Is it worth it to sacrifice on hours of coverage to hire a better photographer?

I would go for the better photographer! Honestly I think having good pictures for most of the day is better than having mediocre pictures for the entirety day.

We are having our photographers for 5 hours. They’ll be arriving at 11:30. Ceremony starts at 12. Cake cutting at 4. They leave at 4:30. Reception ends at 5. They have the option to purchase more time, but THEY even advised us not to do it. They’ve said from their experiences, after the cake cutting there is very little to photograph that hasn’t already been photographed!

Are you doing a first look? If not would have the photographer come at 3:30 and stay until 8:30... by 8:30 I would think they would’ve gotten all the important shots, and your guests will continue to take pictures the rest of the night I’m sure! Maybe inform your bridal party and relatives in advance that the photographer will be leaving at 8:30, so encourage them to take extra of their own photos after that time. Some people may find that annoying and not do it, but personally I love taking pictures so I’d have no problem making sure there was adequate photo-documentation for the last few hours! After 5 hours of professional photos, I feel like people's phone photos will be good enough for the end of the party.

I will only have my photographer for 6 hours. I think you would be fine with 5 hours. I'm not planning on having photos of a gaggle of girls in matching pjs and if you aren't either, you likely won't need the photographer too much earlier than your ceremony. I chose a photographer that was a preferred vendor with venue. It was super important to me to have someone who has shot already shot at my venue.

This is a hard one! The photographer was really important to me as well and it was one of the first vendors I booked - especially since not a lot of photographers have that style.

Can you swing both? Like the really good one for the five hours that matter the most to you and then the novice for the remainder of the time? It can be weird in between, but you will have full coverage. Or you can also try explaining things to the second photographer and see if there is wriggle room.

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That's a really good idea. We are planning on doing a first look ... we also have a pretty small wedding party and neither of our immediate families are large, so that might help cut down on time.

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That's a good point. I do think the getting ready/bathrobe photos are cute but it's definitely something I'd be ready to sacrifice on if need be...

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Hmmm that's a really good idea as well and something I hadn't though of! I might reach out to her and see what she thinks!

We made exactly that choice. I just recently upped it to 6 hours of coverage because we canceled an engagement shoot with her. We had already paid and it was the same cost for an extra hour. I'd just be sure to talk to the photographer and get your timeline down. For us, we're not having her stay to the end of the reception, and we're more than fine with that. You just have to pick what's most important to have photos of on the day.

I sacrificed hours of coverage for my budget. I have her for 4 hours of total coverage. We're doing 1 hour of photos before the ceremony (wedding party, immediate family, grandparents photos), 20-30 minutes ceremony, 1 hour of formals and romantics during cocktail hour, 10 minutes for grand entrance, first dance, welcome toast and blessing. At this point, my photographer will go on an unbilled dinner break for 45 minutes. When she returns, we will do sunset romantics for about another 30 minutes. Then we'll return to the reception and do parent spotlight dances for about 5 minutes. We'll go into a thank you toast from the groom and cake cutting for another 5-10 minutes. Then I'll sneak away to change to a shorter reception dress. When I get back, we're going to do the anniversary dance and then open the dance floor. My photographer will stay for probably a max of 15 minutes worth of open dance.

I have a videographer for the full day, so I'm counting on him to get all the shots that I didn't really need my photographer to get. For example, I'd rather see a quick shot of the bridesmaids getting ready and toasting vs a photo. If I really needed a photo of that, I might be able to just get a screen grab from the video. I curated my wedding timeline to the shots I really wanted from my photographer, because I only had a limited number of hours with her. I cut out any getting ready photos, tried to knock out as many family photos before the ceremony without spoiling the first look down the aisle, told her I didn't really need photos of the centerpieces or little detail shots because I'd rather have photos of people, not the things. And I only needed her for 15 minutes of the open dance, because my videographer will capture the fun anyways.

Take a look at what you're willing to cut in your timeline or move around to accommodate shorter photography coverage. You don't want it to be too crazy packed in your schedule because things can fall behind and you might miss some great shots.

Hey Chelsea! Have you made a decision about your photographer yet?