Photography and film for a multi-day Asian wedding are priced event by event. Your total depends on three things: how many events you book, how many hours each one needs, and how many photographers and filmmakers it takes to cover the size of your guest list.
This guide sets out typical hours for each event, the crew we would suggest for different guest numbers, and when one team across every day makes more sense than separate crews. For UK price ranges in general, see our guide to the cost of wedding photography and film in the UK. To plan the days themselves, start with our multi-day Asian wedding timeline.
The short answer: Asian weddings are priced per event, not per wedding. A typical three-day celebration might need around 4 hours for the mehndi, 2 for a haldi, 5 for the sangeet and 12 to 14 for the wedding day and reception, with two photographers and two filmmakers on the busiest day. Price each event, then add them together.
Why are Asian weddings priced event by event?
UK price guides describe a single day. Bridebook’s 2026 data puts the average spend at £1,484 for a photographer and £1,514 for a videographer, for packages of roughly four to ten or more hours. That works for a church wedding followed by a reception.
An Asian wedding is different. It might be a mehndi on Thursday, a haldi and sangeet on Friday, the ceremony and reception on Saturday, and a civil ceremony a few weeks earlier. Each event has its own venue, its own hours and its own guest list. Pricing each one separately means you only pay for what you choose, and you can see exactly where the money goes.
How many hours does each event need?
These are typical coverage times from the Asian weddings we photograph and film. The names, order and length of events vary between families and regions, so treat them as a starting point.
| Event | Typical coverage | What it usually includes | Crew we would usually suggest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil ceremony (if separate) | 2 hours | Arrivals, the ceremony, signing, family groups | 1 photographer, or a simple film |
| Mehndi | 3–4 hours | Henna close-ups, family, dhol, dancing | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker |
| Haldi, maiyan or pithi | 1.5–2.5 hours | Turmeric, choora or family blessings, the mess and laughter | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker per home |
| Sangeet, garba or jaggo | 4–5 hours | Rehearsed dances, performances, speeches, the party | 1–2 photographers, 1 filmmaker |
| Wedding ceremony day | 6–8 hours | Preparations, baraat or milni, the ceremony, family photographs, vidaai or doli | 2 photographers, 2 filmmakers for big guest lists |
| Reception | 5–6 hours | Room set-up, entrances, speeches, first dance, performances | 1–2 photographers, 1–2 filmmakers |
Two things push hours up: gaps between venues, such as a gurdwara in the morning and a banqueting hall in the evening, and a long programme of performances. Give us the running order and we will tell you honestly how long it needs.
For the evening before the wedding in particular, our guide to planning photo and film for the mehndi and sangeet covers lighting, performances and what to film.
How many photographers and filmmakers do you need?
Bridebook’s 2026 guidance suggests a second photographer for any wedding of 80 or more guests, and says a second photographer typically adds £400 to £600 and a second video operator £300 to £600. Those are industry figures, not ours, but the reasoning holds: more guests means more people to find, more groups to photograph and more happening at once.
For an Asian wedding the bigger question is often not the guest count but how many things happen at the same time.
| Situation | What we usually suggest |
|---|---|
| Mehndi or haldi at one home, up to about 100 guests | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker |
| Both families getting ready at different homes on the same morning | A photographer and filmmaker at each home |
| Ceremony day with several hundred guests | 2 photographers, 2 filmmakers |
| Reception with a long programme of performances | 2 photographers, at least 1 filmmaker |
| Civil ceremony or nikah on its own | 1 photographer, or a simple film |
With two teams, the groom’s preparations and the baraat can be covered while the bride gets ready, and the family photographs can move quickly without missing the moments around them. A big family photo list needs planning too: our guide to family photos for a 300-guest wedding shows how we keep it moving.
One crew across every day, or separate teams?
Some families book one studio for everything. Others split it, with each family booking its own photographer for the events it hosts.
One studio for every event gives you one plan, one point of contact, one consistent look across the galleries and one film that tells the whole story, from the first henna to the last dance. The team learns your family on day one, so by the wedding day they already know who your grandparents are and who must never be missed.
Separate teams can work when the families host very separate events. The trade-off is two styles of editing, two galleries and no single film of the whole celebration.
The middle path we often suggest is one lead photographer and filmmaker at every event, with extra team members on the big days only. You keep the continuity and only pay for the larger crew when you need it.
A sample three-day Hindu wedding, planned for photo and film
This is an example only, to show how the hours add up. Your own days will differ.
| Day | Event | Times | Hours | Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Mehndi at the bride’s home | 18:00–22:00 | 4 | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker |
| Friday | Haldi at the bride’s home | 10:00–12:00 | 2 | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker |
| Friday | Sangeet at a hired hall | 19:00–00:00 | 5 | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker |
| Saturday | Preparations, baraat, ceremony at the mandap, vidaai | 08:00–16:00 | 8 | 2 photographers, 2 filmmakers |
| Saturday | Reception | 18:30–23:30 | 5 | 1 photographer, 1 filmmaker |
That is 24 hours of coverage across three days, before any civil ceremony. The mehndi falls on a Thursday, and weddings from Monday to Thursday cost less with us, so ask about midweek rates for events like these.
What else affects the price?
- A separate civil ceremony. A Hindu ceremony at a hotel or hired venue is not legally binding on its own, many gurdwaras are not registered for marriages, and a nikah on its own is usually not a legal marriage unless it is held at a mosque registered for marriages with an authorised person or registrar present, so many couples also hold a civil ceremony. That is another event to cover, often short. Check the legal side with your register office and your officiant.
- Travel. Travel is included within 50 miles of our studio in Beckenham. For weddings in the Midlands, the North or abroad, travel and accommodation are added at cost.
- Films. You might want one highlight film of the whole celebration, a short film of each event, a longer feature film or a same-day edit for the reception. Each takes different editing time.
- Albums. Multi-day weddings fill an album quickly, and parents often want their own.
If the total feels high, our guide to spending less on photo and film without regrets shows where you can trim, such as photography only at the haldi, or a simple film for the civil ceremony.
From behind the camera
The question I ask first when a family sends their plans is not “how many guests?” but “where will everyone be at nine o’clock on the wedding morning?” If the groom’s family are tying the safa at one house while the bride’s choora ceremony happens across town, no single photographer can be in both rooms. Sorting that out before the day, with a schedule for every event and every team, is what makes a three-day wedding feel calm from behind the camera, and it is where most of the planning hours go.
Questions couples ask about Asian wedding photo and film prices
How much does an Asian wedding photographer cost in the UK?
It depends on how many events you book, how long each one runs and how many people you need on the team. Bridebook’s 2026 data puts the average UK photographer spend at £1,484, but that figure reflects a single wedding day. A three-day celebration with a mehndi, a sangeet, the ceremony and a reception is several days of coverage, so it is priced event by event.
Do we have to book photo and film for every event?
No. Choose the events that matter most to you. Many couples book the ceremony and reception with photography and film, then add the mehndi or sangeet with photography only, or shorter coverage. Smaller family events, such as a haldi at home, often need only two hours or so.
Do we need two photographers for a big Asian wedding?
For most ceremony days with a large guest list, yes. Bridebook suggests a second photographer for weddings of 80 or more guests, and many Asian weddings are far bigger. A second photographer covers both families’ preparations at the same time, the baraat and the bride’s side together, and the family groups without missing the moments around them.
Is it cheaper to book photography and film together for an Asian wedding?
Usually, yes. One studio covering both means one plan, one set of planning calls and one team that already knows how to share space at the mandap or in the gurdwara. At our studio, booking photography and film together costs less than booking them separately, and that saving repeats for every event.
Keep reading
- Multi-day Asian wedding timeline: plan each day’s events and where photo and film fit.
- Sikh wedding day timeline in the UK: from the milni to the reception, with clock times.
- Hindu wedding photography: the moments to plan for: haldi to vidaai, so nothing important is missed.
Price every event in one go
Tell us each event, its date, its venue and the hours you need, and we will price them all together. Get your price for every event, or see how we cover Asian weddings from mehndi to reception first.
