Guide · The weekend
The wedding weekend
A destination wedding almost never begins on the day of the ceremony. This is how I would decide what to photograph across the weekend.
If you add one event to the wedding day, make it the welcome party. After that, photograph the events that mean something to your families — not every meal just because it exists.
What a wedding weekend usually includes
In a destination wedding the celebration spreads across several days. A weekend can include:
- Welcome drinks or a welcome party
- The rehearsal dinner
- Cultural or family events before the wedding
- The wedding day
- A brunch, pool party or beach day the day after
If you add one event, make it the welcome party
If I had to choose one event beyond the wedding day, I would usually choose the welcome party. It is one of the moments that best explains why a destination wedding is different: the guests have just arrived from different places, families are finding each other again, and the two of you don’t yet have the whole structure and schedule of the wedding day on your shoulders.
It also lets me meet the most important people early. By the wedding day I already know who the parents, the siblings, the wedding party and the close friends are, and that makes the coverage of the next day far more intuitive.
Then, the events that carry meaning
After that, depending on the wedding, I would prioritise any event that has real meaning for the family. In a multicultural wedding, for example, a Mehndi, a Haldi or another celebration before the wedding can be as important to the story as the reception itself. Multi-day South Asian weddings are a good example of a weekend where every day is part of the same story.
The question I would ask about every event
I don’t think every meal of the weekend needs to be photographed just because it exists. The question I ask is this:
At which moments will people be together who probably won’t be together like this again?
Those are the ones I wouldn’t leave out.
How weekend coverage is built
A wedding weekend isn’t a package. It is built from the total hours you need, spread across the days that matter, with film added for the events where you want it. Whether the venue can provide rooms for the team also moves the number — it is worth asking the hotel, the same conversation as the rest of the vendor logistics. The Wedding Weekend collection explains it in full.
More than one day, photographed
Questions couples ask
Do we need a photographer for the whole weekend?
No. Weekend coverage is built from the hours you actually need, spread across the days that matter. Many couples add one event to the wedding day — usually the welcome party — and that is often enough to tell the story of the weekend.
Is the rehearsal dinner worth photographing?
When it is the first night everyone is together, yes. If you have both a welcome party and a rehearsal dinner, I would photograph the one with more of your guests: that is where the families meet and the story of the weekend begins.
How is wedding weekend photography priced?
It isn’t a fixed package. It is quoted by the total hours across the days, whether film joins the photography, and whether the venue can provide rooms for the team. The Wedding Weekend page explains what moves the number.
Is film included in a wedding weekend?
Film is added when you want it, for the events where movement and sound matter most. The photography is the base of the coverage; film joins it by event.
More guides
Planning a weekend?
Tell me what the weekend looks like — the events, the days, the venue. I'll tell you what I would photograph and why.