Wedding Day Schedule Template: Nine Phases, Real Ranges

A wedding day schedule template is not a blank grid you fill with guesses. Most searches for one expect a single fixed layout, but the order barely changes from wedding to wedding: getting ready, ceremony, photos, a gap, reception, dinner, speeches, dancing, send-off is the shape almost every Australian wedding runs to¹. What moves is how many minutes each phase gets, and a generic template leaves that part blank.

This one does not. Every row below carries a sourced Australian range, so you are choosing between real numbers instead of inventing one at 11pm.

The template

Every one of PlannedBy's three shipped run sheet templates walks through this same nine-phase order. Copy the table, fill in your own times working forward from your ceremony, and use the ranges below it to pick a real number for each phase rather than a round one.

Two phases have no sourced range on purpose. Getting ready depends on how many people are in the chair and who is doing the styling, and send-off depends on your venue's licence, not on any planning rule. Guessing a number for either would be worse than leaving it blank.

Which durations to use

The seven middle phases are not one-size-fits-all. Three choices move the range, and each one is worth making before you fill in a single time.

Personalised civil, or elaborate and religious?

An Australian celebrant body bands ceremony length by what is in it: legals-only at 10-15 minutes, a personalised civil ceremony at 20-30, and something elaborate or religious - readings, extra rituals, a full service - at 30-45 minutes or more². Two Australian wedding planners land on the same 20-30 minute band for a standard civil ceremony¹. Pick the band that matches what you are actually including, not the shortest one.

One venue, or two?

Staying at one venue for both ceremony and reception needs only a changeover, not a full cocktail hour. Moving to a second venue is where the 60-90 minute gap comes from: Zola's wedding experts put a cocktail hour at 60 minutes typically, 90 at the most, timed to cover wedding party photos and guests settling in³. Australian venues do not agree on whether that hour is a good idea even on one site - one told a couple the gap easily creates awkwardness for guests and recommended pushing the ceremony to 4pm instead, while another said a one hour gap is perfectly fine⁴. If your ceremony and reception share a venue, ask your coordinator or venue directly rather than defaulting to an hour you do not need.

Plated, or buffet?

One Australian wedding planner puts buffet dinner service at 60-90 minutes, guests eating at their own pace¹. Plated service runs shorter: one Australian wedding DJ budgets 30-45 minutes for it, plus 10 minutes for housekeeping and entrances and 5 for the welcome speech before the first course⁵. Buffet gives guests more control over when they eat. Plated gives your day a firmer end time.

How the times get filled in

The table above gives you ranges to choose from. Turning a chosen set of ranges into a real 6:00 PM, 6:45 PM, 7:30 PM schedule is arithmetic - add each phase to the one before it, working forward from your ceremony time.

That is also exactly what PlannedBy's run sheet generator does: type in your ceremony time and it derives every phase after it automatically. Change the ceremony time by twenty minutes and every phase after it moves with it, so the schedule stays correct instead of needing a manual re-check of eight rows. Use the generator, or use the table above with a calculator - the phases and the ranges are the same either way.

FAQ

Is it legal to start a ceremony at any time of day?

Yes. Australian law places no restriction on the time, day or place of a wedding ceremony - a marriage may be solemnised on any day, at any time and at any place, provided at least two witnesses over 18 are present and an authorised celebrant attends⁸. Every timing choice on this page is about light, suppliers and guests, never about what the law allows.

How long should cocktail hour actually be?

60 minutes is the usual figure, 90 the most a cocktail hour should run before guests get restless³. If your ceremony and reception share one venue, you may not need a cocktail hour at all - see the venue-count section above.

How long should dinner service take?

30-45 minutes for a plated meal, 60-90 for a buffet⁵¹. The gap between the two is real: a buffet can run twice as long as a plated service and still be on schedule.

How many minutes should we give speeches?

3-5 minutes per speaker, and Easy Weddings recommends keeping the whole block under 40 minutes with 20-30 as the usual result⁶⁷. Two Australian wedding planners independently land in the same 20-40 minute range for the total¹.

Do I have to fill this in by hand?

No. The table above is the manual version - copy it, pick your ranges, add them up. The generator does the same arithmetic from one ceremony time and re-times everything after it the moment that time changes.

What to do with this template

Fill in the nine rows with the ranges that match your ceremony type, your venue count and your service style, then hand the finished sheet to whoever is running your day. If the ceremony time moves even once before the wedding, which it usually does, put it into the generator instead of re-adding nine rows by hand.