“How many hours of wedding photography do I need?” is a question that every engaged couple starts asking when looking to book a wedding photographer. I know I did. Honestly, the answer depends on a lot of different things, one of them being the photographer you choose to work with. Every wedding photographer is different, so each one will have their own way of doing things. I’ll do my best to lay out the average time for wedding photography below, but my number one piece of advice is always to talk with the photographer you’re looking to hire.
Before we jump into example timelines (I promise, they’re coming!) there's a few more details I want to touch on:
Building a Wedding Timeline
I can only speak for myself, but I always pad the timeline. It’s your wedding day, and you don’t want it to feel rushed! As much as we will try to avoid it, little unexpected things can pop up, and it’s definitely better to have some extra time and not need it than to worry about how this thing that popped up will affect the rest of the day. For example, an hour may seem like a lot of time for Wedding Party and Family photos, but if your wedding party is large, or if hair and makeup ran a little late, or we can’t find Uncle Jim for the family photos, we’ll all be happy that we have some extra time.
First Look
A first look is when couples see each other for the first time before the ceremony. It’s more private than a traditional aisle reveal and allows you to spend more time together. You don’t have to do a first look, but I highly recommend it. What no one ever tells you is that on your wedding day, even though the day is all about you and your partner, you get hardly any time alone together. That’s where the first look comes in. Yes, we’ll be taking photos too, but you get to spend a little more time enjoying each other’s company. It also helps calm those wedding-day jitters AND you get more photos of the two of you together than if you waited until after the ceremony. Taking photos after the ceremony can also be tricky because now that all your guests have seen you, they want to come congratulate you, and it can be difficult to sneak away for photos. If the photos are done before the ceremony you don’t have to worry about that, and you can go enjoy cocktail hour with your guests (something you won’t be able to do without a first look.)
Weddings Without a First Look
If you’ve read all about how a wedding day first look works, and still don’t think it’s for you, that's totally fine. If you’re opting out of a first look, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- If you’re not doing a first look, we will need to take wedding party photos, family photos, and portraits of the two of you during cocktail hour. This means we'll need more than one hour. In this case, I like to do an extended (1hr 30min) cocktail hour.
- Taking formal photos during cocktail hour can be a little trickier because now that all your guests are around, they’re going to want to come congratulate you (understandably!).
- It can be difficult to wrangle wedding party and family members when cocktail hour starts, so make sure everyone knows that they’ll be needed for photos after the ceremony. If we can plan for where we’ll be taking these photos, even better! Then we can even let them know where to go after the ceremony.
- If you’re opting out of a first look, you won’t be able to go to cocktail hour. Some couples don’t care, and that is totally fine, I just don’t want you to be surprised by this on your wedding day! 😅
How Long do Wedding Photos Take?
Wedding photographers usually break things down into wedding photography packages of 6, 8, and 10 hours of coverage, with 8 hours being the most popular. This is how I generally think about the weddings that fit into each of these packages:
6 Hour Wedding Photography Timeline
If you skip the getting ready portion of the day (photos of the rings, invitations, dress, suit, shoes, tie, bouquet, boutineer, perfume/cologne, candids of each side of the wedding party, etc.), and head straight into a first look (as long as your ceremony and reception are in the same location) six hours might work for you. If you want more time for dancing (6 hours usually doesn’t give you much time for dancing), you can always ask if your photographer will add on an extra hour of coverage. Keep in mind that six hours generally works best for small weddings.
2:15 - 3:15 First Look and Portraits
3:15 - 4:15 Wedding Party and Family Formals
4:15 - 5:00 Photograph ceremony & reception spaces while you wait for guests to arrive
5:00 - 5:30 Ceremony
5:30 - 6:30 Cocktail Hour
6:30 - 7:00 Introductions into reception, First Dance, Parent Dances, Speeches/Toasts
7:00 - 7:45 Dinner
7:45 Cake cutting
7:45 - 8:15 Dancing (Photographers leave at 8:15)
8 Hour Wedding Photography Timeline
Eight hours is the most popular option because couples generally want getting ready photos, and it also allows for some travel time as long as your getting ready, ceremony, and reception locations are fairly close together. In this example timeline, there is only travel from the getting ready location to the ceremony/reception location.
11:45 - 1:00 Getting Ready Photos
1:00 - 1:15 Travel to Ceremony Location (15 min)
1:15 - 2:15 First Look and Portraits
2:15 - 3:15 Wedding Party and Family Formals
3:15 - 4:00 Photograph ceremony & reception spaces while you wait for guests to arrive
4:00 - 4:30 Ceremony
4:30 - 5:30 Cocktail Hour
5:30 - 6:00 Introductions into reception, First Dance, Parent Dances, Speeches/Toasts
6:00 - 6:45 Dinner
6:45 Cake cutting
6:45 - 7:45 Dancing (Photographers leave at 7:45)
10 Hour Wedding Photography Timeline
If your getting ready, ceremony, and reception locations are farther away (this is more common if you’re getting married in a church), or if your day will include a longer ceremony or additional wedding day traditions, then 10 hours is probably the best option for you. The example timeline below includes an hour-long ceremony, and (padded) travel time.
11:00 - 12:15 Getting Ready Photos
12:15 - 12:45 Travel to Ceremony Location (30 min)
1:15 - 2:15 First Look and Portraits
2:15 - 3:15 Wedding Party and Family Formals
3:15 - 4:00 Photograph ceremony space while you wait for guests to arrive
4:00 - 5:00 Ceremony
5:00 - 5:30 Travel to reception (30 min)
5:30 - 6:30 Cocktail Hour
6:30 - 7:00 Introductions into reception, First Dance, Parent Dances, Speeches/Toasts
7:00 - 7:45 Dinner
7:45 Cake cutting
7:45 - 9:00 Dancing (Photographers leave at 9:00)
Additional Hours
I let my couples know that if they’re still unsure of how many hours they need (maybe they’re still deciding if they want to do getting-ready photos or go right into the first look), they can absolutely start with 6 hours and add on after they dive deeper into wedding planning. If you’re unsure, ask your photographer if you can add hours on later.
Also, remember that just because most photographers have 6,8, and 10 hour packages, it doesn’t mean you can’t add on an hour and do 7 or 9 hours of coverage instead. Your wedding photographer will be able to work with you to decide what the best option is for you.
Example Wedding Day Timelines
If you’re in the process of booking a photographer for your wedding and would like to see an example timeline, just ask! Seriously, photographers want to help you. Here’s some information I suggest giving to your photographer if you would like to see an example timeline specific to your wedding:
- Would you like getting-ready photos?
- Will you be doing a first look?
- Do you have a location in mind for the first look?
- The number of people in your wedding party
- The address of your getting-ready location
- The address of your ceremony location
- The address of your reception location
- Does your ceremony need to start at a certain time?
- How long will your ceremony be? (ceremonies are generally around 30 minutes unless you’re opting for something more formal, like an hour-long mass)
- Does your reception need to start/end at a certain time?
If you don’t have all these answers yet, no worries, you definitely don’t need to know ALL of this to ask for an example timeline, just send over as much of it as you know.
Sound Good?
I know timelines can be tricky, but I hope this will give you a general idea of what to expect and how much coverage you're likely to need so that you'll have a baseline when talking with your wedding photographer. Happy wedding planning! 💜