Wedding Planning: How to Create your Wedding Day Timeline

Start with the Basics

Before diving into specific elements of the day, it’s essential to establish the key events. Here’s a basic structure:

• Preparation (hair, makeup, getting dressed)
• Ceremony
• Welcome Reception
• Wedding Breakfast
• Speeches
• Evening Reception (first dance, cutting the cake, evening food)

The exact times will all depend on your agreed ceremony time with the registrars, the season, personal preference, & what our experience has taught us. From here, you can break down the timings in detail.

Chatting with your Vendors

At Gellifawr, we know that planning a wedding involves countless details, but one of the most valuable pieces of advice we can offer is to consult your suppliers early in the planning process. These suppliers play a crucial role in making your day run smoothly, & their experience can be invaluable when it comes to shaping your timeline. Here are some key suppliers to involve:

Your Wedding Coordinator – Our coordinators at Gellifawr have years of experience & know exactly what makes a wedding run smoothly at our award winning wedding venue. We’ve perfected the schedule & highly recommend following our advice to ensure everything flows effortlessly from the ceremony to the final dance.

Your Photographer & Videographer – They’ll capture the most special moment, so with them to plan key shots like the first look, family portraits, & wedding party photos. A well-structured timeline ensures you get the beautiful images without feeling rushed.

Hair & Make-Up Artist – The getting-ready process can take several hours, depending on the size of your bridal party. Coordinate timings with your beauty team to keep everything on track & stress-free.

Entertainment (Band/DJ) – Your entertainment team will need to know when key moment, like cutting the cake, first dance, evening food, will take place, so they can create the perfect atmosphere at the right time.

By working closely with your suppliers from the start, you’ll create a well-organised timelines that keeps the day running effortlessly – allowing you to relax, & enjoy every magical moment.

The Wedding Morning – Getting Ready

Start your timeline early, as the morning prep is one of the most important parts of the day.

After speaking with Mared (@mareddaviesbeauty), here’s a general breakdown that she recommends for a bridal party, including Bride, 4x bridesmaids, & 2 mothers with a 12pm ceremony time:

• 6am: Bride & bridal party wake up
• 6.30am: Hair & make-up begins for the bride & bridesmaids
• 10am: Photographer & Videographer usually arrive, & will capture those all important moment with the girls
• 10.30am: Grooms & groomsmen begin getting ready
• 11am: Bride & Bridesmaids all get dressed
• 11.30am: Registrars meet with the Groom
• 11.35am: Registrars meet with the Bride

It’s also important to schedule gaps in your timeline for things like unexpected delays etc, & remember, if things don’t follow the timeline precisely, it’s okay!

The Ceremony

Once you’ve spoken to the registrars, it’s time too focus on the ceremony. Make sure you leave plenty of time for each aspect:

Arrival of your Guests: Guests can arrive up to an hour before your ceremony starts, we then begin guiding your guests to the ceremony venue, whether that’s inside ‘Seren yn Codi’, or outside under our towering trees, half an hour before the ceremony starts.

The Ceremony: A typical wedding ceremony lasts around 30 minutes, but it can vary depending on many factors, i.e readings, music, hymns etc.

Post-Ceremony Photos: After the ceremony, there are usually family & wedding party photos to be taken. We always recommend taking any group photos (especially the one with all the guests) as soon as the ceremony finishes – before guests head to the bar, restrooms etc. Allow around 30 minutes for the important photos, although it may last longer. A good photographer will help streamline this process.

Welcome Reception & Wedding Breakfast

Now that the ceremony is out of the way, it’s time to let the celebrations begin!

Welcome Reception: Welcome drinks & canapés, we typically allow 1 hour for this (not including the 30 minutes of post-ceremony photos). While guests mingle & enjoy, the happy couple can take a moment to relax or head off to the Preseli Mountains for a few more photos.

Wedding Breakfast: Depending on your meal choice, 3 course sit down meal or a BBQ cooked outside by our chefs – this typically takes between 1.5 to 2 hours. Followed by your speeches.

Cutting of the cake, First dance & Evening entertainment: Once the wedding breakfast & speeches are done, the evening can commence. Allow roughly 1 hour for your guests to check into their rooms, the newlyweds to take some ‘golden hour’ pictures, & your band/DJ to set up. Start the evening with the traditional cutting of the cake & first dance, & then open up the floor to your guests.

Sample Wedding Day Timeline

Here’s a rough timeline to help you visualise the flow of your day:

• 6am: Bride & Bridal party wake up, hair & make-up commence
• 10am: Photographer & Videographer arrive
• 10.30am: Groom & Groomsmen begin getting ready
• 11am: Guests arrive at the venue
• 11.30am: Groom meet with the registrars
• 11.30am: Guests guided to the ceremony venue
• 11.35am: Bride meet with registrars
• 12pm: Ceremony commences
• 12.30pm: Ceremony ends, group photos taken
• 12.45pm: Welcome reception commences
• 2pm: Guests sat down for the wedding breakfast
• 2.10pm: Newlyweds announced into the wedding breakfast
• 2.15pm: Wedding breakfast commence
• 3.45pm: Speeches commence
• 6pm: Evening commence
• 6.30pm: Cutting the cake
• 6.45pm: First dance
• 7.30pm: Evening food commence, served for 1.5 hours

Other tips to remember

Consider your guests experience: While you’re creating your timeline, consider what & where your guests will be & what they’ll be doing. During your welcome reception, consider garden games or a magician to keep your guests entertained whilst you’re off having some pictures.

Assign a point of contact for your wedding coordinator: Choose someone that you trust, that your wedding coordinator can liaise with whilst you’re sat in the make-up chair, or away at Newport Beach taking photos. Your coordinator can then work with them to ensure everything happens on time & the day runs seamlessly.

Be flexible: Sometimes things don’t go as planned, & that’s perfectly okay. Don’t let small hiccups throw off your entire day. The most important thing is that you’re getting marries & celebrating with you closest friends & family at your dream wedding venue.