Sneak peeks: when to send them and how many

Send the sneak peek within 48 hours if you can and within 7 days at most, with 5 to 15 photos edited to the same standard as the final gallery. The morning after the wedding is the best time, when the couple is with family or on their way to the honeymoon and the wedding is still the only thing anyone is talking about. Choose photos that cover the whole day, not the 10 best frames, and send them as a small gallery link the couple can share, rather than as attachments. Those are rules of thumb; the one hard rule is that the promise you make about the sneak peek is one you can keep in October.

When to send it

Timing	What it does for you	Trade-off
Same night	The couple sees photos before they sleep; reactions while the wedding party is still together	You are tired, the edit is rushed, and you are editing before the backup is done
Next morning	Lands while the couple is with family; sets the tone for the wait	Needs 1 hour of work the morning after a 12-hour day
Within 3 days	Still inside the window where friends are posting	Guests’ phone photos have already become the first record of the day
Within 7 days	The common promise; safe in peak season	The moment for the couple to post has mostly passed
After 7 days	Counts as a progress note, not a sneak peek	The couple has already emailed to ask

The next-morning slot is the one to aim for. It costs an hour, and it is the hour in the whole delivery process with the highest return. If you shoot 2 weddings in a weekend, do the first one on Sunday morning and the second on Monday, and promise “within a week” in the contract so that both are early.

Back up first. No sneak peek is worth editing from a card that has not been copied twice. Backup strategy for wedding photographers is the order of operations for the wedding night.

How many photos

5 to 15. 10 to 12 is the number most photographers settle on, as a rule of thumb.

Count	What it says
Under 5	Thin. The couple wonders whether the day went badly.
5 to 8	Enough for one social post and a message to parents
10 to 15	Covers the day; enough for the couple and both sets of parents to post different photos
20 to 30	A preview, not a sneak peek. Fine as a second drop at the halfway point of the edit.
40 or more	The gallery, early and unfinished. Save it.

The count is limited by the edit, not the choice. Every sneak peek photo should be finished to your final standard, because it is the first evidence the couple has of what the gallery will look like. A quick edit on 40 photos sets a lower expectation than a careful edit on 10.

Which images

Cover the arc of the day rather than picking favorites. One from each of these, and then fill to your number:

1. Getting ready: a detail or a quiet moment, not the dress on a hanger unless the dress is the story.
2. The ceremony: the walk in, the vows or the kiss.
3. The couple: 2 or 3 portraits, at least one where both are laughing rather than posed.
4. Family or wedding party: one that includes parents. It is the photo parents post, and parents refer photographers.
5. Reception: the entrance, the first dance, or one candid from the dance floor.

4 rules of thumb for the choice:

• Both partners in at least half the photos. A sneak peek of one partner alone gets noticed.
• One photo the couple did not see happen. A parent watching the vows, a guest reaction, the ring bearer. It tells them you were watching the day, not just shooting it.
• Nothing unflattering of a guest. The sneak peek gets shared widely; the full gallery is easier to control.
• Hold back one or two of your very best. The couple opening the full gallery should find something they have not seen. Lead with strong photos, not with all of them.

Edit them in the final style. If your galleries are warm, the sneak peek is warm. A sneak peek edited darker or brighter than the gallery creates a “we liked the first ones better” email 8 weeks later.

How to send it

Send a small gallery link, not attachments and not only a social post:

• A gallery link is shareable. The couple forwards one link to both families instead of 10 files, and parents see it at full quality rather than as a compressed message attachment.
• It keeps your branding. Your logo and name travel with the photos when the couple shares the link.
• It shows the couple how the full gallery will work. By the time the full delivery arrives, they have used a gallery once.

Email both partners, 5 lines at most: a thank-you for the day, the link, permission to share, a request to tag you if they post, and the date the full gallery is due. If your contract allows you to post, wait until the couple has seen the sneak peek and posted first. Their announcement should be theirs.

Do not watermark it. A marked sneak peek looks like a proof, and the couple’s first post of your work is the one you want clean. Should you watermark wedding photos covers the trade-offs.

Make it a separate small gallery rather than a preview of the full one, so the full delivery is a second event. On FOCL, every plan including Free has unlimited galleries, so a 12-photo sneak peek gallery costs nothing and carries your branding.

Send the same set to the vendors

The planner, the venue and the florist want photos as fast as the couple does, and they post them the week of the wedding, with credit, to an audience of engaged couples. Send them the same sneak peek, with a note about which images include their work. Sharing wedding photos with vendors covers the etiquette, the credit line to ask for, and the shared-set link that keeps couple-only photos out.

What the sneak peek buys you

It buys patience. A couple who has 12 finished photos on day 2 waits 8 weeks for the gallery without a single “any update” email, because they have proof that the photos exist and that they are good. How long wedding photo delivery takes covers the rest of the wait and what to send during it.

5 mistakes

1. Promising same-night and delivering it 3 days later. Promise the slow date, deliver the fast one.
2. Sending 40 photos. That is the gallery.
3. Editing the sneak peek in a different style from the gallery.
4. Posting on your own account before the couple has posted.
5. A sneak peek with no parents in it.