Wedding Day
Timeline Builder
Build a realistic hour-by-hour schedule for your wedding day — from getting ready to the last dance. Customise for your ceremony type and preferences.
What type of ceremony?
This affects ceremony length, setup, and photo timing.
Ceremony time
We'll build the full day around this.
Customise your day
Speeches
Entertainment
Frequently Asked Questions
Most wedding days run 10–12 hours, from the start of hair and makeup to the end of the reception. A 3:00 PM ceremony typically means getting ready at 10:00 AM and wrapping up around 10:30 PM.
A first look gives you a private moment together before the ceremony and allows couple portraits to happen earlier — meaning less time away from guests during cocktail hour. It's popular for good reason, but some couples prefer the traditional 'seeing each other at the aisle' moment.
45–60 minutes is standard. It gives guests time to enjoy drinks and canapés while the wedding party finishes photos. If you skip it, build in extra photo time before the ceremony or plan for a shorter gap.
Before dinner keeps the energy high and gets nerves out of the way. After dinner means guests are relaxed and the bar has loosened things up. Both work — it comes down to personal preference and your MC's style.
The PDF is a starting point. When you sign up for Ivory Lane, your timeline becomes a living document — share it with vendors, assign time slots, and update it as plans change.