Couples rarely regret the photographs they took — they regret the fifteen minutes of daylight they gave away, or the family group nobody wrote down. This is the checklist we send before every wedding.
6–9 months out
- Book photo and film together, with one team if you can — two vendors means two people competing for the same angle.
- Look at full galleries, not highlight reels. Anyone can show ten good frames.
- Confirm hours of coverage and whether a second shooter is included.
- Ask what happens if a photographer is ill on the day.
3 months out: build the timeline around light
The single biggest improvement to your photographs costs nothing: schedule couple portraits in the hour before sunset. Look up the sunset time for your date and venue, then work backwards. Twenty minutes there beats an hour at noon.
| Moment | Suggested window |
|---|---|
| Getting ready | 2–3 hours before ceremony |
| First look (optional) | 90 min before ceremony |
| Family groups | Straight after the ceremony, 20–25 min |
| Couple portraits | Golden hour, ~60 min before sunset |
| Reception details | Before guests enter the room |
1 month out
- Write the family group list by name, and pick one relative from each side to round people up.
- Keep the list under twelve groups — every extra group is two minutes of daylight.
- Share the timeline, venue contact and any restrictions on photography during the ceremony.
- Tell your team about the moments that matter to you personally: a grandparent, a specific song, a private toast.
- Consider an unplugged ceremony so the aisle is not a wall of phones.
The week of
- Gather details for the flat-lay: rings, invitation, perfume, cufflinks, heirlooms.
- Confirm arrival times and the meal plan for the crew — a fed crew shoots the whole evening.
- Charge everything, and put someone in charge of the vows so they are not left in a hotel room.
Questions worth asking your photographer
- How many edited images will we receive, and when?
- Do we get a teaser before the full gallery?
- Are the files print-ready, and can we order an album later?
- How long do you archive our files?
- Who edits — you, or an outsourced service?
Give your photographer twenty minutes of good light and a list of names. Everything else is our job.
What to skip
Long posed sequences taken from Pinterest, a shot list of two hundred items, and a two-hour portrait session. The photographs couples keep on the wall are almost always from the unhurried moments in between.
Planning your day? We shoot photo and film together, unhurried, with a teaser in your inbox within a week.
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