious ceremonies (Catholic Mass, full Jewish ceremonies) often run 60 to 90 minutes. Build your timeline around whichever applies.
How much time do you need for wedding photos?
Plan for 30 to 60 minutes of getting-ready coverage, 20 to 30 minutes for family formals, 20 to 30 minutes for wedding party portraits, and 30 to 60 minutes for couples portraits. Golden hour portraits (15 to 20 minutes at sunset) are worth scheduling separately.
What time should hair and makeup start for a 4pm wedding?
Work backwards. If you need to be fully ready at 3pm and it takes 6 hours for a bridal party of 5 with 2 stylists, start at 9am. Add 30 minutes of buffer and aim for 8:30am.
How long does a wedding reception last?
Four to five hours is standard. Most venues offer 4 to 6 hour packages. Budget at least 30 minutes for cocktail hour, 90 minutes for dinner, and 2 hours for dancing.