The perfect 4hr micro wedding day timeline for intimate celebrations

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and if your wedding day is supposed to be the best day of your life, then you’d better believe the hours will feel like seconds while you’re tying the knot. Especially for couples planning small, micro or intimate weddings (often without hiring a wedding planner), having a wedding day-of timeline or schedule is crucial to making sure you have time for everything you hope to happen on your special day.

But if you’ve never planned a micro wedding before, it can be a wild guess to determine how much time you need for each aspect of your wedding day. And if you want to keep the festivities short ‘n’ sweet, a wedding day timeline is more crucial than ever (after all, there’s a reason why many wedding days last 12+ hours!).

As a wedding photographer and videographer in Orlando who specializes in small, intimate micro weddings and elopements, we frequently consult with our happy couples about their wedding day timeline to make sure we’re aligning with their hopes for their wedding day and ensuring we have ample time to capture every moment. Having seen a micro wedding or two in our time (okay, a lot more than two), we’ve compiled a completely free micro wedding timeline, or wedding day-of schedule, for you to steal for your own intimate wedding!

We’re sharing the perfect tried-and-true 4hr micro wedding day timeline for intimate celebrations. (PS: read to the end to find your ideal version!)

THE PERFECT 4HR MICRO WEDDING DAY SCHEDULE FOR INTIMATE CELEBRATIONS

12:00 - 1:00 Getting Ready (Hour 0)

Of course, while getting ready isn’t an official part of your wedding ceremony, it’s an important part of your special day!

What we call Hour 0 in our example 4hr micro wedding day timeline is a dedicated time before the wedding begins for you and your bridal party to prepare for the day ahead. (Unless you plan to walk down the aisle in sweatpants, in which case, mad respect to you!) This is your time to get hair and makeup done, change into your bridal gown (or sweatpants), exchange a first look with parents or your spouse-to-be, and take a breath before walking down the aisle.

1:30 - 2:00 Wedding Ceremony

Now it’s time to say “I do”! Your wedding ceremony should ideally last no more than 20 minutes, but of course if you are incorporating any special touches such as music, traditions, or religious/cultural aspects, then the full length of your wedding day ceremony can be completely up to you. 

Pro tip: consider planning to start your ceremony 5 minutes after the stated time, especially if your wedding venue is remote or difficult for your guests to access (a long drive, limited parking, requires a walk from their cars to the ceremony site, etc.). This way, nobody has to rush to their seats and you can walk down the aisle unaccompanied by latecomers.

2:00 - 2:30 Family Portraits

Once you’ve danced your way back down the aisle with your new spouse, it’s finally time for the two of you to start the rest of your lives together. Right? Wrong! It’s time for photos with every possible configuration of your (and their) extended families!

While this part of your wedding day may seem daunting (especially as our average wedding requires up to 40 different family portraits!), with a skilled wedding photographer this process can take between 20-30 minutes. 

Our secrets to success? Discuss your family portrait list with your wedding photographer ahead of time; hire a wedding photographer who’s comfortable with wrangling wayward family members and calling the shots; and designate a loved one beforehand to make sure everyone stays close at hand after the ceremony.

2:30 - 3:00 Bridal Portraits

There’s nothing a wedding photographer loves more than whisking the newlyweds off to a private location to take romantic bridal portraits. While this block of time is often the first thing a couple cuts from their wedding day timeline when festivities run longer than expected, we’d argue that this decision might be one you could regret. The intimate moments between you and your new spouse that are captured in this time are undoubtedly going to be among your most treasured memories of your wedding day.

While taking bridal portraits between your family photos and your wedding reception allows you to spend the rest of your day dancing away with loved ones, you could also move this time to the end of your wedding day to take advantage of golden hour, that time around sunset that provides soft, dreamy light perfect for take-your-breath-away wedding photography.

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3:00 - 4:30 Wedding Reception

The most time allotted in a 4hr intimate micro wedding day timeline is for celebrating with those you love! Trust us, as a couple who had a 2hr wedding reception ourselves, this time will absolutely FLY by, so if you’re planning a 4hr wedding day you’ll want to keep the reception low-key.

Possible breakdowns include:

• 30 minutes for cocktail hour or light refreshments

• 1 hour for dancing

OR

• 1 hour for refreshments or a light meal

• 30 minutes for wedding reception games

OR

• 30 minutes for cocktails/appetizers

• 1 hour for a full meal

OR

• Just spend the whole hour and a half eating, drinking, and socializing however you’d like!

Note: if you’re taking your bridal portraits offsite from your wedding reception, you’ll want to allow a bit of travel time in your schedule.

4:30 - 5:00 Farewell

A beautiful send-off is a special way to end your wedding day! Whether you choose a sparkler exit, glowstick send-off, or to simply say your farewells and slip off into the sunset, a tried-and-true intimate or micro wedding timeline includes a bit of time for the party to end. Lining up your guests for your send-off or exchanging final congratulations with loved ones will likely take more time than you think, so if you have a hard stop to the end of your festivities (such as needing to catch a flight later in the day)—or frankly, if you’re just tired (like I was at our wedding!)—you’ll feel more relaxed if you can account for these extra moments.

ALTERNATIVE 4HR MICRO WEDDING TIMELINE EXAMPLES

If the timeline above doesn’t suit your fancy, try one of these other configurations to find your own perfect 4hr intimate micro wedding day timeline:

Option 1: Brunch Wedding

9:00 - 10:00 Getting Ready

10:30 - 11:00 Ceremony

11:00 - 11:30 Family Portraits

11:30 - 1:30 Reception

• 1:00 - 1:30 Sneak out of wedding reception for a half hour bridal portrait session

1:30 - 2:00 Farewell

Option 2: First Look

12:00 - 1:00 Getting Ready

1:00 - 1:30 First Look & Bridal Portraits

2:00 - 2:30 Ceremony

2:30 - 3:00 Family Portraits

3:30 - 4:30 Reception

4:30 - 5:00 Farewell

Option 3: Golden Hour Getaway

*Adjust schedule depending on golden hour time on your wedding day and location

2:00 - 3:00 Getting Ready

3:00 - 3:30 Ceremony 

3:30 - 4:00 Family Portraits

4:30 - 5:30 Reception 

5:30 - 6:00 Farewell 

6:30 - 7:00 Bridal Portraits

If you’re looking to get married in the Central Florida area such as Orlando, Winter Park, Winter Garden, Lakeland, Cocoa Beach, Daytona Beach, Lake Wales, Clermont, and more, we’d love to help share your special day with wedding photography and videography. View our specially-curated wedding photography and wedding videography packages, created just for small, intimate and micro weddings and elopements!

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Hi, we’re Author Made, a husband & wife wedding photographer / videographer studio based in Orlando, FL specializing in wedding photography and videography packages for small, intimate, micro weddings and elopements throughout Central Florida. If you’re looking for a wedding photographer or wedding videographer near you who understands and values the unique needs of smaller-scale weddings (we had a small wedding, too), we’d love to have the honor of capturing your wedding day.