The number of hours is the single biggest factor in what wedding photography costs, and the one couples most often get wrong in both directions. Too few hours and the exit is not in the gallery. Too many and you paid for two hours of a photographer watching the dance floor thin out. Here is how each block actually plays out.
Start with three questions
- When does the ceremony start, and when does the reception end? The span between "dressed and ready" and "the last thing you want photographed" is the coverage you need.
- Is there a first look? A first look moves portraits earlier and can save an hour at the end of the day, or require one at the start.
- Do you want the exit? A sparkler, sparkler-adjacent, or boat exit at the end of the night is the most common reason to add hours.
Four hours: The Portrait
Best for an elopement, a courthouse wedding with lunch afterward, or a small wedding where the ceremony and a short reception are in one place. Four hours covers: the last thirty minutes of getting ready, the ceremony, formals, portraits and the first hour of the reception including the first dance and toasts if they happen early. It does not cover the dance floor or the exit.
Six hours: The Signature
Enough for a ceremony and reception at the same venue with a compact reception. A common six-hour split: arrive ninety minutes before the ceremony for details and the end of getting ready, ceremony, formals, portraits, entrance, first dance, dinner and toasts, then leave once the open dancing has been photographed for twenty minutes. If the reception runs four hours and you want the end of it, six is tight.
Eight hours: The Gallery
The standard, and what most of our couples book. It covers real getting-ready time for both partners, all of the above, and the reception through parent dances and cake and a solid stretch of the dance floor. Our 8-hour timeline shows exactly where the minutes go. The thing eight hours usually cannot do is both the very beginning of getting ready and a late exit.
Ten hours: The Archive
For a long day: two getting-ready locations, a first look, a ceremony at a church with travel to the reception, or a reception that ends at eleven with a formal send-off. Ten hours removes the compromise and the clock-watching. If you are choosing between eight plus two extra hours and ten, the ten-hour collection is the better price.
What each block costs with us
| Hours | Photography | Film | Both |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | $1,500 | $1,200 | – |
| 6 | $1,700 | $1,400 | $3,000 |
| 8 | $2,000 | $1,500 | $3,500 |
| 10 | $2,600 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
Pay-in-full prices, travel included nationwide. Additional hours are $175, so the difference between six and eight is less than two extra hours would cost. Full details on the collections page.
Reasons to add an hour you may not have considered
- A gap between a church ceremony and the reception. Coverage runs during it whether or not you use it, so plan portraits then.
- Travel between locations. Fifteen minutes in a car is fifteen minutes of coverage.
- Late hair and makeup. It runs late at roughly every wedding; if your coverage starts at the scheduled end of makeup, it starts before you are dressed.
- Sunset after the ceremony. In Amarillo in June the sun sets at 9:03 PM. If you want that light, coverage has to reach it.
Reasons to take an hour off
- Your reception is a dinner, not a dance.
- Everyone is staying at the venue and there is no exit to photograph.
- You have booked a second photographer, which covers more in the same hours.
If you are still unsure, tell us the ceremony time and the reception end, and we will tell you which block fits. That is what the planning call is for, and the booking page starts it.
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Elizabeth Scott photographs and films weddings nationwide — travel included, dates limited.
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