How To Plan Your Relaxed Wedding Day Timeline

Planning your wedding day ahead as much as possible is the key to having a relaxed day focused on spending time with guests and celebrating.

Focus on the timeline early on. You will need this for the caterers, photographer, church, celebrant and your guests. No matter how casual and informal your day is going to be, people should know what’s happening and where.

I have been to many well-planned weddings and it makes such a difference for you to have lots of time to chat with guests and create memories, time for photos and a relaxed getting ready experience. At those weddings, you can feel the difference immediately, as a guest, vendor and as a couple. The key to success is location and ceremony time. If you want your wedding to be the most relaxed experience I recommend getting ready (whole bridal party + parents), ceremony & reception in the same place. No driving between venues, no driving away for photos. This is one of the best things you can do to have lots of time for everything. Obviously, it’s not going to be feasible for everyone, so I’m here to help you plan it all for the best possible day.

Firstly, I will give you some tips on how to improve each aspect of the day and why it’s important.

Secondly, you will find a wedding timeline for WINTER & SUMMER weddings. I will also add notes on travelling and church weddings.

The perfect morning

Running late in the morning will create a domino effect on the whole day. You might want to start getting ready a little earlier than you think necessary. Set up your hair and makeup in a well lit, clutter-free area. Have all your details ready laid out - perfume, earrings, stationery, ring, ribbons, boxes, any sentiments. Have another clutter-free room ready with a dress out of the bag and on a nice hanger. This is where you can get dressed too.

Hair, makeup and photos take time. Especially recently with Tiktoks and Reels, makeup and hair artists will try to carve out time to create their content. Make sure you let them know - if there’s any photo/video they need to take, they have to start earlier because you’re working on a strict timeline and your photographer and videographer have the priority.

Make sure you are not the last person for makeup/hair! You will be needed for photos with your bridal party, details like putting on earrings, perfume, dress and veil photos and first look. This all takes time and planning. You will need to be finished with all makeup and hair at least 1 hour before leaving. Start getting dressed at least 45 min before you’re due to leave - tags, fashion tape, corsets, underwear, it all takes time, and you want to make sure bridal party photos and family photos are captured before you leave. This applies to the groom as well, and dads too.

Reserve about 15 min before you leave for the ceremony for photos only - mum and dad, siblings, bridesmaids, pets and your own portraits.

All about your ceremony

Ideally, you’d have your ceremony at the venue. That way it’s short and sweet and also entertaining. Churches are important for many reasons (faith, tradition, family history) and getting married at the venue is not always what you want. Please keep in mind photographers are treated differently with every parish - sometimes we are welcomed to walk and take snaps, sometimes we are required to stay still. That will affect your photos too, so please have realistic expectations.

Keep things moving and don’t wait too long to arrive at the church. When you’re late for the ceremony it will mean you will have less time for the reception with your guests. It will make things way more stressful trying to play catch up on family photos, which will eat away at your reception time.

Please also note church weddings in the Republic of Ireland tend to always start late. The latest I’ve experienced was 1,5 hours! The bride and her party were ready, it was actually guests who were still arriving. It’s a good idea to put on the invites the start of the ceremony 30 min earlier than actually planned. Some guests will be late, there is no doubt about it.

Have your family photos immediately after the ceremony - nominate one person who knows them and get them to help the photographer gather the family members. Receiving line can take about an hour so keep that in mind, it’s not something I’d advise doing, especially at winter church weddings. Have your confetti as one of the first things when the ceremony is finished.

Please avoid driving for more than 1 h from the ceremony to the reception, there’s too much that can go wrong - you will get bored in the car, the drivers get lost, the traffic can be horrendous and you might waste precious time. When booking your reception venue please choose one that has some type of photo opportunities to avoid having to go elsewhere for photos.

Reception fun, speeches, cake

Having all your family photos swiftly done you can relax and chat with your guests, there’s plenty of light for the photographer to capture natural images, candid, unposed moments. Ideally, you’d cut the cake now, everyone is looking forward to eating it.

You can have your speeches during the drinks reception or while seated at the tables before the meal, but keep them short. No one likes long speeches, 10 min is an absolute max. If there are few speakers that’s an hour of your time while everyone sits at the table hungry, looking for bread and butter and needing the bathroom.

Dancing & Sparklers

Short speeches + cake cut already = less time sitting at the tables = party and dancing well underway!

Get everyone excited and start dancing as soon as the band is ready. Don’t delay the first dance, get the bridal party to join soon if you’re nervous. Everyone wants to dance, hang around with drinks and relax now that the formalities are done.

Please keep in mind bands are notorious for taking their time to set up. If your first time is scheduled for 8:30 it will happen at 9:30, because the band arrives at 8:30

I’ve put together a timeline for weddings in different seasons below.

These timelines are focused primarily on having a relaxed wedding day, spending more time celebrating with your guests and starting the party early. These are guidelines only - every venue and church have their own policy according to their own experiences.

Spring & Summer

April - end of September

Humanist (or other non-religious) ceremony at the venue. For church services start getting ready and have your ceremony an hour earlier.

8 or 9 am - Getting ready (7 or 8 am Church wedding, driving) this also depends on the number of people getting ready

1 or 1:30 pm - Ceremony (12 or 12:30 no later Church wedding, driving)

1:30 or 2 pm - Drinks reception starts, Family Photos, Portraits, Cake cutting

5 pm - Dinner call

5:30 pm - Speeches (30 min max, if longer dinner call has to be earlier)

8 pm - Evening guests arrive, Dinner finished

8/8:30 pm - Golden hour photos, Mingling, Cake cutting

9 pm-ish - First dance

Party time!

Autumn & Winter

October to March

7-8 am - Getting ready

1 pm - Ceremony (12 pm Church ceremony, no later)

1:30 pm - Drinks reception starts, Family Photos, Portraits (sun goes down at 3: 30 pm)

4:30 pm - Dinner call

5 pm - Speeches (30 min)

7:30 or 8 pm - Evening guests arrive, Cake cutting, Mingling

8:30 or 9 pm-ish - First dance

Party time!

Extra tips

• The best time for portraits is in the ‘golden hour’, the sun is starting to set and the light becomes softer, warmer in colour and gives a glow. If your reception/dinner falls on this hour before sunset I recommend taking 10 minutes out of the reception to get portraits.

• Winter weddings are beautiful, the light is softer and they always have this magical, Christmassy feel. Remember to plan the ceremony earlier to leave plenty of time for your photographer to capture your portraits.

• Consider traffic and driving to church and venue, when planning your day. Major events, accidents, traffic jams on a Friday afternoon, country roads and diversions might give you less time for photos and enjoying the day with guests.

These timelines are focused primarily on having a relaxed wedding day, spending more time celebrating with your guests and starting the party early. These are guidelines only - every venue and church have their own policy according to their own experiences.

If you know someone who is recently engaged and may find this useful, feel free to forward them the link!