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Updated Mar 17, 2025A Morning of the Wedding Timeline for All of Your Pre-Ceremony To-Dos
From waking up to getting dressed, here's a sample schedule to help you stay on track.
Nailed down your wedding reception timeline? There's still one aspect of your big day that'll require extra planning: the morning of the wedding timeline. Wedding prep for the first half of the day takes more time than you might anticipate, but planning ahead can save you some major stress. But don't just take it from us—we asked Lea Stafford, founder and director of Stafford Creative + Co., an event planning and creative design company based in Northern California, for expert tips to organize your morning timeline. Whether you're coordinating glam sessions for a big wedding party or building in time for a first look with your partner, this sample morning schedule for the day of the wedding has you covered so you can actually enjoy all of the little moments (instead of rushing through them).
In this article:
What Is the 30/5 Minute Rule for Weddings?
The 30/5 minute rule (sometimes written as 30-5 minute rule) is the belief that a task which takes five minutes on a regular day will take 30 minutes on your wedding day.
That's because wedding days are notoriously busy, no matter how much you've scheduled everything down to the minute in your wedding day spreadsheet. Things can inevitably feel a little rushed on the morning of the wedding when you're dealing with distractions like vendor arrivals, keeping track of wedding party attendants or answering questions from your parents. Do your best to keep your cool by acknowledging that simple tasks might take longer than expected—and that's okay, especially if you planned ahead by building in some extra buffer time.
FEATURED VIDEO FROM THE KNOT
Morning of Wedding Timeline
Ready to get planning? We put together a sample wedding day timeline for the bridal party based on a 5 p.m. ceremony start time. Remember: This is simply a starting point. Feel free to adjust wherever you see fit, depending on when your ceremony is starting. Have a ceremony that's taking place at midday? Follow our tips for how to plan a morning wedding instead.
Design: Falak Khoja
7:00 a.m. Wake Up
It's an early wake-up call, but you hopefully got plenty of sleep the night before, right? On your wedding day, your exact morning timeline will depend on a lot of different things, but an earlier start time leaves plenty of room for flexibility and unexpected obstacles—or simply some time to relax instead of rushing through. Trust us: you'll never regret having extra time on the clock.
8:00 a.m. Eat Breakfast and Travel to Getting Ready Location
Breakfast actually is the most important meal of the day when you're getting married, so you don't want to skip this step in your morning of the wedding timeline. Eat a meal that's heavy on protein to sustain you, like yogurt, nuts or eggs, and avoid foods that you wouldn't normally eat (it's not the time to branch out). When you're deciding where to get ready for the wedding, Stafford recommends considering the location's lighting and access to power, restroom availability, food and beverages, and the overall size of the space. Lastly, is it close to where the ceremony is taking place?
If you're getting ready at a salon or somewhere other than your ceremony venue, we recommend starting earlier and factoring in extra travel time (even more than you think you need) just in case. You don't want to run the risk of hitting traffic or unexpected delays and running behind.
9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Hair and Makeup Begins
The exact time will depend on a few things: how many people you're getting ready with, the services you're doing and when you need to be fully dressed. Talk to your hair stylist and makeup artist ahead of time to confirm how much time they need. If you have a larger wedding party, they might bring a few assistants to ensure everyone is ready by the start of your ceremony (just be sure to discuss total costs ahead of time).
In a scenario where you're getting ready at the ceremony venue and plan to do a first look, Stafford also recommends an early start. "If there are eight people in the wedding party with five receiving both hair and makeup services, I would recommend beginning beauty services between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. with two artists who offer both services," says Stafford.
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The rule of thumb is to budget about 90 minutes total for each person having their hair and makeup done (at least 30 to 45 minutes for each service). And as the VIP, you can expect your hair, makeup or other grooming to take even longer (plan for two to three hours total). We recommend being fully dressed and ready—that means completing beauty services and putting on your attire—at least six hours before the ceremony start time, so take that into account and work backwards to determine exactly when you should start your hair and makeup.
12:00 p.m. Lunch Break (Photographer Arrives)
By now, you've been on the go for a few hours, so be sure to build in a dedicated lunch break for you and your wedding party to refuel. Order lunch for delivery or stock up on sandwiches, fruit and small bites ahead of time if you'll have access to a kitchen. Unless you extend your photography coverage to include the morning, lunchtime is usually when your photographer will arrive, so it's an ideal time to regroup and prepare for the second half of the day. Use this break to check-in with your wedding planner or day-of coordinator to confirm that everything's going smoothly on their end.
1:00 p.m. Exchange Wedding Gifts
After lunch, you can exchange wedding day gifts with your parents, attendants, flower girl, ring bearer or other loved ones. On top of that, it's also your chance to surprise your partner with a wedding day gift or handwritten card. Don't want to spoil the reveal of seeing each other before you're ready? Send someone from your group to deliver it for you.
1:30 p.m. Get Dressed
With potential food and drink spills out of the way following lunch, it's time to get dressed. We recommend hanging up your outfit and organizing your accessories as soon as you arrive at the venue so that everything's ready to go when the time comes. (And if you forgot something, you'll realize it sooner rather than later and hopefully have time to figure out a solution.)
2:00 p.m. Travel to Ceremony Venue
If you're already at the ceremony site, you can obviously skip this step in your schedule for the day of the wedding. But if you're getting ready at a different location, it's time to start rounding everyone up for the journey to your ceremony venue—or wherever your first look is taking place, if applicable. Leave plenty of time (even if the venue is nearby) and shift the rest of the timeline around as needed for longer distances.
2:30 p.m. First Look
There are lots of pros and cons to doing a first look on your wedding day, but the main thing to keep in mind is that you'll need to be picture-ready by early afternoon. Plan for anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour for the whole event, including the reveal with your partner, group photos with your wedding party and portraits of just the two of you.
3:00 p.m. Photos with Family and Wedding Party
The exact timing for group photos is something to discuss with your wedding photographer, since it all depends on how many people are included, where you're taking pictures and whether or not you're doing a first look. Larger group photos with both sets of wedding attendants and parents will almost always take up more time, but even if you're snapping photos with a smaller crew, you should plan for at least half an hour.
4:00 p.m. Final Touch-Ups and Preparations
When there's about an hour to go before the ceremony, everyone who's in the wedding should be dressed and at the venue. Use this time to do final hair and makeup touch-ups or other last-minute preparations, like using the restroom, practicing your personal vows one more time or double-checking that your best man has the wedding rings.
5 p.m. Wedding Ceremony Starts
Congrats! You made it through the first half of the day. Now it's time for the next chapter of your wedding day, so take a deep breath and get ready for the ceremony. You've got this.
