What is your time plan for your wedding day?

TBH I've not really thought about the timings for the morning yet ?

But my timings from the ceremony onwards are as follows:

1:00 - ceremony

1:30 - welcome drinks/photographs

3:15 - wedding breakfast

5:10 - cutting of the cake

5:15 - speeches

5:45 - drink in the lounge/time to relax, freshen up etc

7:15 - evening reception starts

8:15 - first dance

9: 00 - evening food served

12:15 - time to say goodnight to the bride and groom

12:30 - the party ends

Roughly my timings are:

8am - wake up at home, poss shower (if hair OK to be washed), get ready in scruffy clothes, drive to venue

10am - arrive at venue, set up flowers, tables (if not been allowed to do it the day before) and so on

11am - allowed into bridal suite, unpack, poss shower if not earlier/wash/freshen up? Robe on, MUA, hair, get dress on faff

1.30 - Meet registrar

2pm - ceremony

2.30 - welcome drinks/canapes

3.00 - photographs

4.30 - speeches, wedding breakfast, cutting cake

7.30pm - evening reception starts

8pm - first dance

9.30 - evening food served

12.30 anyone not staying over leaves

Got a while to go but hoping to run like this

3.15 pm groom arrives with ushers/ best man some pictures to be taken

3.30 pm guests arrive some informal pictures taken

3.45 pm Bride arrives with bridemaids/ flower girls, pictures continued.

4.00 pm Ceremony starts

4.45 pm/ 5.00 pm Ceremony ends / guest congratulate newly weds

5.10/ 6.00 pm Formal and informal photographs

6.10 pm Guest arrive at Reception

6.25 pm Bride and Groom arrive at Reception

6.30 pm Champagne toast to the Bride and Groom

6.35 pm cutting of the Cake

6.40 pm guest eat ( buffet will already be served )

7.30 pm Informal speech by bride and groom thanking Guests

7.35 pm First dance

7.40 pm Party starts

12.30 pm The Party ends

Ceremony: 13:00-13:45

Photos outside church: 13:45-14:15

Welcome drinks + photos: 14:45-15:45

Guests take their seats: 15:45

Mum says Grace: 16:00

Meal: 16:00-17:30

Cutting of cake: 17:30

Speeches: 17:45

Tea/Coffee and cake: 18:15

Evening reception: 19:00

First dance:19:30

BBQ: 20:30

Band starts: 21:00

More disco: 21:30

Last dance: Midnight

I get married at 1pm and have myself, two bms and my Mum's hair being done so hairdresser is coming over about 9:30 I think. Car picking bms up at 12:40 (church is five mins away) and coming back for me. Church service will finish at about 1:45 then a bit of faff outside until we go back to the hotel by 2-2:30 where we will have a drinks reception and photos for about an hour or so. Meal about 3:30 ish followed by speeches and cake cutting so I imagine that will finish latest 6ish. Then a slight lull where we might organise something or...not! Dj starting some warm up music at 7pm, evening guests 7:30, first dance around 8pm, finish at midnight.

Eta: not sure when to have the buffet out in the evening as it can only be out for maximum two hours so maybe 8:30-10:30 or 9-11 ?

Your hair/make-up artist will tell you how long it should take her to do whatever it is you want, plus how long for bridesmaids etc if she's doing that, so you can use that to calculate when she should be there. Other things like ushers arriving etc will depend on whether they're to come already dressed or will be changing at your MiL's, and how far it is to the ceremony from her house. You should probably aim to have them at the venue at least half an hour if not more beforehand, as guests will start arriving by then!

We had a 1.30 ceremony and my plan for the morning looked like this:

8am up, breakfast with family

9.00 drove to hotel to drop off my bag for the wedding night

9.30 shower, shave legs, wash hair, watch bits of Rugby World Cup. Got into wedding undies and dressing gown, had pics done of the dress etc.

10.15ish give BMs presents, drink bubbly, giggle.

10.45, hair and make-up lady arrived and started to work her magic. This took some time. Bridesmaids came in and did their own hair and make-up with me

11.00 Flower lady arrives, I take a break from being tortured with GHDs to coo over flowers.

12.00 car arrives for mum and BMs. I am still having my make-up done. Wave them all off, sit back down and wonder how the hell I'm going to get into my dress.

12.15 recruit various cousins/aunts to help me into the dress. More photos.

Just before 1.00, car returns for me. Off we go, and arrive early for 1.30 ceremony!

I am not sure exactly what OH was doing in the morning, but I think he got up fairly early as he had to set up all the cake stands etc for the hall, and then the ushers arrived about 11.30 to be given a quick tour around the venue so they knew where all the important places were. Then at about 12.45, when guests were starting to arrive, they dashed off to get dressed. I think he found it more stressful than I did!

Once we actually got started, it went: -

1.30 civil ceremony, followed immediately by walk to chapel, brief receiving line, then the blessing service.

2.45ish-4pm drinks and photos

4pm wedding breakfast. We had speeches between courses and cut the cake at the end; the whole thing finished about 6.15

6.30 jazz band, first dance, ice cream cart outside

8-11.30 cheesy disco in the bar with nibbles

What time did your TOG get there Helenia? I always assumed he wouldn't get there until late morning.

Our hairdressers said they'll get there at 9. I always thought they'd get there before that!

We didn't have a professional TOG. My cousin did all our getting ready pics, and he was staying in the same place as us so was there all morning, and my BiL did the ceremony/afterwards pics. If I had a professional I imagine that them getting there about 11-11.30 would probably have been about right.

My hair and make-up lady was only doing me (BMs all did their own) hence why she got there much later than you might expect.

I'm staying over in our venue the night before with my BMs and parents so my morning will probably look like this:

8am: wake up, get excited/nervous/feelsick/all of the mentioned, have a quick none-washing-hair shower throw back on PJ bottoms and my 'Mrs Penman' t-shirt

9am: head downstairs for breakfast

9.30am: set up the rooms with my BMs and parents

10.30am: head upstairs to do my make up (i plan to wear my everday makeup but with better quality stuff - my routine takes 15 min)

11.am: photographer arrives and my hairdresser/friend to do my hair

12: give out BM and parents gifts and all try not to cry - finish off the champagne!

1pm: Last minute touches to face/hair/BMs and a quick tidy round of the room and then PUTTING MY DRESS ON

2pm: head downstairs for the ceremony

2.30pm - photographs with everyone

3 - 4: drinks reception in our sun terrace

4 - 7: wedding breakfast

7pm: evening guests arrive

7.15: cake cutting

7.30: first dance

8pm - PARTY!

Midnight: either head into the 24 hour bar lounge at the hotel or retire to the hot tub on our balcony!

These are our rough timings from our website:

• 1:15pm - Groom arrives
• 1:30pm - Guests begin to arrive for ceremony
• 1:45pm - Guests seated
• 2:00pm - Bride's entrance
• 2:30pm - Champagne reception
• 3:00pm - Photographs in the grounds
• 4:15pm - Tables are called
• 4:30pm - Speeches
• 5:00pm - Wedding meal is served
• 7:00pm - Guests begin to arrive for evening reception
• 7:15pm - Cutting of the cake
• 7:30pm - First dance
• 9:00pm - Buffet opens
• 11:59pm - Last dance

Timings really depend on your venue (or venues) and what you want, really. If there's more than one venue you need to allow time for transportation and settling back in at the new place.

For us, the venue said we could start the ceremony anytime from noon onwards, but that mid-afternoon is best. The evening area will not be available until 7:30pm, as it's the restaurant that's open to the public until 6pm. So, our timings will be:

3:00 guests arrive at the venue, can check into their rooms if staying at the castle

3:30 ceremony (we're not adding any bits and bobs, readings, or anything, so it should be 20 minutes or so)

4:00 drinks reception outside with formal photographs taken and garden games like croquet to play.

5:30 sit-down meal, only a couple of the speeches

7:00 guests back outside for another quick drink, evening guests can start to arrive at this point.

7:30 all guests escorted through the castle to the restaurant for a drink and a nibble on the cold food buffet, soft music plays and they wait for..

7:45-8:00ish Ant and I make our grand entrance across the drawbridge to the Moat Restaurant, and we immediately enter for the first dance.

8:30 cutting the cake, cake and cookies bar open

9:30 hot food buffet starts (poutine!!)

Midnight guests leave, those staying at the castle with us are invited for a nightcap and a game of pool in the billiards room!

Thank you for all your replies yesterday i literally posted then had a call to go meet my mum and just closed the computer and didn't see any of the replies. I have just read them now.

I was asking more out of general interest and to see if my idea of timings is looking realistic next to everyone elses, so here's what i have planned-Let me know what you think:-

Hair done - 12.30

MUA - 1.30

Hair gone over 2.45

Dress on - 3pm

BM's etc leave - 3.30

Me and Dad leave - 3.45

Ceremony - 4pm

End ceremony and photo's - 4.45

Guests arrive eve venue - 5.30+

Me and OH arrive - 5.45pm

Canapes - 6pm

speeches - 6.30

Bands first set - 6.45

Break and evening guests start arriving - 7.30

Bands 2nd set - 7.45

Buffet - 8.15

First Dance - 9pm

End 12.30.

Does all of that seem realistic?

Sounds good to me. Im really glad you started this thread as I was trying to do my order of the day yesterday and got a bit stumped.

This is what Ive come up with so far:

8.30 am Staying on site - finish decorating room if not been able to do it night before.

9.30 am brief shower (not hair) - leave trusted friends and family to finish room if required.

10.00 am Bridesmaids to my room. Hair and make up ladies arrive, photographer arrives. (eat light lunch or sandwiches and nibbles while getting ready - before dresses go on!)

11.00 am Groom sets off from home (1hr away)

12.30 pm Groom checks room and sets up technology.

1.30pm Groom to get changed

2pm Hair and make to be completed with everyone fully ready to leave allowing 1 hour for drinking champagne, photos with the girls and my dad.

2pm Groom and Guests arrive at service. Welcome Music starts

2.45pm quick last minute panic that I've got everything I need. service and hotel room all onsite so only a 2min walk around corner.)

3pm Service

3.40 Drinks / Photos

4.30 Speeches (maybe after food - not sure about this bit)

5.00 Food

6.30 Drinks / mingling

7.00 Evening guests arrive.

7.30 Cutting of the cake.

8.00 First dance followed by DJ disco

11.00 Lantern release

12.00 bar closes

1 am all guest to be out of the venue

I think I've got everything covered but I'm really just guessing at these timings!

Our times are

14:00 - Guests and groom arrive

14:50 - Guests all seated

15:00 - ceremony begins/bridal entrance

16:00 - ceremony ends

16:00 - 17:00 Photographs outside church and surrounding area

17:00 - All head to evening reception/buffet begins

18:00 - Speeches/cutting of the cake

19:00 - Disco begins

19:30 - Evening guests arrive

20:00 - First dance

20:30 - Buffet topped up continually

00:00 - Home time/bed/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz