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Wedding hair and makeup timeline

How to plan a wedding hair and makeup timeline: pick your finish time, count back from it, give every person a chair slot and an arrive-by time, and keep a gap for the unexpected. Includes an example schedule.

The wedding morning is calmer when everyone already knows their time. A hair and makeup timeline works backwards: start from the moment the photos begin, then count back to when each person needs to sit down.

It is a small piece of planning, and it is one of the things that quietly decides how the whole day feels. Here is a way to do it in six steps.

Step 1: Decide when everyone must be finished

Ask your photographer when they want to start the getting-ready or first-look photos. Everyone should be done with hair and makeup before that, with a little room to spare. Your artist and photographer will each have a view on how much room, so ask them both.

Step 2: Ask each artist for minutes per person

How long someone takes depends on the artist, the style and the hair. Do not guess: ask each artist how many minutes they need for the bride, each bridesmaid, the mothers and any junior bridesmaids, for hair and for makeup. Write the numbers down.

Step 3: Count back, one chair at a time

The last person in each chair finishes at your finish time. The person before them finishes one slot earlier, and so on, until you reach the first person of the morning. Leave a short gap between people for a touch-up and for the artist to reset.

The example below is made up so you can see the sums. Use your own artist’s minutes, not these.

Example numbers only: one artist, a 10-minute gap between people and a 1:30 PM finish time.

Step 4: Give the bride the slot that suits the photos

Many couples put the bride last so she is freshest for the photos. Others put her first. If she needs to finish early for a first look, give her a finish-by time of her own and count back from that instead.

Step 5: Send everyone an arrive-by time

Give each person the time to arrive, not just the time of her slot, and send it the week before with the address and parking. Plan breakfast and water for the people waiting their turn.

Step 6: Check it before you send it

• Every person has exactly one hair slot and one makeup slot.
• No artist is booked in two places at once.
• Nobody is in the hair chair and the makeup chair at the same time.
• The last person finishes by your finish time.
• If two artists work side by side, each has their own list.

Using a schedule instead of doing the sums

The Wedding Hair & Makeup Schedule is a workbook for Excel or Google Sheets. You type the ceremony time and how long before it everyone should be finished, add your artists, then add everyone getting ready with their artist and their order. It counts back every start, end and arrive-by time, flags anyone whose hair and makeup slots overlap, and prints a Run of the Morning with every chair in time order. There is room for 40 people and 10 artists.

Planners that do this for you

Wedding Hair & Makeup Schedule

$5.00Hair · makeup · artists · call times · counted back from the ceremony

Wedding Day Timeline for Vendors

$7.00Timed from the ceremony · vendor pages · contacts · envelopes

Free wedding day timeline builder: the whole day, counted back from the ceremony

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Updated 2026-11-03.