This is the question that decides the price when photography is charged by the hour, and it is easier to answer than it looks. You do not need to know anything about photography. You need to know your timeline.
Start from the last thing you want photographed
Most people start at the beginning, but the end is the decision that matters. If you want the first dance and the sparklers, coverage runs into the evening. If you would rather the evening was private, it stops after the wedding breakfast. Neither is wrong. Decide the finish and the rest follows.
Then decide where to begin
Getting ready photographs are some of the most natural of the day: hands doing buttons, a room full of people who have not yet had to behave. Around ninety minutes before you leave for the ceremony is usually enough to cover them without a photographer standing around while you are still in a dressing gown.
If the morning is not important to you, starting at the ceremony venue is a sensible way to trim hours.
A rough guide by type of day
- Full day, one venue: getting ready through to the first hour of the party. Usually the best part of the daylight hours plus the start of the evening.
- Full day, two venues: add the travel time between them, because the photographer travels with you.
- Ceremony-centred: an hour before, the ceremony, drinks reception and group photographs, and a short walk with the two of you. Often four to six hours.
- Civil ceremony or elopement: from arriving at the venue to an hour or two of photographs afterwards. Sometimes two or three hours is enough.
Where extra hours are worth it
The two places most couples underestimate are the gap between ceremony and wedding breakfast, when the best natural photographs of guests happen, and the golden hour in the evening, when the light is at its most forgiving. If you have to choose, keep those.
Where they are not
The last two hours of a party look very similar to the first two, only darker. Unless there is a specific send-off planned, coverage past the first dance and a few songs is rarely missed.
When you enquire, send your rough timeline and Mikayla will suggest coverage to fit it. You can also read about how the day itself is photographed.