MemorraA 4pm ceremony sets up one of the easiest wedding day timelines to run, because it leaves a full morning for getting ready and lands the reception squarely in the evening. Working backward from 4pm, hair and makeup usually start around 9 or 10am, photos of the details and the getting ready happen late morning, and any first look and wedding party photos slot into the early afternoon before you tuck away out of sight. After the ceremony you get cocktail hour, dinner, toasts, and dancing, and if you want photos during golden hour, a 4pm start puts sunset at a convenient point in the evening for most of the year. Here is a sample timeline you can adjust to your own ceremony length and headcount.
The morning: getting ready
Give hair and makeup more time than you think you need, because it always runs long, especially with a large wedding party. A rough morning:
- •9:00am, hair and makeup begins
- •11:00am, photographer arrives for detail shots, dress, and rings
- •12:30pm, getting ready photos and candids
- •1:30pm, get into the dress
Early afternoon: first look and photos
If you are doing a first look, the early afternoon is when it happens, followed by couple and wedding party photos. Knocking these out before the ceremony means you can go straight to cocktail hour with guests instead of disappearing for an hour.
- •2:00pm, first look and couple portraits
- •2:45pm, wedding party photos
- •3:15pm, tuck away and freshen up
- •3:30pm, guests begin arriving
The ceremony and cocktail hour
- •4:00pm, ceremony begins
- •4:30pm, ceremony ends
- •4:30pm, cocktail hour, plus any family photos you saved for after
- •5:30pm, guests move to the reception
Dinner, toasts, and dancing
- •5:45pm, grand entrance and first dance
- •6:00pm, dinner served
- •7:00pm, toasts and speeches
- •7:30pm, parent dances and open dancing
- •8:00pm, cake cutting
- •10:00pm, last dance and send off
Adjusting the timeline as things move
The one guarantee on a wedding day is that a block runs long and everything after it shifts. When it does, you want a schedule you can nudge rather than rewrite. Memorra lets you build a day of timeline, drag a block to a new time, and have the rest reflow, then share it with your wedding party and vendors so everyone works from the same plan. When hair and makeup runs 20 minutes over, you move one block and the day stays coordinated.