What Is Twilight Wedding Photography — And Is It Right for Your Wedding?

North East and North Yorkshire Wedding Photographers

Not every wedding needs a photographer there from breakfast until everybody is barefoot on the dance floor at midnight.

I probably shouldn't say that as somebody who makes his living photographing weddings, but it's true.

Some weddings are naturally shorter. Some couples aren't particularly interested in photographs of getting ready in the morning, while others are planning a later ceremony and want their photography to concentrate on the ceremony, their guests and the celebrations afterwards. Sometimes a couple simply wants a really good record of the most important few hours without booking somebody for the entire day.

That's where twilight wedding photography can work brilliantly.

I've photographed weddings for 18 years now, and one thing I've learnt is that there isn't a single amount of photography coverage that suits everybody. A huge country-house wedding with preparations happening from early morning is very different from an intimate ceremony starting at three or four in the afternoon. Trying to squeeze both into exactly the same photography package doesn't make much sense.

So what actually is twilight wedding photography?

There's no official rule that says a twilight wedding has to start at a particular time. In simple terms, it's generally a later wedding with the ceremony and celebrations taking place much closer together, rather than the traditional format where everything begins in the morning and stretches across the entire day.

From a photography point of view, it means concentrating the coverage into the part of the wedding where the most is happening.

Rather than arriving while you're having your hair done and still being there ten hours later when somebody's uncle has decided he's Freddie Mercury, I'm coming in later and photographing a shorter section of the day.

That can include the ceremony, congratulations afterwards, family photographs, some relaxed photographs of the two of you, your guests enjoying themselves and the beginning of the evening celebrations. Depending on your timings and the time of year, we might also have the opportunity to use that lovely evening light that photographers get unnecessarily excited about.

And yes, I am one of them.

You don't automatically need ten or twelve hours of photography

Full-day wedding photography is brilliant when the wedding needs it. Getting ready can produce some lovely photographs, particularly when you've got parents, bridesmaids, groomsmen and children all involved. Later in the evening you get an entirely different set of photographs once everybody relaxes and the dance floor gets going.

But that doesn't mean every couple needs all of it.

If you're having a later ceremony and aren't particularly bothered about photographs of shoes, make-up, dresses hanging from wardrobes and somebody trying to work out how a buttonhole works, why pay for hours of coverage you don't actually want?

I'd much rather somebody chose their photography around their wedding than planned their wedding around a photography package.

That's one of the reasons I offer a Twilight Wedding Photography package alongside my longer coverage. It gives couples another option when full-day photography simply isn't necessary.

North East and North Yorkshire Wedding Photographers

What can you actually photograph in shorter coverage?

Quite a lot — providing the timings make sense.

That's the important bit.

Shorter photography doesn't have to mean rushed photography. If we know beforehand what's important to you and we've allowed sensible amounts of time for it, several hours can tell a surprisingly complete story.

I can photograph you arriving, the ceremony itself, that first few minutes afterwards when everybody wants to hug you at once, confetti if you're having it, the family photographs you actually want, some time with the two of you and plenty of the natural moments happening between your guests.

What I can't do is make five hours behave like ten.

If getting ready is happening at 11am, the ceremony is at 2pm and you want photographs of the first dance at 8pm, that's obviously not going to fit into five hours. Somewhere along the line something has to give.

That's why timings matter far more than simply looking at the number of hours printed next to a package.

Later weddings can have a completely different atmosphere

There's something I really like about later weddings.

The gap between the formal part of the day and the party can be much smaller, which often gives the whole thing a slightly different feel. Guests arrive, the ceremony happens and before long everybody is eating, drinking, talking and getting into the celebrations.

For documentary wedding photography, there's plenty going on.

I'm watching the people rather than constantly dragging you away from them. It's the reactions during the ceremony, parents watching from their seats, somebody laughing at precisely the wrong moment, children doing whatever they want regardless of what the adults have planned, and all those little interactions between guests that you probably won't notice yourself.

Those photographs don't require twelve hours to happen. They require me to be there when they happen.

North East and North Yorkshire Wedding Photographers

And then there's the light...

The word twilight makes it sound as though I'm going to wait until it's practically pitch black before getting the cameras out.

I'm not.

But a later wedding can give us some lovely opportunities with the light, particularly during spring and summer when the evenings are longer. If we're lucky enough to get a good sunset or some beautiful golden evening light, I might steal you away from everyone for ten or fifteen minutes.

That's not about turning your wedding into a photoshoot. It's simply making use of something that's there.

The light can change incredibly quickly in the evening, and sometimes the difference between an ordinary patch of grass and a photograph you'll put on the wall is about five minutes and the sun appearing in exactly the right place.

Of course, this is North Yorkshire and the North East, so the weather occasionally has other ideas. I've never built a wedding around the assumption that we're definitely getting a sunset.

If it happens, brilliant. We'll use it. If it doesn't, we carry on photographing the wedding.

Is twilight wedding photography cheaper?

Generally, shorter coverage costs less than having a photographer with you for the entire day, which is obviously one of the attractions.

But I don't really see twilight photography as a budget version of a proper wedding package.

It's simply different coverage for a different type of wedding.

You're still getting the same cameras, the same experience and the same approach from me. I'm not suddenly going to photograph your wedding differently because I've arrived later in the day. Your photographs still receive the same attention afterwards and I'm still looking for the same natural moments I've spent the last 18 years photographing.

You're simply booking me for the part of the wedding that matters to you.

Is a Twilight Wedding Photography package right for you?

This is probably the easiest bit.

If you're planning a later ceremony, everything is happening reasonably close together and you don't feel you need photography from the morning right through until late evening, twilight coverage is definitely worth considering.

It's also a good option for smaller or more relaxed weddings where there simply isn't a ten-hour story to photograph.

On the other hand, if you're getting ready somewhere separate from the ceremony, you've got lots happening throughout the day, you want photographs of both the preparations and evening celebrations, or there are significant gaps between different parts of the wedding, I'd probably tell you to look at longer coverage instead.

And that's perfectly fine.

I'm not interested in convincing somebody they need ten hours when five genuinely suits them better. Equally, I'm not going to tell somebody five hours is plenty when they've described a wedding that clearly needs considerably longer.

It's your wedding. Pick the coverage that fits it.

One of the reasons I've ended up offering different wedding photography packages over the years is because weddings aren't all the same.

Some are enormous. Some are tiny. Some start before lunch. Others don't get going until late afternoon. I've photographed weddings where the schedule is planned almost to the minute and others where I'm fairly certain the schedule disappeared before anybody had finished breakfast.

That's part of what makes photographing them interesting.

Your photography coverage should fit around the wedding you're actually planning, rather than some imaginary version of what a wedding is supposed to look like.

So if you're planning a later wedding in North Yorkshire or the North East and don't think you need a photographer following you around for the entire day, my Twilight Wedding Photography package might be exactly the right fit.

You still get the important bits. You still get the people, the laughter, the ceremony and the little moments you didn't see happening.

I just arrive a little later.

And hopefully nobody's uncle has started doing Freddie Mercury before I get there.

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