How many photos should each guest take?

Twelve photos per guest is the number that works for most weddings. It is enough to cover the parts of the day a guest actually attends, and few enough that they think before pressing. Below eight people run out during dinner; above twenty-five the limit stops doing its job.

Why not just give everyone unlimited photos?

Because the limit is the feature. It is what turns a guest from someone recording the evening into someone choosing moments from it. Give a room a thousand shots each and you get a thousand near-identical pictures of the same three things, and no one ever looks through them.

There is a second effect that matters more than people expect. A guest with a limit puts the phone away between shots. A guest without one keeps it in their hand all night.

How the number changes with your day

• —One venue, ceremony through evening: twelve. Roughly three moments per guest with a few in reserve.
• —Several locations in one day: eighteen to twenty. Guests spend shots on the moving between, not just the events.
• —A weekend or a destination wedding: unlimited, or a fresh allowance per day. People drift apart and come back, and a single pot runs dry on the first evening.
• —A small dinner of thirty or fewer: eight to ten. Fewer guests means fewer cameras, but also fewer distinct moments to spend them on.
• —A big party of two hundred: ten is plenty. The total roll grows with the guest count, not with the allowance.

How many photos will you actually get?

Multiply your guest count by the limit, then take about sixty per cent. Not everyone joins, and not everyone who joins uses their whole allowance. A hundred guests at twelve shots is a theoretical twelve hundred and a realistic seven hundred, which is already more than any photographer will hand you.

If that sounds like a lot to look through, it is worth remembering they arrive as one roll rather than a folder. People do sit down and go through a roll.

Should the photographer be included?

No. Your photographer is not working to a twelve-shot limit and should not be. Keep the guest roll for guests; it is a different set of pictures with a different purpose, and mixing the two makes both harder to use.

What if guests run out early?

Some will, usually the ones enjoying themselves most, and that is not a problem to solve. The dance floor is covered by whoever still has shots left, and the fact that the early spenders are finished is why the later photos are of people rather than of decorations.

If it genuinely worries you, raise the limit by four rather than doubling it. The difference between twelve and sixteen is invisible; the difference between twelve and unlimited is the whole point.

Set the shot limit and the guest count for your own event and see what it costs. Price your event