Schedule

Work backwards. Is 11:30pm when you have to be out of there along with clean up or just be done? The average reception is 4 hours, plus an hour long cocktail hour, and then ceremony is typically a half hour to an hour depending on how involved it is. If your end time is 11:30, following this format, your reception would start at 7:30, cocktail hour would start at 6:30, and your ceremony would be at either 5 or 5:30.

View Quoted Comment Totally makes sense! Thank you so much! This helps a lot

Do you have a planner or day or coordinator? If so, they will take care of this for you. If you don’t, once you decide on a ceremony start time, let your photographer know. They will be able to help you with your day of schedule.

Have you booked your officiant? They will have a time slot chosen for you.


How long is your reception venue available? How much of that time is for setup/tear down? Do you have a day of coordinator doing setup/tear down? How long do you envision your wedding? Do you want a long party or short? Will the ceremony be at the reception venue or elsewhere? If it’s elsewhere, do not have a gap longer than driving time because you will lose guests if you do.
As for a schedule, ask your photographer and hairstylist because they make schedules as part of their job for each client.

Have you booked your venue? Our venue basically made the decision for us. We said we wanted an early evening ceremony, and the latest we can be there (not including vendor cleanup) is 11pm. Which made our ceremony start time 5:30pm. Because our venue gives us 5.5 hours for everything. (Plus two hours before the ceremony to use the bridal and groom suites to get ready, take pics etc)

View Quoted Comment Thank you! We have a coordinator for the day. I am a bit confused on what her job is…I will reach out to her to help me with this.

View Quoted Comment She should definitely be helping you with a timeline for your day! It’s her job to make sure things are happening when they’re supposed to, as well as dealing with your vendors, etc.

View Quoted Comment Is the coordinator employed by the venue? If so they only deal with venue issues: making sure doors are unlocked and lights are on, vendors arrive and leave on time, security employed by the venue does their job.


An independent day/month of coordinator is needed at minimum and they are a lifesaver. They make sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes and any snafus with vendors are resolved without you or guests knowing and panicking. They do problem solving and they do setup/tear down of your venue. They mediate between you and vendors and make sure that your vision is followed. Some people ask their family/friends to act as a coordinator but they aren’t able to enjoy the wedding and they don’t have experience needed to do the job. They don’t know how to problem solve in an event planning situation, nor do they know what your plans are or have the contact info for your vendors and knowledge of backups in a pinch.