How Long Do i Need a Photographer at My Wedding?

Also forgot to add I have a small wedding (MAX 75 people invited), and only 5 bridesmaids and 4 groomsmen, and max 8 family members for reference!

Most brides hire one for 6 to 10 hours!

I only plan to hire a photographer for 2 hours max. I'm not a fan of pictures of myself lol.

Most people do 6-10 depending on their needs.

Do you want photos of you and your wedding party getting ready? Do you want photos of your send off if you're having one?

My wedding is from 5:00-11:00. The last event will be around 9, but I also want my photographer there for when we get ready around 1pm. So I'm hiring one for 8

What helped me the most was making a really rough mock-up of our time line. Even though I'm still like 6 months away and things are likely to change, having that timeline made me realize what I wanted her there for and what I didn't care about.

Hope that helps!

I think anywhere from 6-10 hours, depending on how far in advance you need to start taking photos before the ceremony and how many photos you need before the ceremony. The photographer should be able to give you a good time estimate, and from there, you can figure out how many hours you need. Since you said you don't need the photographer there much past dinner/first dance/etc (maybe have them stay an hour after those have ended to get some pictures?), maybe around 8 hours? Definitely talk with the photographers to get their opinions too.

6-10 is the norm!! It depends on your needs! Our photography package is for 8 hours of coverage.

We're planning on starting our ceremony at 4. We're doing a 'first look' so we can get the majority of family photos out of the way before the ceremony. That way our photographer has time to take photos of our guests, the first dances, and some of the reception. We must be out of our venue by 11pm.

We aren't having getting ready photos taken either, so we won't need our photographer there in the morning. The only getting ready photos we would have would be of me and my girls in our pjs, mom zipping up my dress, first look with my girls, first look with my mom and FMIL.

We're estimating that our photographer will be there from 12pm-8pm. From 12-4 we'll have first look photos and bridal party photos, plus any extra family photos we can squeeze in. 4-8 is ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception!

We had ours for 8. They arrived at 12 pm for getting ready shots and stayed until an hour after dinner started.

Our photographer will be there starting at 2p for getting ready shots, bridal party shots & wedding starts at 4. He plans on being there at least 6 hrs.

I found 8 hours to be the perfect sweet spot! This allowed her to get pictures of the ceremony and reception setup/decorations before all our guests started arriving. We also did a first look, couples pictures, and bridal party pictures before the ceremony, ceremony at 4:30, then had our photographer leave around 8:30pm (before the event ended. This allowed us to get pictures of the toasts, important dances, and some "party" pictures. Then we also did some AMAZING night photos as just a couple.

Ours is hired for both pre-ceremony pictures wedding pictures. I believe the contract is for 8 hours

I'd say 8 hours is the average. We only had our photographers for 6 hours and it was plenty of time. I did not care about having our "getting ready" photographed. So, our photographers showed up right before we began to get dressed to capture that. We did a first look, took all wedding party photos ahead of time, and then did newlywed and family photos after the ceremony. They were also there for most of our reception and we had thousands of great photos!