Wedding duration?! 😅

That's a hard question to answer because it all depends on what you are doing and how you are doing your day. My friend that got married April of this year had a Greek Orthodox ceremony which was over 1 hour hahaha. But I've also seen some couples have the ceremony part with the officiant or Reverend and it was done in 15 minutes. The length of time it takes you to get ready is all up to you depending on how you going to have your hair done and makeup and that sort. I think ultimately you and your FHA should sit down and figure out exactly how you want to do stuff and then ask people like your makeup artist or your hair stylist or your officiant how long will things take and then you can kind of plan from there.

View Quoted Comment That makes sense! I am just trying to book a photographer and it’s by hours and I don’t want to over or under book. And absolutely no one has had a extravagant wedding in either one of our families. So no one can give us any type of advice.

Most would do 6-8 hours for a photographer, especially if you are doing a first look and getting ready photos. Photographer will usually not stay for all of the reception unless you need them to.

Most people have a 30 minute ceremony time, 1 hour cocktail hour and 4 hour reception. Yours may vary.

View Quoted Comment I would probably say in regards to getting ready maybe expect 30 minutes of photography for that or to an hour if you want a few before ceremony shots then if you're just having a simple ceremony then maybe about 15 to 20 minutes for you guys to be officiated as husband and wife then you can probably factor in between 30 minutes to an hour for post-ceremony pictures depending on how many you want. Then it depends on how long you want the photographer to stay at the reception. I am not sure how much you want to spend but I would probably say if you are thinking to do before ceremony during ceremony post ceremony and reception pictures you may want to do at least four hours probably five. I am eloping and I probably would still want a photographer for maybe about 2 to 3 hours.

It's hard to answer only because it depends on what you have planned. I got married last month and my photographer got to the venue between 2:30 and 3 for the detailed photos such as rings, cake, decorations and the small things like that before the guest arrived. I got into my dress about 15 minutes before the ceremony which started at 4 and was over by 4:30, pictures lasted until we ran out of sunlight so about 45 minutes to an hour and we did a fake sendoff with sparklers about 7:30 and our photographer left at 8 the reception was over by 9 followed by an after party for the 21+ guest

A lot of photographers will help you plan a general timeline. Your day of coordinator ( if you have one) will also help with this and my Band also offered a timeline!

1) Wedding should last 30-60 minutes for ceremony, 1-2 hours cocktail time( normally you do photos during this time), 5 hours reception.


2) Getting dressed, if doing professional hair and makeup can take 3-6hrs. If you do your own hair and makeup you know how long those things take and putting the Dress on should take 1-3hrs.
3) Ceremony usually 30-60 minutes. Reception 4-6 hours.
4) Pictures of you, parents and bridal party 30-90 minutes. Other pictures all day throughout the event.

It’s different for everyone depending on personal preference but I’ll share what I did:


Wedding lasted a total of 5 hours (that’s 5 hours from the start of the ceremony until the end of the last song at the reception).
Got dressed about 10 minutes before the ceremony.
Ceremony was 15-20 mins long.
We had a 1 hour cocktail hour, and then a 3.5 hour reception.
We spent about 45 minutes (during cocktail hour) taking pictures and had plenty 🤷🏻‍♀️

It depends on how big your wedding is and what you want captured. We were on a budget so this is how we scheduled our photographer: I got my hair done at 10:30 am with my daughter- no photos 12PM- Had a quick snack 1PM- Arrived at the church, did my makeup- no photos 1:30PM Photographer arrived, she did family shots between 1:30-2PM 2PM-2:30 Ceremony 2:30-3PM- After ceremony shots 3:15ish- Everyone left and went to the reception space. Photographer left. Our reception was from 4pm- 6pm- no photographer Ours was a budget friendly wedding and was rather short. We had about 28 guests.

I think this all depends on the couple, the bridal party and your budget. Based on all of those factors for my FH and I, our wedding and reception will be 5-6 hours long. Our ceremony is scheduled to start at 4:10pm (invitation time is 4pm), and will be between 10-15 minutes. The bridal party introductions will begin at 4:45pm and the reception will last until 9pm (with last call for the bar at 8:30).

I plan on an hour for getting dressed once we get to the venue with us arriving to the venue at 2pm; hair and makeup will be done prior to arriving at the venue.

For our photos, we plan on taking a majority of them after our first look and before the ceremony. After the ceremony, we are going to do family photos while our guests find their seats in the reception hall; we are not planning on having a cocktail hour so once guests are in their seats, we should be ready for the bridal party introductions.

We hired our photographer for 6 hours; one of my FSIL's is also a photographer and said she will take over for us once our photographer leaves. But do keep in mind that every wedding is different and you should do what is going to work best for your day

1. Ours was 6 hours. 5 PM - 11 PM.

2. I was dressed 1 hour before our ceremony, I did a first look with my dad & some pictures before.

3. Our ceremony was 20 minutes.

4. Our reception was around 4.5 hours.

5. We took pictures during cocktail hour, for about an hour. We took getting ready pictures for about 30 minutes too.

Usually the average wedding reception is 4-5 hours