Services / 3 min readThe Union in Frame journal
Small weddings and elopements: how much coverage you really need
Words by Union in Frame
A small wedding does not need a smaller version of a full-day package. It needs coverage shaped around the day you are having: a registrar slot, a walk and a long lunch. For a day like that, two to four hours is usually enough. Here is how to choose.
What two hours can actually hold
Two hours covers a register office ceremony. The ceremony itself is short, and the registrar will usually see you both briefly beforehand. Add the arrival, the greetings outside, the signing and the walk out, and the ceremony is fully told.
For portraits, walk somewhere nearby rather than drive. Twenty minutes in a park or along a quiet street gives relaxed pictures without keeping you from your guests. If you are eloping with only your two witnesses, two hours is plenty. A third hour brings the first drink and a toast into the gallery.
When four hours makes sense
Four hours suits a ceremony, a walk and a long lunch. It can begin as you finish getting ready, follow you to the register office, carry on through the portraits and settle at the table for the first course.
With twenty guests, the lunch is most of the day. People talk across the table rather than across a room, and the photographs show it. If you want the speeches photographed, hold them before the food or between courses, and agree that as the finish point so nobody is watching the clock.
Film and same-day content for twenty guests
A small wedding is not too small for film. Vows in a quiet room, a short walk and one table of conversation give a film a clear shape. If hearing the vows again matters to you, film is worth having.
Same-day content is a different question. It exists to be shared quickly, so think about who will not be in the room. With twenty guests, that may include family abroad and friends you could not invite. If you want to send them clips that evening, it makes sense. If not, let the photographs do the work.
Use the weekday and the city
Register offices and restaurants are often quieter on a weekday, and good tables are easier to book. The city carries on around you, which gives the photographs a sense of place.
Choose a register office, a park or riverside and a restaurant within walking distance of each other, and the day moves at your pace, with no cars to organise and no coverage spent in traffic. If it rains, a covered arcade, a sheltered doorway or the restaurant itself can become the portrait location, and the plan still holds.
Decide the hours and write them down
Start from the moment you want the photographs to end, and count backwards. If the last picture you want is the toast, two to three hours starting at the register office is usually enough. If it is the speeches, four hours fits.
Send your photographer a simple running order: registrar time, the walk, the table booking and the finish. In winter, a late-morning ceremony keeps the walk in daylight; in summer, you have far more choice. If you are unsure between two lengths, ask whether an extra hour can be added later.
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