Quiz: Should I book a "Full Day" Wedding Photography Package?

"How do I know if I'll need a full wedding day photography package?"

We have couples ask us this question quite a bit. While we often highly recommend the full day wedding package (which is up to 10 hours in our case), certainly in many cases the 6 hour package is most ideal. It just really depends on a few different things. We've put together a quiz to help you figure out what will be the best fit for your wedding day!

Answer "Yes" or "No" to the following questions:

1. Are getting ready photos are important to you? The essence of the getting ready portion of the day? We love to get photos of the dress hanging up or draped over a chair, still life shots of shoes, jewelry, family heirlooms, the rings, paper and stationary, and all of these little details that give additional character to the wedding day story. We usually like to give ourselves about 30-45 minutes just on getting photos of these items before we get started on candids of getting hair/make-up styled and getting into the wedding dress. Or maybe the guys are going golfing or out to eat for lunch that you'd like photos of before they start getting dressed. If these are important to you, then we suggest going with a full day wedding package.

2. Are photos of the reception decor and ceremony details + the essence of the location important to you? Do you have a lot of personalized details to be photographed? If you've put a lot of time and thought into selecting the perfect decor for your wedding day, then we know you'll want to make sure to have photos of everything all set up before guests arrive. It may be the only way for you to see everything all perfectly set up because the first time you'll see everything could be during the bride + groom intro! While we can get these on a tighter timeline, it's definitely most ideal to be able to incorporate plenty of time for these shots if you do have a lot of decor and details.

3. Will you be doing a 1st Look, 1st Moment, or Dad 1st Look?

4. Do you want incorporate some breather time or cushion time into the timeline so that the wedding day doesn't feel too rushed?

5. Do you want to keep time spent on photos between the ceremony and reception to a minimum? Whether we are working on a 6 hour timeline or a full day, 10 hour timeline, we typically like to give ourselves an hour between the ceremony and reception to focus on photos of family, wedding party, and bride + groom portraits, With a full wedding day package we can move some of those family photos and wedding party photos to pre-ceremony, such as bride + her parents, and other family members and also bride + bridesmaids photos can be done pre-ceremony so that only the photos of the full wedding party will be done after the ceremony. This way, family can move on to the reception more quickly and we will have more time to focus on just photos of the happy couple right after they say "I Do"! :)

6. Do you want photography coverage of the full reception through the grand exit?

7. Do you want a mix of photos of the wedding day details that bring out your personality, relaxed candid photos of you and your guests, shots of the scenery and decor, great photos of the two of you together, and photos to tell the full story of the day?