Six weeks, minimum. Eight if you want cards printed. This is not scarcity marketing — it is arithmetic.
Why the window is so tight
A seasonal set is built once for the season and dismantled afterwards. It occupies the studio for a few weeks, and in that time every family who wants festive photographs wants them.
The demand is not spread across a month. It concentrates into roughly a fortnight, and there are only so many slots in a fortnight. Once they are gone the set comes down and that is the year.
If you want cards
Work backwards. Cards need to be posted before the festival, printing takes longer than everyone assumes, and you need the gallery before you can choose an image. That puts the session a good two to three weeks earlier again.
What a festive set involves
For Diwali: diyas, rangoli, marigold garlands, lantern strings, and lighting built around the practical lights rather than fighting them. The child is lit primarily by the diyas and the fairy lights, which is the entire point and also why these sessions are shot slowly.
Dressing for it
Warm tones. Silk and zari in jewel colours. Coordinated across the family — we plan this on the styling call. Cool colours fight practical lighting and look wrong in a frame lit by flame.
The other seasonal sets
Christmas, Pongal and New Year, each built fresh with its own props and palette rather than one set redecorated. Same booking advice applies to all of them.