How long did your photographer stay?

My reception ended at 1230 and photographers left at 10 the end of the reception was just partying and eating cake (we did cake cutting during dessert). Unless you are planning a big exit or you want a ton of pictures of everyone dancing then I don't see why you would need to pay the extra hr. some people will do a "false exit" to get the photos and then all head back in to finish dancing.

Once your cake is cut there really isn't anything left to photograph unless you've planed something. I think that your good with them leaving.

Plan your event timeline, cake cutting, special dances, bouquet/garter toss if you are going to do them, so that they happen before your photographer leaves. If you're not doing a grand exit and have them there for the important big stuff, no need to add on more time.

Our photographer is leaving at 8pm reception is over at 10:30 at that point i really dont want professional pictures of grandma taking shots dancing with groomsmen lol

I have my photographer for 8 hours. It's important that I have him at the reception as long as possible so I'm skipping getting ready pictures. He'll come around 2:00 to take pictures before of me with my BP and family and second photographer will do the same for FH. They'll leave around 10pm. Reception ends at 11:00. I'm okay having the last hour without a photographer. I like that I'll have pictures of people partying. That's more fun to me than the cake cutting. So boring.

Probably not. What time does the reception start?

Our reception ends at 11 pm but the photographer will stay until 8pm after we cut the cake he will leave. I just didn't think it's necessary for him to stay until 11 pm

I like covering the reception long enough for the cake cutting and dancing. But there comes a point where it would get redundant and there's no need for more coverage.

If your reception ends at 8:00pm and your photographer is leaving at 7:00pm, that's probably enough time (as long as you have enough time on the front end for getting ready photos (if you have/want that), ceremony, and reception highlights). The highlights (introductions, special dances, toasts, cake cutting) are the most important, and then the photographer can get an hour or two of dancing. After a while, drunken and dancing photos start to all look very similar.

Ours is unlimited all day.

If your last official activity is going to be done around 6-6:30pm and 6:30-8pm is dancing, it's pretty fine. After an hour of dancing, you start to see sloppy drunks. People don't tend to like to look at too many pictures of sloppy drunks.

Unlimited all day from awake.

We have ours for 9 hours. most of our stuff will be shutting down about 11pm (DJ leaves at 10:30) & we have to be out of there by midnight.

I have to be at the salon at 9am and am promised to be out by noon with all my girls. my MUA is scheduled to arrive at the venue at 1pm - so I think we will have them come when she gets there too so we have a few of the getting ready pics.

Pro Photographer Here!

Every schedule is different but you want to make sure they cover everything that's a special moment. Cake cutting, bouquet toss, all the dances, speeches, etc.

If those things all end for you before the photographer is scheduled to leave, then it's ok to have them leave before the end of the reception.

On the other hand, we just did a wedding that went until 2am and we were there right up until the end.

I'd say it's OK to have them leave if all the special stuff is over, but it could also be fun to invest in the (relatively) little extra to have them to capture more moments.

Ours arrived at 8am and stayed past 11pm, they were having such fun!

I watched as many people shook their hands and even a few hugs

She met us at noon, ceremony was 3 and reception was from 5:30-10:30. She and her assistant stayed until 9pm. We got so many pictures within that time frame..and were honestly thankful they weren't there to document us and all our guests for the last hour or so..a lot of sloppy drinking and dancing was occurring by that point and everyone was sweaty haahahah.

We had ours for 10 hours- she also left about an hour before the end of the reception, because we weren't doing a grand exit it didn't seem necessary. I think that's fine!