Weddings · 4 min read
How do you build your wedding-day run sheet?
On the day itself you will not be the one answering questions about when the cars arrive or where the cake goes. That job belongs to a run sheet: a timed list of what happens, in what order, and who is looking after each moment. This post walks through building one from getting ready to send-off, why buffers matter, and how to hand off the phone calls so the day runs without you.
Start with the fixed times, then work outwards
Some times are set for you: the ceremony start, the venue access window, sunset if you want golden-hour photos, and any curfew on music or the bar. Write those down first. Everything else, getting ready, first look, travel, drinks, speeches, first dance, is arranged around them.
From there, block the day into moments and give each one a time and a name. In the Day Of section you build this as a drag-and-drop event timeline, so you can add a moment, set its time, and shuffle the order until it reads properly from morning to send-off. A rough shape is hair and makeup from mid-morning, photos and travel before the ceremony, the ceremony itself, drinks and photos after, then reception, speeches, cutting, first dance and send-off in the evening.
Build in buffers so one late supplier does not topple the day
The single most common mistake is booking the day back to back. Hair runs fifteen minutes over, traffic is heavier than planned, and suddenly the whole afternoon is late. Add a buffer after anything that involves travel, hair and makeup, or a large group moving from one place to another. Ten to twenty minutes is usually enough.
Give each moment a realistic length rather than a hopeful one. Group photos take longer than people expect, especially with a big family list. When you lay the timeline out with real times against each block, gaps and clashes are easy to spot before the day rather than on it.
Assign a person to every moment, not just a time
A time tells you when something happens. A name tells you who makes it happen. For each moment, assign the person responsible: the planner or a coordinator for cues, the best man for gathering people for photos, a family member to move gifts, the venue for turning the room around. In the Day Of timeline you can assign who is responsible for each event and give it a colour, so a printed or shared version shows at a glance who owns what.
The point is that on the day, the questions go to those people, not to you. When someone asks where the buttonholes are or when speeches start, there is a named person who already knows.
Put every key contact in one place
Half the calls on a wedding day are just people trying to reach the right supplier. Head that off with a single list of key contacts: venue coordinator, photographer, caterer, florist, band or DJ, celebrant, transport, and the two or three people in the party who are helping run things. The Day Of section keeps key contacts alongside the timeline, so the whole plan lives in one place.
There is also a day-of essentials checklist for the small things that are easy to forget, rings, vows, marriage licence, emergency kit, so they get packed rather than remembered at the last minute. Share the finished run sheet with the people running the day and your phone can stay in your pocket.
The app that helps
Wedding Planner
Everything you need to plan your wedding, in one place.
- A Day Of event timeline where you drag moments into order and set a time, name and colour for each
- An assigned-to field on every moment, so each part of the day has a named person responsible
- A key contacts list and a day-of essentials checklist kept alongside the timeline
Common questions
How detailed should a run sheet be?
Detailed enough that someone else could run the day from it. Every moment needs a time, a short name, and the person responsible. You do not need to script small talk, but do include travel, room turnarounds and photo blocks, since those are where time quietly disappears.
Who should get a copy?
Your coordinator or venue, the wedding party members who are helping, and any supplier whose timing depends on others, usually the photographer, caterer and band or DJ. On the premium web app you can export a PDF or share the section directly with a vendor; the free version exports to CSV.
A quick note
This is based on our own wedding and what worked for us, shared as general information rather than professional advice. Costs and customs vary a lot by location and vendor, so treat any numbers as a starting point and get your own quotes.