Sample Wedding Day Timeline: A Schedule for Every Ceremony Time

How long does each part of a wedding day take?

A civil ceremony takes 20 to 30 minutes, photos and canapés take 60 to 90 minutes, and the reception takes 4 to 5 hours from guests being seated to the farewell.

Before you choose a schedule, it helps to know roughly how long each piece takes. These are the timings I use as a starting point. Your celebrant, photographer, caterer and MC will each have a view, and I check every one of them before the run sheet is final.

The common mistake is adding these up with no gaps. Moving 100 people from a lawn to a dining room takes time. So does handing a microphone from one speaker to the next. I build in a buffer after the ceremony and between each block of formalities so the day can slip a little without anything being cut.

What does a 3pm wedding day timeline look like?

A 3pm ceremony is the most balanced wedding schedule: photos and canapés until 5pm, dinner and speeches through the early evening, and about two hours of dancing before a 10pm finish.

This is the schedule most of my couples end up close to. It gives the photographer good light in every season, and it leaves enough room on the dance floor. If you want to see how coordination hours map onto a day like this, see how many hours of wedding coordination you need.

What does a 2pm wedding day schedule look like?

With a 2pm ceremony and a 10pm finish you have eight hours to fill, so either start the reception earlier or plan a longer canapé hour and a longer dance floor.

A 2pm start works well in winter, when sunset is before 5pm and you want the ceremony and portraits in daylight. In summer, the afternoon sun can be harsh for an outdoor ceremony, so check where the shade falls at your ceremony spot at that time of day.

What changes with a 4pm or 5pm ceremony?

A later ceremony gives you softer light and a shorter wait for dinner, but it costs you dance floor time if the venue still closes at 10pm.

4pm ceremony

5pm ceremony

With a 5pm start and a 10pm close, something has to give. Most couples drop the entrée, choose shared plates or a cocktail-style reception, or keep speeches to three. If dancing matters to you, a 4pm ceremony is usually the latest I'd suggest with a 10pm finish.

How does sunset change your wedding ceremony timeline?

In Sydney the sun sets around 8pm in late December and around 4:55pm in June, so a 4pm ceremony is golden hour in winter but bright afternoon sun in summer.

Daylight saving in NSW starts on the first Sunday in October and ends on the first Sunday in April, which moves sunset by an hour overnight. At the time of writing, October 2026, that is the rule set by the NSW Government. Check which side of the change your date falls on before you lock in a ceremony time.

• Summer: a 3pm or 4pm ceremony keeps you out of the harshest midday light, and sunset portraits fall during dinner.
• Winter: aim to finish the ceremony and portraits by about 4:30pm. A 2pm or 3pm ceremony works best.
• Spring and autumn: check the exact date. Around daylight saving changes, the same ceremony time can feel very different from one weekend to the next.

How long is a wedding reception, and what's the running order?

A wedding reception usually runs 4 to 5 hours: MC housekeeping, entrances, dinner with speeches between courses, cake, the first dance, dancing and the farewell.

1. Guests seated and MC housekeeping. Five minutes on where the toilets are, how the night runs, when the bar closes and how guests are getting home. It saves the venue team answering the same question 50 times.
2. Entrances. Bridal party first, then the couple. Practise the order with the MC and DJ.
3. Entrée, then speeches. Speeches between courses keep the kitchen on time and guests listening.
4. Main course.
5. Cake cutting. Do it early enough that the caterer can plate it as dessert.
6. First dance, then open the dance floor straight away.
7. Dancing. Around two hours is a good amount for most crowds.
8. Farewell. Last song, exit, and guests to their transport.

An MC is the person who keeps this order moving in the room. I work with them on timing so they know when the kitchen is ready and when to call the next speaker. There's more on that in our wedding MC guide.

Is a 10pm wedding reception finish normal?

Yes. A 10pm finish is common at Sydney venues, and with a 3pm or 4pm ceremony it leaves enough time for dinner, speeches and a good dance floor.

Some venues finish at 10pm because of their licence, approval conditions or neighbours, and some offer 11pm or later for an extra charge. Read the venue contract for the finish time, the noise rules and when music has to stop, which can be earlier than the time guests have to leave.

Extending the night is often charged per hour, or per guest per hour, and it usually includes staff and bar costs. Get the price in writing before you decide. A venue staff member in an Australian wedding planning community described a group that paid for the bar until 10:30pm, only for half the guests to leave anyway. If your crowd is older or travelling home, an extra hour may not be worth it.

What does a wedding timeline look like with two locations?

With the ceremony and reception in different places, add travel time and decide what guests do in the gap. A gap of up to three hours is fine if guests have somewhere to go.

Couples often worry about a long gap between, say, a town hall or church ceremony and a 5:30pm dinner. In my experience guests are mostly fine with it, as long as they know the plan. Put the gap on the invitation or wedding website, suggest a bar or café close to the reception, and make sure out-of-town guests can check into their accommodation.

• Tell guests the reception start time and address clearly, separate from the ceremony time.
• Book transport for guests who won't drive, and confirm pick-up times in the run sheet.
• Decide who moves anything from the ceremony to the reception: signage, flowers, the guest book.
• Keep the couple's portrait session near the reception if you can, to cut travel.

Two locations is where a coordinator earns the most time back for you, because someone has to be at both places. See venue coordinator vs wedding day coordinator for who covers what.

How do you turn a sample timeline into your own wedding schedule?

Start with your ceremony time and venue finish, fill in your suppliers' times, then share one version with everyone. That document becomes your run sheet.

1. Pick the sample above that matches your ceremony time.
2. Check your date's sunset and adjust portraits and the ceremony if needed.
3. Ask your venue or caterer how long each course takes to serve.
4. Agree the speech list and order, and allow about 5 minutes per speaker plus changeovers.
5. Ask your hair and makeup artist to work out the start time for your bridal party.
6. Add a buffer after the ceremony and before entrances.
7. Send the final timeline to every supplier with a version number and date.

When you book with me, I turn your timeline into a full run sheet in the 4 to 6 weeks before the wedding and confirm it with every supplier. Our run sheet template shows what goes in one.

Frequently asked questions

How we researched this

Written by Sara Ward from her experience building run sheets and coordinating weddings across Sydney and regional NSW. The timelines are illustrative starting points, not fixed schedules. Sunset times and daylight saving dates were checked against the sources listed in October 2026. We also reviewed questions couples ask in Australian wedding planning communities about reception finish times, speech lengths and gaps between venues.

1. Sunrise and sunset times in Sydney, December 2026 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked 7 Oct 2026
2. Sunrise and sunset times in Sydney, June 2026 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked 7 Oct 2026
3. Sunrise and sunset times in Sydney, March 2026 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked 7 Oct 2026
4. Sunrise and sunset times in Sydney, April 2026 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked 7 Oct 2026
5. Sunrise and sunset times in Sydney, September 2026 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked 7 Oct 2026
6. Sunrise and sunset times in Sydney, October 2026 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked 7 Oct 2026
7. Daylight saving · NSW Department of Communities and Justice · checked 7 Oct 2026