weddingSix finished schedules, from a noon brunch wedding to a sunset ceremony. Pick the one closest to your ceremony time, copy it and send it to your vendors. Here is the classic 4 PM day at a glance.
Block lengths follow Joy's hour-by-hour guide (cocktail hour 60 to 75 min, reception 4 to 5 hours), checked October 2026.
Hair and makeup starts 5 to 6 hours before the ceremony. Portraits take 1 to 1.5 hours, before the ceremony with a first look or after it without one. The ceremony runs 20 to 30 minutes, cocktail hour 60 to 75 and the reception 4 to 5 hours. Pad every transition with 15 to 30 minutes.
Your ceremony time and your sunset decide everything else. Pick the template below that matches your ceremony time, copy it, then move the portrait block to fit your sunset.
The photographer is with you for portraits. Guests are at cocktail hour, on the dance floor and at the send-off. Watch a guest scan the table QR code and add photos from the browser, no app and no account.
WEDDING DAY
Example album
Same axis, 7 AM to midnight. The rose block is the ceremony. Tap a row to jump to that template.
These are vendor-facing run sheets, so they include hair and makeup and photo blocks. Copy one, change the times to match your ceremony and sunset, then paste it into a doc you share with your team.
Daytime garden, brunch and lunch weddings. A first look keeps all the portraits before noon, so the party wraps by late afternoon.
A full religious service followed by a drive. Formals happen at the altar while guests head to cocktail hour, and the couple catches the last half hour.
The most common afternoon setup. Most portraits happen before the ceremony, so the couple gets most of cocktail hour with their guests.
For couples who want the first sight at the aisle. All couple and family photos move to after the ceremony, so cocktail hour runs a little longer.
This example assumes a 7:45 PM sunset. Look up yours, then shift every line by the difference. The ceremony starts about 1 hr 45 min before sunset.
Up to about 30 guests. A short ceremony, one group photo with everyone and a long late lunch. Works with a 3 to 4 hour photographer package.
While your photographer is with you for portraits, your guests are at cocktail hour with their phones out.
Put one QR code on the cocktail tables and every guest photo lands in one shared album. Free for 20 uploads, no card.
Use these when you change a template. If a block in your copy is shorter than this, it's the one that will run late.
| Block | Typical length | Planning tip | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hair and makeup | 30 to 45 min per person | Bride goes last. Add 30 min to whatever the artist quotes. | Joy |
| First look and couple portraits | 45 to 60 min | Done before the ceremony, it frees up most of cocktail hour. | Joy |
| Wedding party photos | 30 to 45 min | Shorter if each side is shot separately while getting ready. | Joy |
| Family formals | 30 to 45 min | Plan 3 to 4 min per group and hand the photographer a written list. | Joy |
| Ceremony | 20 to 30 min, religious 45 to 75 | Civil ceremonies can be 15 to 20 min. Ask your officiant. | Joy |
| Ceremony to cocktail hour | 10 to 15 min | Guests walking to the next space. More if they drive. | Joy |
| Cocktail hour | 60 to 75 min | Zola argues for 90 min if all the photos happen after the ceremony. | Zola |
| Sunset portraits | 15 to 20 min | Set by your sunset time, not by the clock. | Joy |
| Reception | 4 to 5 hours | Dinner about 90 min, dancing 2 to 3 hours. | Joy |
| Buffers | 15 to 30 min | At the transitions: before the ceremony, after it, before dinner. | Joy |
Lengths from Joy's wedding day timeline guide (updated July 2026) and Zola on cocktail hour; Wedding Spot also calls one hour the standard. All checked October 2026. More on single blocks in how long cocktail hour should last and how long a ceremony lasts.
Template 3, minute by minute. Getting ready and the reception take most of the day. The ceremony itself is one of the shortest blocks on the list.
A first look doesn't add photo time. It moves it. Here is where the couple spends 2:00 to 5:30 PM both ways.
Template 3 is the first look version and Template 4 is the traditional one. Both are realistic. Pick the one that matches the moment you want, then copy it.
Golden hour has no official definition. Timeanddate describes it as the warm light when the sun is roughly between 6 degrees below and 6 degrees above the horizon, and its length depends on where you are and the season.
Golden hour definition from timeanddate; the December and June examples and the 15 to 20 min portrait block from Joy. Both checked October 2026. Look up your own date in the timeanddate sunrise and sunset calculator.
7:30 PM, first dance
Caught mid-laugh
Toasts, the dance floor, grandma's first dance, the send-off. Give guests one QR code and every photo they take lands in one shared album, no app needed.
From the best man
Scan to join the album
No app, no account
UPLOADING
THE ALBUM
June 21, 2026
647 photos · 95 guests
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Every template above already has these built in. If you rewrite one, keep them.
The most common reason a day starts late. Pad the artist's quote.
Guests arrive and sit while the couple stays out of sight.
Guests walking from the ceremony to cocktail hour.
Room flip, everyone finding their seats, the DJ cueing your entrance.
The 30 min hair and makeup pad, the 10 to 15 min walk to cocktail hour and the 15 to 30 min transition buffers come from Joy, checked October 2026.
The templates on this page are vendor run sheets. Guests need five lines, not fifteen. Send them the short one.
Illustrative only. Every vendor sets its own setup time, so ask each one and write their answer into your copy.
During portraits your photographer is with you. Guests are catching the toasts, the cocktail hour, the dance floor and the late-night fries. One QR code, phone browser, no app.
Scan to join the album
No app, no account
UPLOADING
THE ALBUM
June 21, 2026
647 photos · 95 guests
Wedding planner Abby Lee explains how she writes a wedding day timeline and walks through a sample schedule. Worth 12 minutes before you edit one of the templates above.
Watch on YouTube (12 min)Four day destination wedding for both our families. One album collecting the rehearsal dinner, welcome party, ceremony and farewell brunch, each in its own sub-album. We never could of organized that ourselves
worth every penny honestly
Works great, no issues on the day. Only thing i'd change is i wish i could reorder the sub-albums after the fact without redoing them. Small thing. Would still recommend to anyone
What couples ask while they turn a template into their own schedule: ceremony times, cocktail hour, first looks, sunset and who gets a copy.
Start hair and makeup around 10 AM, have the photographer arrive around 12:30 PM and do a first look at 2 PM. Wedding party and immediate family photos fill 2:45 to 3:30, guests arrive at 3:30 and the ceremony runs 4:00 to about 4:25. Cocktail hour goes 4:30 to 5:30, then the entrance, dinner at 5:45, toasts, sunset portraits if the light allows, first dance around 7:30 and a send-off at 10 PM. Template 3 above has every line ready to copy.
Most receptions run 4 to 5 hours. The usual order is the grand entrance and a welcome, dinner (about 90 minutes), toasts, the first dance and parent dances, open dancing, cake cutting and a last dance or send-off. Joy's guide puts dancing at 2 to 3 hours. Some couples do the first dance right after the entrance so the dance floor opens straight after dinner.
An hour is standard and 60 to 75 minutes is the usual range. If you skip a first look and do all the couple and family photos after the ceremony, plan on 75 to 90 minutes. Zola argues for 90 minutes in that case so the photos don't feel rushed and guests aren't kept waiting at the reception.
No, but it changes where the photo time goes. With a first look, couple portraits and wedding party photos happen before the ceremony and you join most of cocktail hour. Without one, those photos move to after the ceremony and you usually miss most of cocktail hour. Templates 3 and 4 show the same afternoon both ways.
Look up the sunset time for your exact date and location, then work backward. Golden hour is the soft, warm light when the sun is low, roughly between 6 degrees below and 6 degrees above the horizon according to timeanddate. Block 15 to 20 minutes for portraits just before sunset. In the sunset template, the ceremony starts about 1 hour 45 minutes before sunset.
Everyone working the day: photographer, videographer, planner or coordinator, venue, caterer, DJ or band, hair and makeup, officiant and florist, plus the wedding party and one point person who isn't the couple. Guests get a much shorter version with arrival time, location, dress code and the ride home. Send the final vendor version a week or two before the wedding.
