Free interactive tool
Create Your Perfect Wedding-Day Timeline
Enter a few key times — ceremony, breakfast, first dance — and the generator produces a full running order you can adjust, print and download. Sensible defaults are provided, and every timing can be changed.
Change the settings, then press “Rebuild from settings”. Timings afterwards can be edited directly in the list.
An illustrative example
What a finished running order looks like
Here is a sample UK wedding-day schedule with realistic illustrative timings, as an afternoon ceremony might produce.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Hair and makeup begins |
| 12:00 | Photographer arrives |
| 12:45 | Guests begin to arrive |
| 13:00 | Ceremony |
| 13:35 | Confetti and congratulations |
| 13:50 | Drinks reception |
| 15:00 | Couple photographs |
| 16:30 | Wedding breakfast |
| 18:45 | Speeches |
| 19:30 | Evening guests arrive |
| 20:15 | Cake cutting |
| 20:30 | First dance |
| 20:45 | Evening entertainment |
| 23:00 | Last dance and carriages |
An illustrative sample schedule. Your own timings will differ depending on your venue, season and arrangements.
Real days are shaped by real things
What actually affects your timeline
A generated schedule is a starting point. Before it is final, check it against the practical realities of your day.
Venue rules
- Licensed hours and music curfews fix the outer limits of the day.
- Access times for set-up decide when suppliers can realistically start.
- Travel time between ceremony and reception venues, if they differ.
Daylight and season
- Couple photographs are best while there is good light — in winter, that can mean moving them before the drinks reception.
- A summer ceremony leaves a relaxed afternoon; a winter one may want an earlier start.
Supplier availability
- Caterers need a firm wedding breakfast start time and final numbers.
- Photographers and videographers need to know when their coverage begins and ends.
- Entertainment arrival and sound-check times sit around the evening guests.
Ceremony arrangements
- Religious, civil and humanist ceremonies vary in length and in what they need before guests arrive.
- Confetti, photographs and greet-the-guests moments all take a few minutes more than you expect.
Overlaps are not automatically mistakes
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Your wedding day is just one part of the plan
WedPlan helps you manage everything leading up to it — and the same running order stays in sync with your suppliers, tasks and wedding-day pack.