Sample Wedding Timeline

If your wedding is in 2024, you’re probably getting serious about planning! We’ll be sending out a full onboarding package to Bradstreet’s 2024 couples later this month, with all sorts of templates and great information. In the meantime, here’s a primer on a crucial part of your wedding day – your timeline!
 
Here at Bradstreet, your event manager will begin working with you months before your wedding and will prepare a timeline for you. In this blog post, we provide a sample timeline to get you thinking about the details of your own day.
 
At the Barn at Bradstreet Farm, couples pick their own ceremony time – we only host one event per day, so the whole day is yours! While we see some ceremonies as early as noon, most couples pick 4.30pm. So, we’ve designed this sample with a 4.30pm ceremony in mind.
 
The first step in developing your timeline is determining your ceremony time. Your photographer may want to weigh in here – most photographers prefer to have the ceremony at least 90 minutes before sunset, but some prefer two hours. In the summer, 4.30pm is most common. Later in the fall, we see 4pm and even 3.30pm ceremonies because sunset is earlier.
 
Another variable is whether you’re doing a first look - if you are, you can get a lot of photography done before your ceremony, giving you more time to enjoy cocktail hour. Most – but not all – Bradstreet couples do a first look.
 
This sample timeline assumes a 4.30pm ceremony and a first look:
 
10am: Your event manager will get you checked in to the dressing suites! Anyone participating in Hair and Makeup (HMU) services generally comes right at 10am. Don’t forget the mimosas!
10.15am: Your event team begins setting up décor inside the Barn.
12pm: The other half of the wedding party checks into the dressing suites – those who just need to change.
12.30pm: Lunch arrives for the wedding party.
12.30pm: Photographer arrives.
1pm: Woodland Catering arrives and starts setup.
1.30pm: Beach Plum Flower Shop arrives and begins setup.
2pm: HMU team departs.
2pm: DJ arrives and begins setup.
2pm: First look!
2.30-3.30pm: Family photos
3.45pm: Wedding party back to suites.
4pm: DJ starts background music for guest arrival.
4pm: Guests start to arrive, are directed to ceremony area by Bradstreet team.
4.25pm: Bradstreet team brings wedding party to Barn to line up for ceremony.
4.30pm: Ceremony time!
5-6pm: Cocktail hour.
6pm: Move guests into Barn for dinner.
6.10-6.30pm: Introduce wedding party, first dance and family dances, toasts.
6.30pm: Dinner begins.
7.30pm: Dance floor opens! (could be later depending on the size of the dinner group)
9.30pm: Transportation arrives
10pm: End of the best night ever!
 
There are a lot of variables here – but this is a good skeleton to use. Happy planning!