In practice
Book the venue first, then us. Dates move constantly until the château or the mairie is confirmed, and there is no point holding a photographer for a day that might shift by a fortnight. Once the venue is signed, come back the same week — that is when the good Saturdays go.
Couples marrying from abroad should add lead time on top, and not for photography reasons. The residence requirement and the paperwork with the mairie and your consulate take months rather than weeks, and they decide your date before anyone else does.
Two windows are tighter than people expect. November and December fill up early because of Christmas gifts and mini-sessions, so allow three to four weeks rather than two. And a maternity session booked at five months leaves room to move it a few days if the third trimester turns heavy.
Corporate work runs on a different clock entirely: headshot sessions and event coverage can often be scheduled within the week, though January and September are the crunch months for team portraits.
If your date is already taken, we say so within 24 hours and point you towards colleagues in the region rather than leaving you waiting.
Key points
- Summer Saturday: 12 to 18 months. Off-season or weekday: 6 to 9 months.
- Newborn: reserve in the third trimester on a two-week window.
- A verbal yes holds nothing; the 30% deposit does.
Common questions
Do you shoot more than one wedding on the same weekend?+
No. One wedding a day, and in July and August one a weekend, because a full day ends near one in the morning and the editing starts the next week. It is also why a Saturday, once taken, is genuinely gone rather than provisionally gone — we keep no waiting list.
When do we settle the running order of the day?+
Four to six weeks before, once the venue has confirmed what time dinner is served — earlier than that and half the answers are still guesses. It takes one call of about forty-five minutes: getting-ready address, ceremony time, group portraits, sunset. You receive it written down, and we give a copy to the venue.
What that budget actually covers is broken down in our tip on wedding photographer cost.