As a wedding photographer, one of the questions we hear all of the time from couples is how many hours of coverage do we need?  Since this is probably your first time planning a wedding, you may have no idea what you will need and don’t even know where to start figuring it out. You want to make sure you get all the important parts of your day covered, but you also don’t want to be spending your precious wedding budget on hours of photography that you really don’t need.

We want to help make things easier for you, so here is our guide to how many hours of wedding photography coverage you really need for your wedding day.

Six Hours of Wedding Photography Coverage

Unless you are eloping or having an intimate dinner instead of a wedding reception, we recommend at least six hours of wedding day photography coverage. Here are a few situations when 6 hours of wedding photography coverage will work great!

• Your ceremony and reception are in the same location

• You don’t want getting ready photos

• You don’t have a special reception exit planned and don’t need a lot of dancing photos

Sample 6 Hour Wedding Photography Timeline (limited dancing photos/no special exit)

2:00  Bride and Bridesmaids Getting Ready

3:00 Groom and Groomsmen Getting Ready

3:30 Ceremony Details/Guests Arriving

4:00 Wedding Ceremony

4:30 Family and Couple Portraits

5:30 Reception Grand Entrance

5:35 Toasts

6:00 Dinner

7:00 First Dance and Parent Dances

7:10 Open Dancing

7:45 Cake Cutting

7:55 Bouquet and Garter Toss

8:00 Photographer Departs

10:00 Reception Ends

Sample 6 Hour Wedding Photography Timeline (no getting ready photos)

3:30 Ceremony Details/Guests Arriving

4:00 Wedding Ceremony

4:30 Family and Couple Portraits

5:30 Reception Grand Entrance

5:35 Toasts

6:00 Dinner

7:00 First Dance and Parent Dances

7:10 Open Dancing

8:00 Cake Cutting

8:10 Bouquet and Garter Toss

8:20 Open Dancing

9:30 Photographer Departs

10:00 Reception Ends

Eight Hours of Wedding Photography Coverage

Eight hours of wedding photography is the most popular amount of coverage and will cover most wedding days from start to finish. Here are a few situations when 8 hours of wedding photography coverage will probably be needed!

• Your ceremony and reception are in different locations

• You want to do a first look

• You want both getting ready photos and a lot of dancing photos

Sample 8 Hour Traditional Wedding Photography Timeline

2:00 Bride and Bridesmaids Getting Ready

3:00 Groom and Groomsmen Getting Ready

3:30 Ceremony Details/Guest Arriving

4:00 Wedding Ceremony

4:30 Family and Couple Portraits

5:30 Reception Grand Entrance

5:35 Toasts

6:00 Dinner

7:00 First Dance and Parent Dances

7:10 Open Dancing

8:00 Cake Cutting

8:10 Bouquet and Garter Toss

8:20 Open Dancing

9:50 Special Exit

10:00 Reception Ends and Photographer Departs

Sample 8 Hour First Look Wedding Photography Timeline

1:00  Bride and Bridesmaids Getting Ready

2:00 Groom and Groomsmen Getting Ready

2:30 First Look and Couple Portraits

3:30 Ceremony Details/Guest Arriving

4:00 Wedding Ceremony

4:30 Family and Wedding Party Portraits

5:15 Bride and Groom join Cocktail Hour or Take a Break

5:30 Reception Grand Entrance

5:35 Toasts

6:00 Dinner

7:00 First Dance and Parent Dances

7:10 Open Dancing

7:45 Cake Cutting

7:55 Bouquet and Garter Toss

9:00 Photographer Departs

10:00 Reception Ends

Ten Hours of Wedding Photography Coverage

In some situations, 8 hours of wedding photography just won’t be enough to capture your whole wedding day. Here are a few situations when you might need 10 hours of wedding photography coverage, or maybe even more!

• You have a gap of time between the end of your ceremony and the start of your reception (common with church weddings)

• You are having two ceremonies (such as a morning tea ceremony and a traditional afternoon or evening ceremony)

• You are having a large number of guests and wish to do a receiving line or table visits (these typically take 30-45 minutes each

Sample 10 Hour Traditional Church Ceremony Wedding Photography Timeline

10:30 Bride and Bridesmaids Getting Ready

11:30 Groom and Groomsmen Getting Ready

12:00 Wedding Ceremony

1:00 Family and Couple Portraits

2:00 Optional Break or Extended Couple Portraits at another location

3:00 Cocktail Hour

4:00 Reception Grand Entrance

4:05 Toasts

4:30 Dinner

5:30 First Dance and Parent Dances

5:40 Open Dancing

6:30 Cake Cutting

6:40 Bouquet and Garter Toss

8:30 Photographer Departs

9:00 Reception Ends

Sample 10 Hour Two Ceremony Wedding Photography Timeline

10:00 Morning Tea Ceremony

12:00 Break

3:00 Getting Ready Photos for second ceremony

4:00 Wedding Ceremony

4:30 Family and Couple Portraits

5:30 Reception Grand Entrance

5:35 Toasts

6:00 Dinner

7:00 First Dance and Parent Dances

7:10 Open Dancing

7:45 Cake Cutting

7:55 Bouquet and Garter Toss

8:00 Photographer Departs

10:00 Reception Ends

Hi!  We’re Breanne and Fernando, husband and wife wedding photographers from Vivo Photography.  We photograph weddings and engagements all over the San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose. Are you currently planning your engagement photos or wedding?  We would love to be part of your team. Click the button below and Let’s chat!