Wedding day timeline template
A blank run sheet for the day itself — the beats that cannot move, laid out so you can fill in your real times and hand a copy to the one person who holds the day.
A blank, printable run sheet for the day itself. Fill in the real times once your schedule is set, and hand a copy to the one person who holds the day.
The three things that always run late: photos take longer than the slot, guests take longer to move between rooms than you think, and the meal always overruns. Build slack into the afternoon and the evening holds.
How to fill it in
Work backwards from the ceremony start, which is the fixed point. The run sheet on this page covers the beats that cannot move — ceremony, photos, the meal, toasts, the first dance and the end of the night — plus setup and load-out either side. Add the exact times once your schedule is set, then give a copy to the one calm person who owns the day.
The three things that always run late
Photos take longer than the slot. Guests take longer to move between rooms than you think. And the meal always overruns. Build slack into the afternoon and the evening holds; plan to the minute and the day quietly slips behind from the first group photo.
Print it, or save it as a PDF
Use your browser's print dialog to print this run sheet, or save it as a PDF. The preview below is what the printable looks like.
Common questions
- What should be on a wedding day timeline?
- The beats that cannot move: when the ceremony starts, the photos, the meal, the toasts, the first dance and the end of the night — plus the setup and load-out either side. The blank run sheet on this page lays those out, and the three things that always run late are called out below.
- Who holds the timeline on the day?
- Someone who is not you. A day-of coordinator if you have one, otherwise one calm, briefed friend who has the run sheet and every vendor's phone number. Your job on the day is to be present, not to run the room.