How Much Time Should You Allow for Wedding Photos?

One of the easiest ways for wedding photos to take over your timeline is to underestimate how long it takes to organize people.

Nobody wants to spend an hour standing in a line waiting for Uncle Whoever to find his shoes.

Our general recommendation is to allow around 30 minutes for family photos, 30 minutes for bridal party photos and 30 minutes for couple photos.

That doesn't mean we actually want to spend 90 minutes taking posed photographs. Quite the opposite.

We generally try to get through these photographs as efficiently as possible so you can get back to enjoying your wedding.

Family photos: allow around 30 minutes

Family photos are usually the most time-consuming because, well... families.

Someone is always in the bathroom. Someone doesn't hear their name. Someone has wandered off to get a drink.

We recommend letting the people who will be in the photos know they need to stick around as well as making a short, organised list beforehand and having someone who knows the family help round people up.

The actual photographs don't need to take 30 minutes. The extra time gives us some breathing room for organising everyone if they forgot their place.

Bridal party photos: around 30 minutes

Again, we don't want to spend half an hour making everyone stand perfectly still.

We usually work through a combination of a few organised photographs and more natural interaction.

And if you've already done some of these photographs before the ceremony, even better.

Couple photos: around 30 minutes

Thirty minutes gives us enough time to get a good variety of photographs without making you feel like you've disappeared from your own wedding.

We'll get some beautiful portraits, but we're also looking for the moments in between, you finally getting to enjoy each other, go for a walk together, talk to each other and generally forget that we're there.

One of our favourite ways to save time

If you're happy to see each other before the ceremony, doing your bridal party and couple photos beforehand can save a huge amount of time later in the day.

Instead of finishing your ceremony and immediately disappearing for photographs while your guests wait, you can get straight into canapés, drinks and celebrating with everyone.

It also means that after the ceremony, we can keep the remaining family photographs quick and get you back to your guests.

The important thing

These timings are guidelines, not rules.

We're not going to arrive with a stopwatch and announce that your 30 minutes are up.

The whole point is to have enough time built into the day that photographs don't become stressful.

The less rushed you feel, the better your photographs tend to be.