How to build your run of show
A wedding, a quinceañera and a company dinner hour by hour, with how long each block takes and the 5 scheduling mistakes that come up most.
Planning · by Brinddi · 4 min read · July 2026
- Tell guests to arrive 30 minutes early and start at the time you promised. An hour's delay at the start pushes back the whole day.
- Between the ceremony and dinner, there's a cocktail hour. That stretch of photos with no food or drinks is when people get bored.
- Order the moments from lower to higher energy: the emotional parts first, the dance floor last.
- Add a 15-20% buffer to each block and leave 10-15 minutes of breathing room between the set moments.
- Name someone to call each moment, so you're not watching the clock.
If the ceremony ends at 5:45 PM and dinner starts at 7:35 PM, that's almost two hours to fill. Without a cocktail hour, it's two hours of hungry people standing around checking the time.
The three timelines below include the time and length of each block: one for a wedding, one for a quinceañera and one for a company dinner. Copy them and shift the times to fit your event.
Before you assign the times
- Serving 120 plates or getting the family photo always takes longer than planned. Add a 15-20% buffer to each block.
- Never leave a long gap with no food or drinks. If there's a wait, there's a cocktail or a bite.
- The emotional parts go first and the dancing after. Nobody listens to a long speech at 2 in the morning.
Timeline 1: afternoon-to-night wedding
Ceremony in the afternoon and dancing into the early hours, for 80 to 150 guests.
- 4:30 PM. Guests arrive. People are invited 30 minutes before the ceremony. If it's hot, have water or lemonade.
- 5:00 PM. Civil or religious ceremony, 30 to 45 minutes. 45 is the comfortable ceiling.
- 5:45 PM. Welcome cocktail hour, 90 minutes. Drinks, appetizers and soft music while the photos are taken.
- 5:45 PM. Family and couple photos, 60 minutes, during the cocktail hour so nobody waits.
- 7:15 PM. The couple's entrance and guests take their seats, 20 minutes.
- 7:35 PM. Plated dinner, 90 minutes. Allow 20 to 25 minutes per course: starter, main and dessert.
- 9:00 PM. Toasts and speeches, 20 minutes. 3 people max, 3 to 4 minutes each.
- 9:30 PM. First dance and opening the dance floor, 15 minutes.
- 9:45 PM. Open dance floor.
- 11:30 PM. Tacos, pizza or something savory for anyone fading.
- 1:30 AM. Wrap-up. The last song is announced and people are sent off.
Timeline 2: evening quinceañera
Quinceañeras usually group the emotional moments at the start, with the waltz, the shoe ceremony and the toast, and open the dance floor after. This example runs from 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM.
- 6:00 PM. Reception, 45 minutes. Music, photos with the quinceañera and a welcome table.
- 6:45 PM. Entrance and introduction, 15 minutes.
- 7:00 PM. Waltz and choreography, 30 minutes. Waltz with dad, the chambelanes and the shoe ceremony.
- 7:30 PM. Toast and a few words, 15 minutes.
- 7:45 PM. Dinner, 75 minutes.
- 9:00 PM. Show or surprise, 20 minutes. A video, the surprise dance or the first hora loca.
- 9:20 PM. Open dance floor.
- 11:00 PM. Late-night snack.
- 1:00 AM. Wrap-up.
At a quinceañera, the toast works best right after the waltz. If you spread them too far apart, the mood cools off in between.
Timeline 3: company dinner
It's the shortest of the 3: it runs from 7:00 PM to 11:30 PM. At a company dinner people have less stamina, and the schedule runs to the minute.
- 7:00 PM. Reception, 45 minutes. Standing cocktails and low background music.
- 7:45 PM. Remarks from the company, 15 minutes. One short speech.
- 8:00 PM. Plated dinner, 75 minutes.
- 9:15 PM. Recognitions or awards, 30 minutes. If there's a presentation, budget the time per person.
- 9:45 PM. Music and dancing, if there are any.
- 11:00 PM. Coffee, dessert and wrap-up.
- 11:30 PM. End.
Three ten-minute speeches are half an hour of uncomfortable people.
The 5 most common scheduling mistakes
- Starting late "because things always start late." If you invite people for 5:00 PM and start at 6:00, the whole day shifts by an hour. Invite them 30 minutes early and start at the time you promised.
- Photos with no cocktail hour between the ceremony and dinner. It's when guests get bored and some leave.
- Long speeches. Set a limit per person and tell them ahead of time.
- Dinner served late. Three hours of drinking and no food, and the night gets out of hand.
- Back-to-back blocks. Without 10 to 15 minutes between one set moment and the next, the crew and the guests end up rushing.
How to leave breathing room without dead time
Breathing room means leaving time to go to the restroom or grab another drink.
- The cocktail hour is the stretchy block. If something runs late, it stretches, and if you're ahead, it shrinks.
- Group the waltz, the toast and the first dance. Leave a short pause between dinner and the dance floor.
- Have backup music. If a block runs late, the DJ or the playlist covers the gap.
- Name someone to keep time. Someone you trust, or your event planner, who quietly lets you know when each moment is up.
Your template in four steps
- Set the start time and the end time. Everything else goes between those two.
- Place the set moments: ceremony, dinner, waltz or first dance.
- Fill in with the stretchy blocks: reception, cocktail hour, show and dancing. They're the ones that absorb delays.
- Add 15% extra time and check that there's no gap without food, drinks or music.
Build the timeline a calm week ahead and send it to the caterer and the person keeping time.
