How long should i hire the photographer?

We have our venue for 5.5 and my photographer said 6 was plenty. You don't need pics the WHOLE time you are getting ready. Have them show up at the tail end of that and catch a few of you putting on your dress and fake applying lipstick and mascara.

Our ceremony starts at 3:30, and mine said he'd come about 2, get some getting ready pics, the first look, ceremony, family stuff, more bride and groom, and the important stuff of the reception. (the dances and cake.) After that it's just people dancing and he said he can cover that in about 15-20 minutes and after a bit that will get very redundant, unless you feel like you need them there until the very end.

I think six hours should be more than enough, we’re going small as well (fewer than 50 people and a bridal party of 6). We’re having 3 or 4 hours of photography because the venue only allows the one photography company and 6 hours of photographs costs almost as much as the venue, food, dj, and almost everything else combined! It’s an all inclusive ceremony and reception venue.

We’re also using WedSocial and the UK version (since I’m british and all of my family is) so the photographer is taking pictures of the ceremony, and our photos before the reception and either an hour or two at the reception. The rest will have to be unprofessional but we do have some friends who are very into art and photography so they might actually get some okay ones

I think 6 hours isn't enough time. What about photos with family, when will that take place? It takes a bit to wrangle even small families into position.
My wedding was small as well, 42 guests, 1 person in the wedding party. We had our photographer for 8 hours, and it still didn't seem like enough time. One venue as well for the wedding. It took almost 3 hours to take photos before our ceremony with family and with my H.

With a 4 hour ceremony/reception, 5 hours should be plenty if you are not doing many pictures before the ceremony. The photographer doesn't need to be there until the end (there's just so many pictures of people dancing he/she can take). As long as the photographer captures all of the special moments (dances, cake cutting, etc.) during the reception, you're good. Our wedding was from 3-9 and we had the photographer from 2-8 (6 hours). I didn't want any "getting ready" pictures and took almost all the formal portraits from 2-3. My photographer asked for a shot list and worked like a ninja. The remainder of the photos were journalistic (candid).

My photographer recommends 6 hours for smaller weddings.

I'm having a small wedding of around 50 guests, and no wedding party. I booked my photographer for 6 hours. I estimate 2 hours before ceremony for 1st look and family pictures, 1 hour for ceremony, and 3 hours reception. Seems reasonable to me, unless you want to add getting ready pictures.

My fiancé and I are not doing getting ready photos and are just having our photographer for about 3-4 hours. Our wedding ceremony and reception is from 12 pm to 4 pm.

I think 6 should be enough time.

We hired ours for 10 hours just to make sure we had them there for most of the getting ready time until the end of the night. We want to do a sparkler send off and want to make sure that is captured.

I did 4 hours of photography. No getting ready photos, but she did get photos of my gown before I put it on and my girls lacing me up. Also it worked out so we got the dances, toasts and cake cutting photos before she left. It was perfect for us.

Ok, now that I'm looking at comments, I'm thinking 5-6 hours. I think if I have him come for "getting ready" shots, it'll be an hour before ceremony start time (I plan on already being dressed and staging it) and then he heads to the venue for ceremony/reception shots.

I've heard of people staging their send-off so I thinking I'll have him leave an hour early.

We booked our photographer for 10 hours, and we're having a private ceremony and a big reception.

Our photographer's standard contract was for 6 and we ended up adding an extra hour just in case so we could capture some dance floor shots. we probably would've been ok with 6, in hindsight. our photog arrived at 3 and we did all our posed shots before the ceremony at 5:30. we didn't do any getting ready shots, other than a few at the venue right before the ceremony.

I decided to have mine for 5 hours that's with a wedding party. I just didn't think the extra time was needed. To me I just figured it would be pointless to have them there all day