How to Deliver Wedding Photos to Clients: Timeline, Format, and Gallery Setup

Deliver a sneak peek of 20 to 40 images within 72 hours, and the full gallery of 400 to 900 edited images within 4 to 8 weeks. Send both through a password-protected online gallery, exported as JPEGs at full resolution with a web-sized version for sharing. Put the download button, the print store, and the favorites tool in the same place so the couple does not need to email you for anything. This post walks through each step, with the settings and the wording.

The timeline couples expect

Couples have read enough wedding blogs to know what a normal timeline looks like. Match it or explain why you differ.

| Milestone | When | What is in it |

|---|---|---|

| Sneak peek | 24 to 72 hours after the wedding | 20 to 40 images across the day |

| Full gallery | 4 to 8 weeks | 400 to 900 images, culled and edited |

| Album design proof | 2 to 4 weeks after full gallery | Draft spreads for approval |

| Gallery closes or archives | 1 to 2 years | Warning email 30 days before |

The sneak peek matters more than most photographers think. It arrives while the couple is still telling the story of the day to everyone they meet. They share it. That sharing is where your next three inquiries come from. A sneak peek that goes out on day two beats a full gallery that goes out in week three.

Put the full gallery deadline in the contract as a range, then beat it. Deliver in week six when the contract says eight.

How many photos to deliver

A useful rule is 50 to 100 edited images per hour of coverage. An eight-hour wedding lands between 400 and 800. More is not better. Couples do not want 1,500 images to sort through, and near-duplicates make the gallery feel unedited.

Cull hard. Deliver the best frame of each moment, not every frame.

Export settings

Export twice from Lightroom or Capture One.

Full resolution set

• JPEG, quality 90 to 100
• sRGB
• Long edge at native resolution, no resize
• Sharpen for screen, standard
• Filename: LastName-Wedding-0001.jpg, sequential in day order

Web set (only if your gallery does not generate one)

• JPEG, quality 80
• sRGB
• Long edge 2048 px

Most gallery platforms generate the web sizes for you, so you upload only the full set. Check before you double your export time.

Do not deliver RAW files. Put it in the contract. If a couple asks, the answer is that RAW files are unfinished work, the same way a baker does not hand over dough.

Organizing the gallery

Order the gallery in the sequence of the day: getting ready, first look, ceremony, family formals, portraits, reception. Couples scroll from the top and expect the story in order.

Use folders or sections for the parts that different people will look for:

• Getting ready
• Ceremony
• Family formals
• Portraits
• Reception
• Details

Family formals in their own section is the one that saves you email. Parents go straight there.

Set a cover image. It is the first thing the couple sees and the thumbnail when they share the link. Choose a portrait, not a detail shot.

Settings that matter

Password. On, always. Send it in a separate message from the link.

Downloads. Decide before you send. The common options are full resolution for the couple, web size for guests, or full resolution for everyone. A gallery tool that lets you set download permissions per gallery makes this a checkbox rather than a second upload.

Download PIN or email capture. Turn on email capture for guests. You get a list of people who liked the work enough to download it. That list is your marketing.

Favorites. Turn on. Ask the couple to favorite 40 to 60 images for the album. The favorites list replaces the "can you send me the file numbers" thread.

Store. If you sell prints or albums, put the store in the gallery. Parents buy prints in the first two weeks while the emotion is high and rarely after. If the store is a separate link they will not find it.

Expiry. Set a real date and tell the couple. Two years is common. Archive rather than delete when the date arrives, so you can restore it for the anniversary request.

The delivery email

Send it the same day the gallery goes live. Keep it short.

> Your full gallery is ready: [link]

> Password: in a separate message.

>

> A few things to know:

> - Download the full-resolution files with the download button at the top. Save a copy somewhere safe.

> - Share the link with anyone. Guests can download web-sized copies.

> - Use the heart to mark favorites. I will use those for your album.

> - Prints and albums are in the shop tab. Everything ships direct.

>

> The gallery stays online until [date]. Thank you for trusting me with your day.

Notice what is not in there. No apology for the wait. No paragraph about your process. No PDF attached.

Selling from the delivery

The gallery is the only time the whole extended family looks at the photos in one place. Set up three things before you send it.

1. A buy-all digital price for guests. Guests who want their own copies of the whole set will pay $50 to $150 for it. Set the price and let the gallery handle it.

2. Print prices at 3 to 5 times lab cost. A lab 8x10 costs $2 to $4. Sell it for $15 to $25. Use a gallery with lab fulfillment so you never touch the order.

3. One album offer. A parent album at a fixed price, added to the gallery as a product. Parents buy albums for themselves when the offer is in front of them.

Commission matters here. Some platforms take 10 to 15% of print sales on their cheaper plans. Others take nothing. On $3,000 of print and album sales a year, that is $300 to $450 either kept or given away. Check the commission on the plan you are actually on.

Handling the follow-ups

"Can you send the family formals to my mom?" Send the folder link. This is why the folder exists.

"Can I get the RAW files?" No, and the contract says so. Offer a re-edit of specific images instead.

"Can you remove photo 0412?" Yes. Hide it in the gallery. Do not argue.

"The link expired." If you archived rather than deleted, restore it and send it again. Charge a small restoration fee if it is past the stated date and the contract allows.

Backups before you deliver

Deliver from a set that exists in three places: the working drive, a local backup, and an offsite or cloud copy. The gallery upload counts as a copy only if the platform keeps the original resolution and you can re-download it. Check that before you treat the gallery as a backup.

Keep the RAW files for at least a year after delivery, longer if your contract promises re-edits. Storage is cheap. A lost wedding is not recoverable.

Delivering to more than one person

Weddings have two clients and often four sets of parents. Send the gallery link to the couple only, and let them share it. If the parents contact you directly, ask the couple before sending anything. It avoids the situation where a parent downloads and posts an image the couple wanted to keep private.

For the guest download, use the gallery's guest permissions rather than a second gallery. One gallery with two permission levels is easier to maintain than two galleries with the same files.

Sneak peek specifics

The sneak peek does the marketing for the whole job, so treat it as a separate deliverable.

• Pick images from across the day, not only portraits. One getting ready, one ceremony, two portraits, one reception, one detail.
• Edit them to the same standard as the final gallery. The couple will compare.
• Post them to your own social accounts the same day, tagged with the venue and vendors. Vendors reshare, and vendor reshares book weddings.
• Put the sneak peek in the same gallery you will fill later, in a folder called "Sneak peek". The couple bookmarks one link.

Frequently asked questions

How long should the gallery stay up?

Two years is the common answer. Say it in the contract and the delivery email.

Should I deliver black and white versions?

Deliver each image once, in the treatment you chose. If you want to offer both, put the black and white versions in their own folder so the gallery does not look like duplicates.

Do I watermark the delivered files?

No. Watermark the web preview if downloads are locked. Never watermark the files the couple paid for.

What if the couple asks for more images than I culled?

Offer to look at a specific moment they feel is missing. Do not release the outtakes as a set. The culled gallery is your work; the outtakes are not.

How do I handle a couple who has not downloaded after a year?

Email them 60 and 30 days before expiry with the download instructions. Most download after the first reminder.

A checklist to print

• Sneak peek out within 72 hours
• Full gallery within the contract window, sooner if possible
• 50 to 100 images per hour of coverage
• Full-resolution JPEG, sRGB, sequential filenames
• Sections in day order, family formals separate
• Cover image set
• Password on, sent separately
• Download permissions set on purpose
• Favorites on, ask for 40 to 60
• Store with buy-all, prints, and one album offer
• Expiry date set and stated in the email
• Delivery email under ten lines