When planning your wedding, one of the most overlooked—but essential—factors is your guest list size. Not only does this influence your venue, catering, and styling decisions—it also dramatically impacts your photography needs.
As a luxury wedding photographer, I often guide my couples through what kind of coverage is ideal depending on the size of their celebration. Whether you’re dreaming of an intimate elopement or planning a grand multi-day affair, here’s a breakdown of wedding sizes and what they typically require from a photography perspective.
🕊 0–15 Guests: The Elopement Experience
Elopements are beautifully intimate and deeply personal. Whether you’re escaping to the coast or saying your vows in a private garden, an elopement typically involves just the couple and a few witnesses or loved ones.
What you need:
One photographer is more than enough to capture the emotion, details, and storytelling of an elopement. I work closely with you to document every glance, tear, and laugh—without intruding on the intimacy of the moment. You will also need a celebrant, and two witnesses (I can either bring an assistant and I myself act as a witness, or your celebrant can bring someone along). Unless you are wanting Drone, Film Photography or Content Creation, I wouldn’t have another reason to bring another shooter.
🌿 15–45 Guests: The Micro Wedding (Or Intimate Wedding)
Micro weddings are rising in popularity for couples who want something meaningful, stylish, and stress-free. With fewer guests, there’s more room to invest in thoughtful details and luxurious experiences.
What you need:
One experienced photographer can typically cover micro weddings well. If your timeline is tight or spread across multiple locations, adding a second shooter ensures we capture every element with the same care and attention to detail.
✨ 45–80 Guests: The Standard Wedding
This is the most common wedding size—and a sweet spot that allows you to enjoy a full guest list without feeling overwhelmed.
What you need:
One photographer is usually sufficient, especially with a well-structured timeline for full day coverage 10-12 hours. However, if your event includes multiple styling elements, large bridal parties, or getting-ready coverage for both partners in far away locations, or a priority on lots of photos of the guests, a second shooter will elevate the final gallery.
💍 120+ Guests: The Large Wedding
With over 120 guests, your wedding day becomes a complex, fast-moving event with many layers—from bridal prep and ceremony to family formals, cocktail hour, and a vibrant dance floor.
What you need:
A second shooter is highly recommended. This allows us to be in two places at once—one capturing candid guest interactions while the other documents the key moments, or one capturing you from above walking down the aisle and the other getting a close up of the grooms face. Your photography coverage becomes seamless, stress-free, and more complete.
💫 200+ Guests: The Moderately Large Wedding
Think large-scale cultural weddings, extended family affairs, or multiple-day events. A moderate-large wedding requires extra coordination and multiple touch points throughout the day.
What you need:
Two to three photographers are ideal. This ensures every element—ceremony traditions, reactions, and lavish details—are well documented without missing a beat. It also helps with large family photo lists and coverage of guests across spacious venues.
🌟 300+ Guests: The Very Large Wedding
Common in Greek, Indian, Lebanese, and religious multi-day weddings, very large celebrations are grand in scale and rich in tradition.
What you need:
Three or more photographers are essential. Each photographer will be assigned specific areas—ceremony, guests, reception styling, bridal party—to ensure everything is captured from multiple perspectives. These large scale weddings commonly have multiple things happening at once, and will have a planner and coordination team and videography team for the photography team to work along side with. A common example of Photographers for this would be: One to focus on guests candids, one to focus on Portraits, One to focus on the styling details, multiple angles of the ceremony, Drone footage, film photography, or dedicated behind-the-scenes content creation may also be incorporated at this scale.
Final Thoughts
No matter the size of your wedding, the goal is always the same: to capture your day with artistry, emotion, and intention. But the number of photographers and the style of coverage required changes dramatically based on your guest count, timeline, and vision.
If you’re unsure what level of coverage is right for you, I’m always happy to help you tailor your photography package to ensure your love story is documented perfectly—whether it’s just the two of you or 300 of your closest friends.
Ready to plan your dream wedding photography experience?
