Check out these tips on how to get your wedding timeline organized and set up for success!
It’s your day! Make it what you want.
You can customize your day however you best see fit! If you would like guests to eat cake, dance for a few songs, and head home then schedule your timeline that way!
However, here is what we typically have seen work best while DJing weddings…
The Typical 5 Hour Reception
We know most receptions come in varying lengths of time, but more often than not we see a typical five-hour reception.
For this example reception, we’re going to start at 5:00pm with your guests entering, grabbing some refreshments from the bar, and enjoying a cocktail hour while they say hello to one another and get settled in.
5:45pm: Your guests will be asked to find their seats, and depending on the size of your invite list this can take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.
5:55pm: You and your wedding party should be lined up and ready to be introduced for the grand introduction! (It’s at this time your Show Me Sound DJ will go over pronunciations one last time make sure everyone’s in the proper order and make sure that everyone is ready to go!)
The extra time here is to help everyone collect themselves before the intro.
6:00pm: It is time to introduce the wedding party! You’ll generally move straight from your wedding party introduction into a welcome speech or a blessing.
Depending on the size of your wedding party and how much time you need for your welcome and blessing, everything should be wrapped in 10-15 minutes.
6:15pm: Everyone is hungry! Time for dinner.
Once again, depending on the size of your guest list and how dinner is actually served, this can take varying amounts of time.
In this scenario, we are going to assume it’s plate to table and it’s going to take about 45 minutes for everyone to get through most of their dinner, and give you an opportunity to go around and say hello to your guests.
6:50pm: Our DJs go and touch base with everyone that will be giving toasts during dinner.
7:00pm: The toasts begin!
In most cases, it’s the best man and maid of honor that are giving the toasts and that can usually be wrapped up in about 10 minutes.
7:10pm: Cake cutting time.
7:15pm: We announce the first dance. (Everyone get your cameras out!)
It’s totally up to you whether you want to play the entire song or just a part of the song but for the purpose of this timeline i’ve given each dance around 4ish minutes
7:30pm: After we’ve wrapped up the the first dance, father/daughter, and mother/son we are ready to open up that dance floor.
We recommend opening your dance floor with an eclectic mix of music that’s going to get everyone out there and involved.
8:20pm: This is a great time for the bouquet or garter toss.
8:30pm: We normally see the photographers leave around this time since they have been taking photos and video all day.
For this reason, we recommend you open your dance floor you want to start with songs that you know will get the majority of your guests out on that floor so you can have good pictures with everyone diving into that action.
Typically the younger guests last longer at receptions, so it’s around this time you’ll start to see some of the older guests or maybe some of the guests with children start to taper off.
This is also the time that you could start introducing a little bit more modern music into your mix for the evening.
9:30pm: Last call!
9:55pm: You can plan to have your last dance of the evening as newlyweds at this time, before everyone sends you off!
Final Tips…
In conclusion, everything is customizable to fit whatever works best for you! This specific timeline is a very popular format that we see work well with the flow of the day.
Do you have a new timeline that you and your partner might be wanting to try on your wedding day? Or maybe you have questions about this sample timeline. We would love to hear from you, leave a comment below or click here!