What Your Wedding Day Actually Looks Like, Hour by Hour

Ask anyone who has been married what surprised them about the day and they will say the same thing: how fast it went, and how little of it went to schedule. Here is a typical UK wedding day with a 1:30pm ceremony — shift it to suit yours, but keep the slack. ## Morning: the long bit that flies **From about 8am** — hair and makeup start, and there are always more people wanting a slot than you planned for. The bride or whoever is getting ready last should be in the chair at least an hour before they need to leave. Someone should eat something. It is a long day. **12pm-ish** — the photographer arrives for the getting-ready photos, the flowers are delivered, and the person giving you away starts pacing. Get into the dress earlier than feels necessary. Buttons take time. ## The ceremony **1pm** — guests seated, music on. **1:30pm** — the ceremony. A civil ceremony runs about twenty to thirty minutes; a church service nearer an hour. It will feel like four minutes. **2pm to 4pm** — confetti, drinks reception, group photos. This is the part that always overruns, because everyone wants to hug you at once. Keep the formal group list short — eight to ten combinations, with someone loud in charge of rounding people up — and let the photographer catch the rest candidly. ## The meal **4pm to 4:30pm** — guests called through for the wedding breakfast. **5pm** — food. Speeches work best either before the meal (everyone relaxes afterwards) or after pudding (the speakers enjoy their dinner). Allow three courses plus speeches to take two hours. It always takes two hours. ## The evening **6:30pm to 7:30pm** — the room is turned around, evening guests arrive, and there is usually a slightly dead half hour. This is a good moment for couple photos in the evening light. **7:30pm** — cake cutting, then the first dance straight after, so the band or DJ can get everyone up while the room is warm. Do not leave the first dance too late — guests drift. **From 8pm** — dancing, evening food around 9pm (you will be amazed how fast bacon sandwiches disappear), and then the last stretch. **Midnight** — carriages, in most cases, since many venues have a midnight or 1am finish. Check yours. ## The honest advice Write the running order, share it with your suppliers and your most organised friend — and then let it go. The day will drift by twenty minutes somewhere and nobody will know except you. Build cushion between the big moments, eat when food appears, and take five minutes alone together at some point. That is the bit everyone wishes they had done.

What Your Wedding Day Actually Looks Like, Hour by Hour

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