How to write a wedding weekend itinerary for guests
The seven details every event needs, a sample three-event weekend to copy, and how to handle private events like the rehearsal dinner.
A wedding weekend itinerary lists every event a guest is invited to, in order, and gives each one the same seven details: the day, the start and end times, the place, who it is for, what to wear, how to get there, and whether food is served. Keep it on your wedding website, where you can correct it, and send the final version a week before.
A guest reads the itinerary to make three decisions: which flight to book, how many nights to stay, and what to pack. Write it for those decisions, and most of the questions that would have reached your phone never get asked.
The seven details for every event
- Day and date, written out ("Friday, June 11")
- Start time and end time, even if the end is approximate
- Venue name and full address, with a map link
- Who is invited: everyone, or a named group
- What to wear, in one line
- How to get there: shuttle, parking, or a walk
- Whether food is served, so guests know if they need dinner first
The end time is the detail most often left off, and it is the one guests plan around. A brunch from 9:30 to 11:30 tells someone they can book a 2 pm flight. A brunch with no end time tells them nothing.
A sample itinerary
Here is a three-event weekend written the way it should appear on the page. Copy the shape and change the details.
Friday, June 11: Welcome drinks
7 to 10 pm, The Boathouse, 12 Lake Road. Everyone attending the wedding is welcome. Casual, and the deck gets cool after dark, so bring a layer. Light food and drinks. A ten-minute walk from the Harbor Hotel, or parking on site.
Saturday, June 12: Ceremony and reception
Ceremony at 4:30 pm, please be seated by 4:15. Reception follows on the same grounds until 11 pm. Hillcrest Farm, 400 Old Mill Lane. Cocktail attire. The ceremony is on grass, so consider block heels or flats. Shuttles leave the Harbor Hotel at 3:30 and 3:45 and return from 9:30 until 11:15.
Sunday, June 13: Farewell breakfast
9:30 to 11:30 am, Harbor Hotel garden room. Drop in for as long as you like. Come as you are. Hotel check-out is at 11.
Notice what each one answers without being asked: whether to eat, what shoes to pack, and when it is safe to leave.
Decide who each event is for
A weekend usually mixes events for everyone with events for a smaller group. The rehearsal dinner is the common one. The Emily Post Institute's wedding website advice warns against posting rehearsal dinner details publicly when not every guest is invited, because guests read a listed event as an invitation.
You have two good options. Leave private events off the shared schedule and send their details directly, or show each event only to the households invited to it. On Simplyweds, an event such as a welcome party can be shown only to invited households, with its own yes or no. The wording for that evening is in how to word a welcome party invitation.
Say what to wear, event by event
One dress code for the wedding is not enough for a weekend. Guests need a line for each event, because the welcome drinks and the ceremony may ask for different shoes, different layers, and a different suitcase. How to phrase each line is covered in how to word a dress code on your wedding website.
Give the transport for each event
Every event needs one sentence on getting there and one on getting back. If you run shuttles, give the departure times and the last return, not only "shuttles provided". If guests drive, say where to park and whether the lot fills. Planning the shuttles themselves, from counting riders to setting pickup windows, is the subject of planning wedding guest transportation.
Add the in-between
A weekend has gaps, and guests want to know whether they are free. Saturday morning before a 4:30 ceremony is the classic one. Say so plainly: "Saturday is free until the shuttles at 3:30. The farmers' market on Main Street runs until noon." A short things-to-do list nearby turns the gap into part of the trip.
Hotel check-in and check-out times belong here too, when most guests share a block. Where to book and how the block works is in how wedding hotel room blocks work.
Where the itinerary lives
On your wedding website, as the schedule section, near the top. Guests open the site at three moments: when they reply, when they book travel, and the week of the wedding. In each case the schedule is what they came for, which is why it ranks so high in what wedding guests look up before they reply.
Put an outline up before the invitations go out, even if the details are thin. The first and last events decide the flights, and those are booked early.
Keep the guest version separate from the vendor version
The guest itinerary is short on purpose. Vendors need the full run-of-show, with load-in times, photo slots, and the moment the speeches start. Write that one separately, and see how to write a wedding day timeline for the hour-by-hour version.
Send the final version a week out
Things move. A venue shifts the start by fifteen minutes, a shuttle adds a pickup, a forecast moves the welcome drinks indoors. Update the site first, then send one message a week before the wedding pointing to it. If anything changes after that, post it on the same page so guests find it the next time they look.
Common questions
What should a wedding weekend itinerary include?
Every event guests are invited to, in order, each with a day, a start time, an end time, a place with an address, who it is for, what to wear, and how to get there. Add check-in and check-out times for the hotel block if most guests share one.
Should the rehearsal dinner be on the wedding weekend itinerary?
Only for the people invited to it. If your website shows the schedule to everyone, leave private events off or show them only to invited households, so nobody thinks they are expected.
How many events should a wedding weekend have?
Three is the usual shape: something casual the night before, the wedding, and an optional breakfast or brunch the morning after. More than that and guests start choosing between your events and their own rest.
When should guests receive the wedding weekend itinerary?
Put the outline on your website before invitations go out, because guests book travel around the first and last events. Send the final version, with any changes, about a week before the wedding.
Should you print the itinerary for guests?
A small card in a welcome bag is a nice touch for a destination weekend. Treat it as a keepsake, and keep the website as the version you correct, since a printed card can't be updated.
An itinerary that answers the seven details for every event does most of a weekend's hosting before anyone arrives. Simplyweds builds the schedule as its own section of your site, with events shown to the right households, and the wedding website builder page shows how it fits together.