Did your photographer stay til the very end?

Our photographer stayed until 10 and our reception lasted until 11:30. I think having them there for all of the special events and then 30 minutes of dancing is plenty.

Nope, ours didn’t stay til the end. We booked 4 1/2 hours so we could afford a good photographer! Ours was there from first look to dinner (we didn’t have a wedding cake). He brought a 2nd shooter for 90 minutes which was awesome. 👍


At our local reception for 50 guests (formal drinks, dinner, dancing), we hired a photographer for 2 hours. Our cousin has a pro camera and took some after the photographer left and we did the wedding cake cutting there.

I likely won't keep the photographer for the reception at all. Just getting ready (still up in the air), the ceremony, and pictures after. We will have them for a maximum of 4 hours. If people want to take pictures at our reception, they are more than welcome to.

That’s fine! Ours stayed for 5 hours. Left after the cake cutting, 30 mins before the reception ended. It was fine... we had more than enough photos. Nothing much happened towards the end anyway that they hadn’t already photographed

Honestly you don't need them till the end! i had the same fear. we only had a 4 hour reception we started getting ready at 9am. the guys came at 11. the photographers came at 12. we did all our getting ready photos, first reveal with my father, then my DH. then bridal party pics and ceremony started at 3. they left at 6 right after we cut the cake!

They didn't. I don't think they need to unless your timeline has things where you'd be doing til the very end.

6 hours was plenty for us. Our photographer left shortly after open dancing started. No professional photos need to be taken after the party really gets going.

I think the most important thing is having them capture your special moments. People dancing doesn't change much. Since you are not doing a grand exit of any kind, I think 6 hours is plenty of time.

Our photographer only plans to stay an hour or two after they open the dance floor. She said after that the photos get repetitive of people dancing and we really don't need an extra few hundred of those lol

I guess I am worried that she will miss the cake? our cutting is done an hour and 15 mins before the party ends.

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What about the cake?

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Every wedding i've been to, they do the cake before the dance floor opens. We're probably going to do it right after entrances before we sit down for dinner just to get it out of the way

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I have already asked my coordinator. They do the cake an hour and 15 mins before the party ends.

Our photographer is staying until 5pm (she'll stay until after the father daughter dance), get a few photos of the start of dancing and then we'll rely on people to take photos with their phones and tag us in them!

Our photographer stayed until the end of the reception activities.

We have our photographer for 6 hours. He's coming for some final getting ready pics (putting the dress on, etc.) and leaving just after sunset pictures. Roughly 3:30-9:30

View Quoted Comment Is there any reason you and FH can’t do the ceremonial cake cutting, a slice for you two only, earlier in the evening when the photographer is there? Then let the venue/coordinator/caterer/whoever cut the rest of it up for guests at the usual time? Guests might forget about cake by the time it comes around, but it’s up to you what’s most important here.


I had my photographer stay the full time. We even had to pay for an extra hour (because we did a grand exit and didn’t want to stage it). That’s just the way we wanted it and we were willing to schedule the day and pay the extra hour photographers fee to have it. We love all of our reception photos, private last dance photos and grand exit photos, so it was worth it to me.