Ours was roughly:
2:30 - arrive at ceremony location
3:00 - 3:30 - ceremony
3:30 - 4:00 - tea ceremony (was held in the same room as the wedding ceremony, it was an open space. Wedding coordinators rearranged the chairs, and helped with the tea.)
4:00 - 6:00 - sign the license, take pictures, get to reception
6:00 - 7:00 - cocktail hour

Thanks FeiFei. How much time did everyone allocate for formal pictures?

we have a similar timeline. our ceremony begins at 3 and will last till about 3:30ish. Then we'll take pictures from 3:45/4 - 5:30/5:45. we'll get to the restaurant by 6pm for the coctail reception. fi and i are also seeing each other before the wedding to take pictures of just us so it's less hectic. after the wedding, i know we'll take pictures with just family and maybe friends. fi and i have big families.

---

Professional Pictures Posted
Slideshow

Here's ours:

7:00 am - Girls wake up, shower, eat breakfast.

Groomsmen wake-up & pick up breakfast for the girls.

8:15 am - Hair & makeup artists arrive, sets up equipment.

8:30 am - All girls sit for hot rollers.
BM#1 sits for make-up also.

9:00 am - Groom wakes up and showers, eats breakfast.

9:15 am - BM#2 make-up
BM#1 hair
BM#3 hair

10:00 am - Bride make-up
BM#2 hair
Mom make-up

Florist drops off bouquets, flower girl baskets, boutonnieres.

Groomsmen & officiant arrive at Groom's hotel room. Put on boutonnieres.

10:30 am Photographer arrives at Groom's room for getting ready pics, and shots of the Groom & the guys on hotel terrace.

10:45 am - Bride hair
BM#3 make-up
Mom hair

11:00 am - DOC arrives & checks in with bride & groom.

Photographer goes to Bride's room - shots of the Bride getting ready, plus details like dress, bouquets, etc.

11:30 am - Hair & make-up done for all girls!

Bride starts getting dressed & ready to go.

11:45 am - BRIDE READY
Clean up room for tea ceremony!

12:00 pm - 1st Tea Ceremony (Bride's family)

Groom & GMs knock to "announce" their arrival at Bride's room.

Bride's family and BMs request for Red evelopes before entrance.

Tea ceremony with bride's parents.

Pictures with bride's family.

12:00 pm - Groom's family arrive at hotel and go to Groom's room. Put on boutonnieres.

12:30 pm - 2nd Tea Ceremony (Groom's family)

Pictures with Groom's family

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm - Limo arrives to take bridal party for outdoor pics

Pics back at hotel also.

Bridal party gets a quick bite to eat.

2:00 pm - Florist arrives at ceremony/reception location.

Bride's friends arrive to help DOC set up - placecards, menus, table numbers, favors, etc.

2:30 pm - DJ arrives & sets up
(will play music for ceremony & reception)

3:30 pm - Cake arrives.
Florist decorates cake and cake table.

Bridal party arrive at ceremony/reception location. Bride stays in bridal room.

3:45 pm - Bride touches up make-up for ceremony.

3:50 pm - Bridal party lines up
Ring check
Photographer in place

4:00 pm - Ceremony starts (per invitation time)

4:30 pm - Late ceremony start time, if important guests arrive late.

5:00 pm - Ceremony ends.

Cocktail hour begins.

BM and MOH sign marriage license.

Group shots with Bride & Groom's extended family.

If time allows, group shots with friends.

5:30 pm - Bride returns to bridal room to change hair style.

6:00 pm - Announce for guests to begin taking their seats

6:15 pm - Grand Entrance of Wedding Party. DJ introduces everyone - Wedding party and immediate family members.

6:25 pm - First Dance, Parents Dance

Speeches:
1) BM
2) MOH1
3) MOH2
4) Officiant/Friend
5) Bride & Groom

7 pm - Start 1st entree (jazz background music)

7:30 pm - Start greeting tables (take pics with guests during toasts)

8:30 pm - Finish greet tables. Bride touches up makeup

8:45 pm - DJ announces cake cutting (play cake cutting song - "Sugar Sugar").

9 pm - 3 Chinese newlywed games (MC'ed by friends of the groom)

9:15 pm - Open dancing

10:45 pm - DJ announces last dance (Song "Save the last dance for me")

11:00 pm - End of reception! Clean-up begins.

12 am - LEAVE!

---

My BIO

abcwedding- your timeline is so detailed. how did your wedding day turn out ? did it go according to your schedule? or did you run behind on any events/things?

any advice for the timing of everything on the big day?

---

it's finally over! bwahahhaa

(in progress) married bio

Tohruchan,

My wedding day was fabulous! I totally miss it, and want to do it all over again. =)

In regards to timing, we were on time overall, with lots of time to spare even. Except the ceremony did start, but only because some of my mom's sisters were late, and my mom insisted that we could not start without them. But everything turned out fine. I did not feel rushed at all. I did not wear a watch or carry my cell phone, so I left it to everyone else to tell me when it was time to go, etc. People say that the day flies by, but I actually felt like time passed just like any other day, and I was able to fully enjoy the wedding. Granted, I had to divide my time among all my guests, so I didn't get to spend as much time with some of my closer friends as I would have liked, but overall, I had the best time at my wedding.

My advice....create a detailed schedule and make sure everyone who needs to know gets a physical copy of that schedule. Consider reviewing it with them if necessary, because some people, even if you give them a copy, they may not even look at it. Or they'll wait until the day of, and then suddenly, they can't remember where they put their copy of the schedule. If you have a DOC, make sure she carries that schedule with her on the day of. Before the wedding, we emailed the schedule to all of our vendors. And on the day of, they were also given hard copies.

But I think the important thing to remember is that things may go wrong--that's life. But it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. You have to remember to let things go, and to just enjoy the wedding day. On the day of, staying on schedule, making sure the centerpieces are perfect, etc. should be secondary to you and your groom fully enjoying the day you marry the person you love.

My bio also includes some of my "lessons learned" that I came up with right after my wedding.

HTH! Happy planning & hope you have a fabulous wedding!

---

My BIO

Oops. I mean to say "Except the ceremony did start late..."

---

My BIO