Wedding Day Timeline: Sample Schedules for a 3pm, 4pm or 5pm Ceremony

A wedding timeline for a 4pm ceremony usually starts with hair and makeup at about 09:30 and ends with a send-off around midnight. In between: the bride dressed by 14:45, guests seated by 15:45, family photos straight after the ceremony, drinks while the couple has portraits taken, and dinner from about 18:30. That’s the outline. Getting it right on the day depends on buffers, travel time and, on this coast, what time the sun goes down.

Below are three sample timelines, for 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00 ceremonies, written on the 24-hour clock the way a running order should be. Each suits a different season on the Eastern Cape coast, where sunset ranges from about 17:20 in June to about 19:30 in late December.

How to build a wedding day timeline

Start with three fixed points, then work backwards and forwards from them:

• The ceremony time. Everything in the morning works backwards from it.
• Sunset. It decides when the couple’s portraits happen and when guests need to be under cover and warm.
• The end of the night. Many venues have a time by which the music must stop. Check yours before you plan the dancing.

Then fill in the gaps with realistic durations. A civil ceremony with a few readings takes 20 to 30 minutes including the signing; a church service usually takes longer. Family photos take 20 to 30 minutes if you have a list. Allow travel time between ceremony and reception, plus fifteen minutes for getting a hundred people into cars.

One legal point for late ceremonies: under section 29 of the Marriage Act, a marriage officer may marry you at any time but isn’t obliged to outside 08:00–16:00. Late-afternoon ceremonies are common, but agree the time with yours in writing.

How sunset changes the day on the coast

These are approximate sunset times in Jeffreys Bay for the middle of each season. The light fades within about half an hour of sunset, and on a beach the sun can drop behind dunes, cliffs or houses before the official time.

The aim is to finish the ceremony and family photos with about an hour of good light left for the couple’s portraits. In summer that pushes the ceremony later; in winter it pulls it into the early afternoon. Our guide to sunset wedding ceremony timing goes into golden hour in more detail.

Two other things change with the time of day. In summer, the wind on this coast usually picks up in the afternoon, so a beach ceremony needs a weighted arch and a microphone. And the temperature drops quickly once the sun goes down, even after a warm day, which is why we put blankets out for guests and why a winter reception belongs indoors or in a heated marquee.

Sample timeline for a 15:00 ceremony (winter)

Best for May to August, when the sun sets between about 17:20 and 18:00.

A winter wedding has a long evening, so the reception starts early and the dancing has plenty of time. Keep the drinks hour short and warm: blankets, heaters and something hot to drink.

Sample wedding timeline for a 4pm ceremony

The all-rounder, best for March to April and September to November, and workable in summer with the portraits moved later.

In December, when the sun sets at about 19:30, the best light for portraits comes during dinner. The simplest fix is to slip out for fifteen minutes between the starter and the speeches, rather than move the whole day later. The reception order of events shows how to fit it in.

Sample timeline for a 17:00 ceremony (summer)

Best for December to February, when sunset is between about 19:00 and 19:35.

A later ceremony avoids the worst of the midday heat, but on a beach it may meet the afternoon wind, so look at your spot at 17:00 on a summer’s day before you commit. The evening runs late, so check the venue’s music curfew before you plan the dancing.

Buffers, photos and travel: where timelines slip

Most wedding days run late in the same few places:

• Hair and makeup. Allow about 45 minutes per person for each of hair and makeup, more for the bride, and finish the bride with an hour to spare. Our guide to wedding hair and makeup covers the timing.
• Getting dressed. Buttons, a bustle and a nervous mother take longer than you think. Allow 30 to 45 minutes.
• Family photos. Write a list of groupings, give it to the photographer, and ask one person who knows both families to round people up.
• Travel. If the reception is a drive away, allow the travel time plus fifteen minutes, and tell guests exactly where to park.
• Guests getting seated. A beach ceremony with a walk down to the sand needs more time than a room with the chairs at the door.
• Speeches. Agree a time limit with every speaker. Speeches between courses keep the evening moving.

Build a fifteen-minute buffer before the ceremony and another before the reception starts. If you don’t need them, nobody minds starting on time.

Turning the timeline into a running order

A timeline for the two of you is one page. A running order for the suppliers is longer: it starts with the first delivery in the morning and ends with the last vehicle leaving at night, and it says who needs power, water or access when. Send the final version to every supplier, the MC and the marriage officer, and print copies for the people running the day. The ceremony itself follows its own order, set out in our guide to the wedding ceremony order of service.

If you’d rather someone else wrote it and ran it, our on-the-day coordination takes over your file about six weeks before the wedding, confirms every supplier, writes the running order and runs the day. See how Tarika handles full planning and on-the-day coordination, or compare options in wedding planner vs day-of coordinator.