Wedding day schedule

Hi!

I'm also a 2014 bride but getting married in March.

Do you mean schedule for on the day or schedule for planning?

There's no real 'you have to have it/plan it this way' but we can help you with little tips and info :-)

Schedule for the day please, I think I have a planning schedule now after a few searches but what actually happens on the day?

In an average wedding you get ready, have the ceremony, take photos, have a sit down meal with speeches before or after dessert, have an evening disco with a buffet. You'd probably have the ceremony at some point up to 2pm, meal starting up to 4pm and evening as soon as the DJ can set up after the meal.

My times are:

Ceremony- 1.15pm

Meal - 3pm (with speeches before dessert and a naming ceremony for my daughter after)

Evening - 7pm

Buffet - 8pm

But, you can choose to do whatever you want! e.g. a lot of people start later in the day and just have one buffet. Also some have more people coming to the ceremony (especially if a church service and you want local family friends/church members to go), and then have a small tea and cake reception somewhere like the church hall before the evening guests travel to the venue.

For a tradional 1.30 pm wedding you could have something like

Time: Action:

08:30 a.m. Bride and bridesmaids have hair and makeup done at the hairdresser.

10:15 a.m. Bride and bridesmaids have breakfast

10:15 a.m. Groom and groomsmen have breakfast

11:15 a.m. Groom and groomsmen get ready to leave for Church.

11:30 a.m. Bride and bridesmaids get dressed

12:10 a.m. Groom and groomsmen leave for Church.

12:30 a.m. Photographer arrives at bride’s home

1:00 p.m. Transport arrives at bride’s home

1:00 p.m. Mother of the Bride gives sandwiches and drinks to Transport Driver for the Bridal Party to eat while taking photographs after ceremony.

1:00 p.m. Priest arrives at church

1:00 p.m. Singer and organist arrive at Church.

1:00 p.m. Groom and groomsmen arrive at Church.

1:00 p.m. Videographer arrives at Church.

1:20 p.m. Bridesmaids and flower girl arrive at the Church.

1:25 p.m. Bride and father of the bride arrive at the Church.

1:30 p.m. Wedding Ceremony begins

3:00 p.m. Wedding Ceremony ends

3:00 p.m. Guests congratulate Bride and Groom.

3:45 p.m. Photographs taken at chosen location

4:45 p.m. Cocktails and pre-recorded background music commence at reception location

6:00 p.m. Musicians arrive and set up

6:30 p.m. Toasts and speeches begin

6:45 p.m. Dinner is served

8:00 p.m. Cake cutting ceremony

8:45 p.m. First dance of bride and groom

9:00 p.m. Afters Guests Arrive

10:30 p.m. Tea coffee sandwiches and finger food served

11:00 p.m. DJ arrives

11:30 p.m. Musicians end for the evening

11:30 p.m. Disco Music begins

2:00 a.m. Disco Music ends.

Well we're being a little unorthodox partly due to availability of a registrar (it was early or and late nothing in between) and the fact I want to make the most of the day as possible. We have a lot of guests flying in from Australia so we decided we wanted them to have a great day full day. At this stage our day looks roughly like this...

We are having an 11.30am ceremony!!! Means an early start for me, it's taken a little time to get used to the idea but I think it'll work out well in the end.

11.30am civil ceremony

12.00pm receiving line

12.30pm photographs and reception drink and canapes

2.00pm wedding breakfast

3.30pm Swing Singer (during desert & coffee)

4.00pm speeches

4.30pm toast

4.35pm-5.00pm Swing Singer

5.00-6.30pm break

6.30pm evening commences with cutting of the cake ceremony (still undecided on this part)

7.00pm - 8pm ceilidh band

8.30pm - buffet

9.00pm - band (The bestman's band)

10.30pm - 12pm disco (no DJ just Ipod and PA system the band will have)

We are still working out the details but kinda thinking something along these lines.

Everything is happening at the one venue and many people will be staying on site so a break to freshen up and have a rest works for us. We also have a lot of parents with young children so I think they'll appreciate an earlier start and a reasonable finish time.

Ours was an afternoon wedding, here goes...

2.30pm - guests arrive

3.00pm-3.30pm - civil ceremony

3.30pm-5.00pm - drinks and photos

5.00pm-7.30pm - meal, followed by speeches

7.30pm-12.00am - evening reception

Ours goes a little something like this:

1.30pm - guests arrive

2pm - 3pm approx - Lutheran church ceremony

3pm- 3.45pm - photos, drinks and canapes

3.45pm - 4pm - walk to harbour to catch the boat

4pm - 5pm - boat takes us to reception venue (hopefully we'll be allowed some fizz to take on board!)

5pm - welcome drink at reception venue

6pm - 8.30pm approx - meal and speeches

8.30pm onwards - reception, carriages at 3am

We also have a little snack later on too - it's the done thing in Denmark rather than a buffet. So that's good as we don't have additional evening guests.

Really?? Is this just your wedding, or are you saying this is the norm? Because if you think it's the norm, I'd love to know where you get that from!!

To the OP: there isn't really a standard format these days, so work out what you want, and in what order

Is it not the norm? I was getting ready to call my mum and remind her to bring sandwiches, haha x

Barefoot Beach Bride

Ellarosejhay was looking for some ideas for a schedule. Schedules are subject to editing. I can see the funny side though.