Photographer?

I’d book for an hour or two before so he can get the”getting ready / first look” shots and until
The end of the reception.

If you want getting ready shots and are doing a send off at the end of the wedding I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be 10+ hours depending on when it ends

If you want getting ready shots, an hour or two before is a good choice. My reception is from 5pm-10pm. To save myself a little money, I hired my photographer from 2pm ( my ceremony time as well)-8pm. I figured no one would want to see pictures of themselves after 8pm with an open bar 😋 As for getting ready, I was fortunate enough that my FH has a professional camera. We used that to take our engagement photos ourselves and they turned out beautiful. So we are just going to have a family member do the getting ready shots. It's all dependent on your budget and timing but if you want getting ready to end of reception, it'll be 10-12 hours.

It totally depends on what your priorities are. If you care about getting ready shots and if it matters to you that they stay for the whole reception. We aren't doing a grand exit, so our photographer said that it's not necessary for him to stay for the entire reception because the photos get pretty monotonous after the first hour or two of dancing. So, we're basically using the same timeline as Danielle, but it's pushed back half an hour since our ceremony is at 5:30. We also have the option to extend our hours the day of the wedding so if we think there's something we HAVE to have photos for at that point, we'll be covered.

Depends how long your reception is also

We are doing ours two hours before ceremony for getting ready and first look photos. Then all during the ceremony and reception. They are leaving an hour before the reception ends. Most people will be on their way out and we aren’t having a grand exit or anything so staying during the end into cleanup wasn’t needed. We ended up with 10 hours

My photographers cheapest package was for 7 hours. And we used more actually. Talking through the timeline with a photographer (whether you hire them or not) will help you talk through the timeline.