Wedding Day Schedules- things to consider

So many brides want to schedule their wedding day down to the minute. As a wedding planner, we always create a wedding day and week of itinerary for our clients. I thought it would be a good idea to help you figure out how to schedule your wedding day so you can relax and enjoy the big moment!

Probably the most traditional wedding day schedule, here's the order that most brides follow:

Ushers/Groomsmen arrive at ceremony location to welcome guests
Guests arrive at ceremony site
Bridal Party arrives at ceremony site
Ceremony begins
Ceremony ends
Guests leave for cocktail hour
Cocktail hour begins
Bridal Party takes formal photos
Guests invited to dinner
Introductions
First Dance
Welcome Speech
Best Man Speech
Maid of Honor Speech
Salads served
Entrees served
Entrees cleared
Cake Cutting
Bride and groom thank you speech
Parent Dances
Open dancing begins
Evening ends

Now let's put an actual timeline together for you to see.... let's say the ceremony starts at 4:00 pm and the location is the same as the reception:

3:15 pm- Ushers/Groomsmen arrive at ceremony location to welcome guests
3:30 pm - Guests arrive at ceremony site
3:50 pm- Bridal party arrives at ceremony site
4:00 pm- Wedding ceremony begins
4:30 pm- Wedding ceremony ends
4:30-4:45 pm- Guests walk to cocktail hour
4:30-6:00 pm- Cocktail hour, depending on the number of guests, I would suggest a slightly longer cocktail hour for weddings of over 150 guests, especially if you'd like to be at your cocktail hour
5:45 pm- Guests invited to dinner
6:00 pm- Introductions; depending on how many people are introduced.. let's say just the bride and groom
6:05 pm- First Dance
6:10 pm- Welcome Speech; usually parents of the bride, or whoever is hosting the event
6:15 pm- Best Man Speech
6:20 pm- Maid of Honor Speech
6:30 pm- Salad Course
7:00 pm- Entree's served
7:45 pm- Cake Cutting
7:50 pm- Bride and Groom thank you speech
7:55 pm- Parent Dances
8:00 pm- Open Dancing
11:00 pm- Evening ends

There are a lot of factors that will adjust your schedule... the more guests you have, the longer it takes to serve, eat, and clear each course. If you don't want parent dances or you decide to just walk into the reception without being formally introduced, these items will be removed from the schedule. A major difference would be if your ceremony was not on site... you will need to add in the time it takes your guests to get to the reception when deciding on what time to begin your cocktail hour. Sometimes due to ceremony start time vs. cocktail hour start time you can be asking your guests to wait around for up to 3 hours. I would suggest not allowing this to happen because of a few different reasons. First, guests are usually unfamiliar with the area so asking them to explore for a bit can be daunting. Their other option is to go back to their hotel rooms and wait around- if they are staying overnight. Also, from start to finish, a wedding usually last anywhere from 6-8 hours. Adding in up to 3 hours of lag time between your ceremony and cocktail hour can create quite a bit of energy let down, and it can be challenging to keep the momentum going to the end of the evening when your guests have already been attentive all day. When it comes to the dance party, try to create a timeline that allows anywhere from 2-3 hours of open dancing for all of your guests. Any longer and everyone tends to get tired and the event ends on not such a high note. Any less time and your guests will feel like they're just getting started when the party ends.

Now, if this schedule isn't what you had in mind, here are a few things you can change around:

A lot of brides and grooms want to have some dancing before dinner is formally served. While I usually do not recommend this for food service purposes, if you have your heart set on it, here's what we would suggest for a schedule:

Keeping with the 6:00 pm introductions:

6:00 pm- Introductions; bride and groom only
6:05 pm- First Dance
6:10 pm- 2 open dances; have your DJ or band make an announcement
** Some brides would like the salads to be placed while these two dances are happening. Ask your caterer if this is possible for them to do at this time.
6:25 pm- Guests are seated for the Welcome Speech. Have your DJ or band play VERY mellow music at this point to get your guests to stop dancing and make their way to their seats.

If you don't want to have all of your formal speeches at the beginning of the dinner service, here's another way to place them:

6:00 pm- Introductions; bride and groom only
6:05 pm- First Dance
6:10 pm- Welcome Speech
6:15 pm- Salads served
6:25 pm- Best Man Speech
6:30 pm- Maid of Honor Speech
6:45 pm- Entrees served

or

6:00 pm- Introductions; bride and groom only
6:05 pm- First Dance
6:10 pm- Welcome Speech
6:15 pm- Salads served
6:45 pm- Entrees served
6:55 pm- Best Man Speech
7:00 pm- Maid of Honor Speech
7:30 pm- Cake Cutting

Ultimately there is no right or wrong answer here and whatever you decide works best for your family and friends is the right answer. Be sure to check with your caterer/banquet manager to make sure you are on the same page. Sometimes there are specific schedules that they prefer to not deviate from so you will have to be a bit flexible in your vision. Also, make sure you give this schedule to the vendors who really need it- your photographer, videographer, and musical entertainment. They will be able to do their jobs much better if they know what to expect and the approximate times things are happening. That leads me to my last point about your day of schedule. Although this looks very detailed, down to the exact minute, please remember that things happen that are out of your control and that will affect your timeline. As long as you follow the same order there's nothing to worry about if things get shifted around by 5-15 minutes. You might be running late, traffic might interfere, the weather is so beautiful that you want to extend your cocktail hour a bit longer, dinner service might take a few extra minutes, or you might want to pay your band overtime to stay an extra 30 minutes. Enjoy your day, knowing you've planned it out to the best of your abilities and relax and have a great time!