How these timelines were built
Every example on this page comes from the same planner you can use on the timeline generator: it lays the morning out backwards from the ceremony and the reception forwards from it, then calculates sunset and golden hour for the date and the venue’s coordinates. The numbers are not round guesses — they are what the engine produced for a New York venue on Saturday 19 June 2027 (sunset 8:31 pm) and Saturday 18 September 2027 (sunset 7:03 pm).
The rules of thumb inside it are the ones planners and photographers commonly use, and you can change every one of them:
- Hair and makeup: 45 minutes per person, 5 people, 2 artists.
- Travel: a 20-minute drive is booked as 25 minutes.
- Buffers: 15 minutes between hair and makeup and getting dressed, 10 minutes before leaving.
- Family photos: about 2 minutes per grouping when someone calls names, 8 groupings (rounded up to 20 minutes).
- Plated dinner: 90 minutes plus speeches.
Example 1: a 3 pm ceremony, no first look (June)
This is the most common shape of a summer wedding: the couple sees each other for the first time at the aisle, family photos happen straight after the ceremony while guests are at cocktail hour, and couple portraits are taken in two parts — a few right after the ceremony and the best ones in golden hour.
| Time | Block | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11:10 am | Hair & makeup (5 people, 2 artists) | 2 h 15 min |
| 12:55 pm | Photographer arrives: detail photos | 45 min |
| 1:25 pm | Touch-ups, a snack, breathing room | 15 min |
| 1:40 pm | Getting dressed | 30 min |
| 2:10 pm | Breathing room before leaving | 10 min |
| 2:20 pm | Travel to the ceremony | 25 min |
| 2:30 pm | Guests arrive and are seated | 30 min |
| 2:45 pm | Arrive and wait out of sight | 15 min |
| 3:00 pm | Ceremony | 30 min |
| 3:30 pm | Recessional, hugs and confetti | 15 min |
| 3:45 pm | Family photos (8 groupings) | 20 min |
| 3:45 pm | Cocktail hour (guests) | 1 h |
| 4:05 pm | Wedding party photos | 15 min |
| 4:20 pm | Quick couple portraits | 10 min |
| 4:45 pm | Grand entrance | 10 min |
| 4:55 pm | First dance | 5 min |
| 5:00 pm | Welcome and blessing | 5 min |
| 5:05 pm | Plated dinner, speeches at 5:45 pm | 1 h 45 min |
| 6:50 pm | Parent dances | 10 min |
| 7:00 pm | Cake cutting | 10 min |
| 7:10 pm | Open dance floor | 3 h |
| 8:00 pm | Golden-hour portraits | 20 min |
| 10:10 pm | Last dance | 5 min |
| 10:15 pm | Sparkler send-off | 15 min |
Why it works: the cocktail hour is exactly long enough. Family photos (20 minutes), the wedding party (15) and quick portraits (10) end at 4:30 pm, which leaves the couple 15 minutes to breathe before the grand entrance. Golden hour that day runs from 7:50 pm to sunset at 8:31 pm, after all the formalities, so the couple slips out from the dance floor at 8:00 pm for 20 minutes.
What it flagged: with 9 hours of photography starting at 12:55 pm, coverage ends at 9:55 pm and misses the last dance and sparkler exit. You either add an hour, start the photographer later (skip some getting-ready coverage), or bring the exit forward.
Example 2: a 4:30 pm ceremony with a first look (September)
In September the light goes earlier. On 18 September 2027 in New York, golden hour starts at 6:27 pm and the sun sets at 7:03 pm — right when dinner begins. A first look moves almost all the photos before the ceremony, so the couple can enjoy cocktail hour and still get portraits in the best light.
| Time | Block | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 10:55 am | Hair & makeup | 2 h 15 min |
| 1:25 pm | Getting dressed | 30 min |
| 2:05 pm | Travel to the first-look location | 25 min |
| 2:30 pm | First look | 15 min |
| 2:45 pm | Couple portraits | 30 min |
| 3:15 pm | Wedding party photos | 25 min |
| 3:40 pm | Family photos (8 groupings) | 20 min |
| 4:00 pm | Tuck away before guests arrive, touch-ups | 30 min |
| 4:30 pm | Ceremony | 30 min |
| 5:00 pm | Recessional | 15 min |
| 5:15 pm | Quick photos, then join cocktail hour | 20 min |
| 5:15 pm | Cocktail hour | 1 h |
| 6:15 pm | Grand entrance | 10 min |
| 6:25 pm | First dance | 5 min |
| 6:35 pm | Plated dinner | 1 h 45 min |
| 6:35 pm | Golden-hour portraits (between courses) | 20 min |
| 7:15 pm | Speeches | 15 min |
| 8:20 pm | Parent dances, then cake | 20 min |
| 8:40 pm | Open dance floor | 1 h 30 min |
| 10:15 pm | Sparkler send-off | 15 min |
The trade-off is a longer morning: hair and makeup starts at 10:55 am instead of after noon. The golden-hour slot lands at the very start of dinner, so ask the caterer to hold your first course and keep the speeches until you’re back.
Compare it with the same 4 pm ceremony without a first look on the first look vs no first look guide.
Example 3: an 11 am small wedding
Micro weddings and elopements compress everything. With one person in hair and makeup (90 minutes), a 15-minute ceremony, three family groupings and a family-style lunch, the whole day fits between breakfast and mid-afternoon:
| Time | Block | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6:45 am | Hair & makeup (1 person) | 1 h 30 min |
| 8:30 am | Getting dressed | 30 min |
| 9:35 am | First look | 15 min |
| 9:50 am | Couple portraits | 30 min |
| 10:20 am | Family photos (3 groupings) | 10 min |
| 10:30 am | Guests arrive | 30 min |
| 11:00 am | Ceremony | 15 min |
| 11:30 am | Drinks | 30 min |
| 12:15 pm | Family-style lunch with one toast | 1 h 25 min |
| 1:40 pm | Cake | 10 min |
| 1:50 pm | Dessert, drinks and conversation | until 3:30 pm |
The warning here is about light, not time: sunset that May day is 8:07 pm, long after the party ends. If golden-hour portraits matter, book a short second photo session in the evening — it is cheaper than extending the whole day.
Reception timeline: the order that rarely changes
Whatever time you start, the reception has a running order that works because each step sets up the next:
- Grand entrance — the MC introduces the wedding party, then the couple.
- First dance straight away, while everyone is standing and watching. Some couples move it after dinner; it then needs its own announcement.
- Welcome or blessing — 5 minutes, someone from the family.
- Dinner, with speeches between courses (US) or after the meal (common in the UK).
- Parent dances and cake cutting — the photographer needs both, so they sit together.
- Open dancing, last call at the bar about 30 minutes before the end, last dance, exit.
The order of the day in the planner uses this sequence and lets you nudge or resize any block; everything after it in the chain follows.
The rules of thumb, and when to break them
Hair and makeup. People × minutes ÷ artists, rounded up to the next 15 minutes. Five people with two artists is three rounds of 45 minutes. A sixth person costs nothing extra (still three rounds); a seventh adds a round. The hair and makeup timeline guide has the full method.
Travel. Drive the route at the same time on the same weekday a week before. Saturday afternoon traffic near a stadium, a beach or a city centre can double a 20-minute trip. The planner adds 20 % by default; switch to relaxed buffers for 30 %.
Family photos. Each grouping takes about 2–3 minutes when someone calls names from a list, longer when people have to be found. Eight to ten is comfortable in a cocktail hour; the shot list guide shows how to build a list that fits.
Golden hour. It moves by roughly an hour and a half between June and September at New York’s latitude, and more in the UK. Look up your month in the sunset times pages before choosing a ceremony time, or start from a sample timeline for your ceremony time.
Turn an example into your day
Pick the template closest to your plans in the timeline generator, add your venue and date, and adjust the people and travel times. The planner recalculates every block, warns about clashes, and gives each vendor a run sheet with only their part of the day.