Massachusetts, United States
NantucketWedding photography
An island thirty miles out, where every guest arrives by boat and nobody leaves early.
We photograph wedding weekends on Nantucket — private shingled houses with lawns to the water, yacht and beach clubs, tented receptions on open land, and the cobbled lanes of the old town. Two photographers on the wedding day, Friday and Sunday either side, from $28,000.
The island turns a wedding into a weekend by geography rather than by choice. It is thirty miles out; nobody drives home after the toasts. By Saturday evening a room full of guests has already spent two days together, and it shows in every frame.
Nantucket turns a wedding into a weekend by geography rather than by choice. It is thirty miles out into the Atlantic; you arrive by ferry or by a small plane, and once you are there you are there. Nobody drives home after the toasts. The consequence is the most relaxed set of photographs of any American destination on this list — by Saturday evening a room full of guests has already spent two days together.
Visually the island is a single consistent palette: grey shingle, white trim, blue hydrangea, pale sand, and a haze off the water that softens everything past about a hundred yards. It is very forgiving and very uniform, which means the photographs are made by the people rather than by the backdrops. That suits us.
The fog is the one thing to understand. It arrives without much warning, it can sit for a day, and it is genuinely beautiful to photograph in — flat, silver, directionless light that flatters everyone. We do not treat it as a problem, and we would rather plan for it than pretend it will not come.
The light
When to marry in Nantucket.
The part a visitor cannot look up, and the reason this page exists rather than a list of packages.
June
Hydrangea and long evenings, and the highest chance of fog in the year. Cool enough that a jacket on the beach is not decorative.
July to August
The season. Bright, hazy, warm, and fully booked — on the island, the ferries and the calendar alike.
September to early October
Clearest air of the year, low gold light on the shingle, and the town quiet again. The best photographic month, without argument.
The venues
Where to be married in Nantucket.
The rooms this market is built on, and what each one does to a photograph. Listed as places rather than as partnerships — we have no preferred-supplier arrangement with any of them.
Private houses, Monomoy and Shimmo
Shingled homes with harbour lawns
Lawns running to the water on the harbour side, which faces west — so the evening arrives across the water rather than over the roof.
Great Harbor Yacht Club
Club and terrace, Nantucket town
Wedding and sunset share one terrace, which is convenient and means the portrait window and the toasts want the same half hour. Worth resolving in the schedule.
Sconset Bluff
Clifftop walk and rose-covered cottages
Roses on grey shingle in late June, on a public footpath along the bluff. East-facing, so it is a morning location rather than an evening one.
Galley Beach
Beachfront, Cliffside
Sand, water and nothing else, facing west down the sound. The most exposed light on the island and the best of it in the last twenty minutes.
Town cobbles, Main Street
Historic district
Captains’ houses and cobblestones, which are genuinely difficult in heels. The portrait route needs choosing with that in mind.
The kind of place
- Private shingled houses with lawns running towards the water
- Yacht and beach clubs, where the wedding and the sunset share one terrace
- Tented receptions on open land, with nothing between the marquee and the Atlantic
- The old town’s cobbled lanes and captains’ houses, for the portrait hour
What a Nantucket wedding plans around
- Everything and everyone arrives by ferry or by air. Vehicle space on the ferry in summer is booked far ahead, and a wedding weekend needs that planned as carefully as the catering.
- We travel over the day before and stay on the island. A same-day crossing is not a plan we are willing to make.
- Fog can close the airfield. It cannot close the ferry, which is why we take it.
- The cobbled lanes in town are genuinely difficult in heels. The portrait route needs choosing with that in mind.
Frames
From Nantucket.
The commission
Photographing a wedding in Nantucket.
Nantucket is a weekend commission and we would argue for it here more strongly than anywhere else on this list. From $28,000: the Friday welcome dinner, the wedding day with two photographers, and the Sunday brunch, as one continuous set with the same hand on the edit.
Your guests have crossed thirty miles of open water to be there and they are not going anywhere until Sunday. The Friday dinner and the Sunday table are where half the real photographs of this island are made, and by the ceremony we are furniture rather than vendors.
We travel over the day before and stay on the island; a same-day crossing is not a plan we are willing to make. Preview within seven days, full hand-graded set within eight weeks, private archive, print release with no expiry, nothing published without your consent.
- The Wedding Weekend, from
- $28,000
- Photographers
- Two
- Preview
- 7 days
- Full delivery
- 8 weeks
Nantucket wedding photography — questions
How much is a Nantucket wedding photographer?
A weekend commission — Friday dinner, wedding day with two photographers, Sunday brunch — starts at $28,000. A single wedding day starts at $14,000. Travel and accommodation on the island are quoted at cost.
What happens if it fogs in?
We photograph in it. Fog here is soft, even and extremely flattering, and those afternoons produce some of the best photographs we make anywhere. What changes is the plan for distant views, which simply will not exist that day.
Is a weekend commission the right one here?
Almost always, for the reason the island exists as a wedding destination at all: nobody leaves. Two extra events with the same crew cost far less than booking them separately and produce a set that hangs together.
How do you get there?
By ferry, the day before. Fog can close the airfield and it cannot close the ferry, which is why we take it. Vehicle space in summer books far ahead and is worth planning as carefully as the catering.
Which month?
September and early October — clearest air of the year, low gold on the shingle and the town quiet again. June brings hydrangea, long evenings and the highest chance of fog.
Are the cobblestones really a problem?
In heels, genuinely. The route through town is chosen with that in mind, and there is usually a way to get the same photographs on the brick sidewalks instead.
Nearby
Married in Nantucket?
Tell us the date and what you are planning. We reply personally, usually within two business days.