How Many Hours of Coverage Does Your Wedding Need?

This is the question most couples get stuck on – and rightly so. It’s hard to answer, because you only know afterwards how the day went.

I’m trying a different approach here: not via packages, but via what actually happens during those hours. After that you can judge for yourselves where you’ll land.

The mistake in thinking about hours

Almost everyone counts from the start: when does the photographer arrive?

It makes more sense to count backwards: what is the last moment you want in pictures?

For some it’s the first dance. For others the cake. For others it’s the moment at half past one in the morning when twelve people are still on the dance floor and nobody is wearing shoes any more.

This one answer determines your number of hours more than anything else.

What happens in which hour

2 hours – the core

Enough for: civil ceremony, congratulations, a toast, a few couple portraits.

This is the right choice for small ceremonies without a big celebration. No more and no less – but the core is fully covered.

4 hours – ceremony plus arrival

Now the part that frames the ceremony is added: guests arriving, the ceremony without rushing, the reception afterwards, group photos, a longer couple shoot.

This is my recommendation if you’re getting married in a small circle and going out to eat together afterwards.

6 hours – the classic wedding day

From here a normal schedule is covered: from the later part of getting ready through the ceremony, reception and couple shoot into the evening, including dinner and speeches.

This is the length most couples end up booking – and for most weddings the most honest answer.

8 hours – with getting ready and dancing

Two extensions make the difference: the morning and the night.

The morning brings the quiet pictures – details, the dress, getting dressed, the nerves. The evening brings the loud ones – cake cutting, first dance, party.

If you want both ends, eight hours is the minimum.

12 hours – the whole day

From the first coffee until late into the night, without anyone looking at the clock.

Not every wedding needs this. It makes sense if your day has several locations, if a lot of programme is planned – or if you simply want nobody to leave at the end while something is still happening.

Three questions that shorten the decision

• Do you want getting ready in the pictures? If so, add two hours. The morning takes more time than it looks.

• How far is it between the locations? Every journey costs real coverage time without producing a single picture.

• Is the evening important to you? Then don’t plan too tightly. Nothing is more annoying than having to stop twenty minutes before the first dance.

What I don’t recommend

Planning too tightly and then extending. Technically that’s possible – with me the additional hour costs between €200 and €300 depending on the package. But it almost always means that in the afternoon people talk about time instead of about your day.

If you’re torn between two sizes, choose the smaller one if in doubt and move the start time back. Six hours that are well placed are better than eight that start too early.

And if you don’t know?

Then you don’t have to decide in advance.

Just send me your planned schedule – even if it’s rough or unfinished. I’ll tell you honestly where I would start and where I would stop. In about half of the cases I recommend a smaller package than the one requested.

You’ll find all packages with hours and prices on the packages page.