One of the biggest questions couples have when booking wedding photography is, “How many hours do we actually need?" The answer really depends on your wedding day and what you want photographed!
Four hours is a great option for smaller weddings or couples who mainly want their ceremony, family photos, wedding party, portraits, and some of the reception photographed. If everything is happening at one location, you can fit quite a bit into four hours! A general photography timeline based on 4 hours might look something like this:
1:00: I arrive: immediately go into final getting ready touches + details
2:00: First Look
2:05: Bride and Groom portraits
3:00: Ceremony
3:30: Family + Bridal Party Portraits
4:00: Cocktail hour candids
4:30: Grand Entrance into reception
4:45: First dances
5:00: I depart
Six hours gives us a little more breathing room. I can usually arrive while you’re getting ready, photograph all those little details and candid moments, (lots of detail photos here because those are my FAV) and still have plenty of time for the ceremony, portraits, reception, dances, cake cutting, and some dance floor chaos!
The biggest difference isn’t necessarily the number of photos. It’s the pace of the day.
Four hours can absolutely be enough, but we’ll be working with a tighter timeline. Six hours gives us more room for things running late, sunset portraits, and all those random little moments that you can’t plan ahead of time. If you’re having a smaller, simple wedding, four hours might be perfect. If you want more of your full wedding day story documented; especially with more candid and raw photos: six hours is probably the better fit.
And if you have absolutely no idea which one you need, that’s okay! I'm always open to helping couples decide on which amount of coverage would best fit their wants and needs for their wedding day!
Sarah Nicole Photography
Arkansas Wedding & Destination Photographer
