How many hours do you really need a photographer?

I'd say it depends on how much of your day you want photographed. a 6 hour package will likely get you the ceremony and most of the reception. an 8 hour package might get you some pre-wedding pictures and the ceremony, etc. and an all day package is just a short way of saying unlimited hours and would get you all the getting ready (from the moment your eyes pop open if you want) plus whatever pre-wedding you want, and the ceremony and the reception. it's a way for photographers to control their time out and a way for you to pick and choose how much coverage you want. win-win.

All day=from as early as you are willing to let him/her arrive until whenever you finish.

As to the number of hours, it depends on what you want pictures of. We had a lunch reception immediately after our ceremony, and decided we really didn't want a bunch of pictures of people eating. We had three hours--an hour of getting ready, the ceremony itself, and an hour of formals of us and all of the guests. However, if you are having first dance, cake cutting, etc., you might want to have the photographer for longer.

One thing that I would not budge on was all day coverage. I want to make sure that I have pictures from the entire day. Really though, it is up to you.

Okay so I guess I need to figure out how long I want the reception to be but we have the ballroom until 12am I just dont know if six hour to long for a reception

At least 3 but 8-10 is way better! As with everything, it depends on your expectations regarding the final product and experience and then of course your budget! GL

We had 8 hours which was prep at the venue, the ceremony, and all but the end of the reception.... It was just enough for us.

The advantage of one day package is that you don't need to worry about timing. It allows some dramatic photos taken with plenty of time. The bride can go to a scenic place and take beautiful wedding portraits if she wants to.

In Bay Area, there are so many scenic places where one can get memorable photos with the beautiful wedding dress.

Some couples would like to meet each other even before the ceremony to take romantic pictures. Some couples prefer not to meet each other unitil after the ceremony.

Any way, the more time, the more beautiful artistic photos you will get.

We are having a very small, intimate wedding, with a luncheon reception following. The whole thing is probably going to run about 3 hours, so, for us, 6 - 8 hours of photography was just too much. But it can be difficult to find a photographer willing to take on a gig on Saturday for just few hours, when there is the possibility of a longer wedding going all day. We did manage to find a photographer who did have 3 hour packages that work for us. He will stay longer if we haven't cut the cake yet, or something like that. But he is really willing to with us.

This is all meant to say that there are photographers out there who will work with you to provide you with exactly what you want, and within the budget you have to work with.

We signed up for a 5 hour package. 1 hour prep, 1 hour for ceremony, 1 hour for formals, 2 hours reception. HOPEFULLY that is enough time. if not, then the photographer said we can add more hours.

All day or unlimited means from the time you start getting dressed and prepared till you pull away in your choice of limo ect. My guy is unlimited for 999.00 which him his wife do it at as a team. So I am really excited and I seen his work he did a wedding at Cincy Bengals Stadium so def check quality for the price and time you are paying for cause thats actually the most important if he's 8 thousand and has a digital camera look fa get a bout it lol

Shaunie,

On my website I have a break down of how I shoot a wedding. http://www.infocuschicago.com/approach.html It's a good read. Just because the photographer is there all day, that does not mean they will be in your face snapping. I think most of my industry pros will agree with me when I say we try to remain in the background and un obtrusive while documenting your wedding. Typically my day starts out at the bride's home or where ever she is getting ready and ends when she leaves the hall. That's all day coverage from beginning to end, most people who want an album that tells the story of their day want this type of coverage.

I find that 8 hours will give very good coverage of 95% of weddings. When figuring time, I look at the reception events first and work backwards....

I want to leave about a half hour after the dancing starts. Everyone has drinks in their hands, their hair is messed up, they are sweaty and most important... dancing seems more fun in person than it could every possibly look in pictures. A half hour of dancing is plenty.

Most of the time, I work from 2-10 pm. However, if your ceremony is at 11 am and reception is at 6, then clearly 10-12 hours is needed. Don't forget to feed your photographer. Unlike your day at work, we don't get smoke breaks or lunch breaks or time to surf the web. We are running and jumping and sweating and carrying gear all day...

Jessica, are you in Cincy?

Just remember at some point the photographer is pretty much just standing their shooting the same people dancing on the dance floor. More often than not their isnt a ton of action those last couple hours of the reception. If its not possible to do unlimited, get the "getting ready" and lose the last hour of the reception. Unless you have a grand exit plan. goodluck

@ infocus studios thank you so much for the posting of the approach it gave me a really good idea of what to expect from a photographer and some good questions to ask. Wish you were based in Miami.

We had a total of 7 hours with our photographer and, in retrospect, I wish we had had her for longer. She started with pre-ceremony photos at noon (catching the tail end of my makeup application)... the ceremony was at 2pm... and the reception ended at 7pm.

Reality, 10 hours would've been better. We could've started pre-ceremony photography at 11am and it wouldn't have felt like we were cramming my pre- photos in (as a matter of fact, I was 20 minutes late for the ceremony due solely to the fact that we were shooting pictures). And then we could've caught some nice sunset photos on the beach before it was all done. (Instead, I asked a friend to take some and I still haven't seen ANY of the photos that she took from the entire day.)

I suddenly realize, I don't think our photographer ever ate - I didn't see her eat, even though it was in the contract.