When will you receive your wedding photos and video? Delivery timelines explained

First, the important thing: we never leave you empty-handed

Even though the final delivery takes time, you won't wait months without seeing anything. In the first days after the wedding we prepare a preview, and we're not talking about four loose photos for Instagram: we send you a selection of 70 to 100 fully edited photographs, enough to give you a real idea of how your story has come together. That preview helps you bear the wait and share the first images with whoever you like. It's a gesture similar to our Same Day Edit: turning the wait into something exciting.

A real story that explains it all

A few days ago I spoke to a couple who had met with two different photographers. The first promised photos in 15 days. The second told them three months. They asked me which of the two to believe.

I answered honestly: I don't know which to believe, but without a doubt you should hire the second one. It sounded obvious, but when I explained the reason, they were surprised.

A studio with a lot of work cannot deliver in 15 days, for two reasons. The first is that wedding photography is a seasonal craft: during wedding months projects pile up. The second, and most important, is that we spend a huge amount of time selecting and editing every image, because delivering a wedding story means delivering it perfect. A 15-day turnaround usually isn't a sign of speed, but of having little work or little care.

The numbers behind your photos

Let's go to the data, where it all makes most sense. At a wedding we usually shoot an average of 3,000 to 4,000 photographs. It's not an exact figure for every wedding, but with a natural photography style, where we chase the spontaneous moment, that number is normal or even higher.

From there our work begins, and it has two phases:

The selection. Reviewing those thousands of images and choosing the ones that really tell your story takes us almost a full working day.

The edit. And here comes the heavy lifting. Editing isn't applying a filter: it means reframing every photo, removing distracting elements, and getting the ideal colour and exposure for each image, one by one. That process can take us another one to two days.

And video is even more complex

If photography takes time, video editing goes one step further. Just sorting and watching all the footage, and choosing the right music, can take us a full day. Bear in mind that at a wedding we may record 500 to 800 different shots. Imagine what it takes to review them one by one to keep only the best. That's why putting together a wedding film and its trailer can take us more than a week of work.

Why a good studio needs 3 to 6 months

There's one last piece rarely told. A wedding photographer doesn't only edit photos and videos: they also run a business, with everything that entails. On top of the pure editing work for your images comes the day-to-day of any company.

When you add the two together, the dedication each story demands and the reality of running a studio, you understand why a successful studio with many weddings needs between 3 and 6 months to deliver all the finished work.

It's worth the wait

We know three to six months can sound like a lot. But we promise you: it's worth it. The decision of who to trust with your wedding photos and film shouldn't be made on who delivers fastest, but on the quality of what they deliver in the end. The rush is forgotten in a week. Your photos and your film you'll watch your whole life.