Photographer

What do you want photographed?
Do you want getting ready photos? Do you want a first look or wedding party photos in between ceremony and reception? Do you want reception coverage?

Figure out what time your ceremony starts, and how long it is. Figure out how soon before the ceremony you want them to show up. What time your reception starts and how long you would like them there.
We are getting our photographer for 2 hours before ceremony, 1 hour ceremony, 2 hours in between, and 2 hours for reception. Somewhere around 8 hours. That's plenty for us, but we didnt want to feel rushed or try to rush art.

Mandi has some great advice. We’re getting two photographers for 9 hours on our wedding day. I would have been okay with 7-8 hours, I think, but this was the amount in the package we chose. Also included was an engagement shoot and a 10x10 album of our wedding photos. We’re in Southern California and are spending $4000 on our photographers.

I'm Midwest (Missouri). We reserved a well known pro photographer in our area, we are getting 2 photographers, all-day access, engagement photos were included, and he is travelling for 3500$. He had options for less hours (all photographers I contacted had options) and my photographer helped us plan our timeline before we purchased. Go in with questions and some photographers will also adjust a package to meet your needs!

In North Carolina, we hired a well known, in high demand, photographer whom includes 2 shooters for 8 hours, a full engagement session, and a boudoir lingerie shoot with an album as my present to him. We are paying 3500

We hired a nice local woman who frequently photographs weddings at our venue. We’re paying 1200 for about 6 hours, we’ll have about 2 hours of pre ceremony pics, ceremony pics, will do all of our formal pictures during cocktail hour and some Candids from the reception. We’re not doing a first look either, this is in Southern NH. The package also includes a few prints. We got quotes from other places that had bigger packages, more time and multiple photographers but unfortunately it wasn’t in our budget, so this is the route we were most comfortable taking!

Hey there!!

You can definitely check out the WeddingWire Photographer Cost Guide so get an idea of what a photographer costs and what would be included in their package. If you want to get more specific, you can put in your exact location to get a more localized price range.

I’m in CT we just booked our photographer, package includes up to 8 hours coverage, 2nd photographer for 4 hours, digital rights to our pictures, editing, engagement session and a $50 print credit. Her normal package price is $3800 but she gave us a 25% holiday discount which brought it down to $2850.

View Quoted Comment Thank you ladies for the suggestions and comments. It helps

Ours had a wedding package that included 8 hours for $1200. We only hired her for 4 hours because we weren't doing a first look or any photos before the ceremony or during the reception. If you are doing a first look and want reception photos, getting ready photos, send off etc, you should probably have them get there 3-4 hours before ceremony start time and have them stay until the end of the night after your send off.

For my sisters wedding we actually got a photographer from out of state. She did their engagement photos in Florida and they turned out amazing so she’s flying up to NJ to do the wedding. We have her for 10 hours noon to 10pm. She was $3500 which included her travel and accommodations while she’s up here. We are also going to get the second photographer which is another $900.

In Maryland it's usually between $3k-$4k for a photographer.

We're paying $3k for a photographer for 8 hours and will pay another $75/hr for a second shooter for 2-3 hours.

Our ceremony starts at 7pm, and the reception ends at 11:30pm. We're not doing a first look so we'll have the photographer arrive at 4:30 to do "getting ready photos" and family/bridal party pics before the ceremony (I'll have the family arrive around 5:00/5:30. I have a large extended family so we'll need some time). Then during the cocktail hour we'll do our couple shots and portrait shots.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! This gives me more idea for timeline and how many hours should I hire them.

When I was looking at photographers I wanted to save money by skipping the getting ready photos and most of the reception. However the timeline planning became so stressful because of that, I ended up doing a full day of photos. We had our photographer around all day from 9am-9pm and I was so relieved to not have to worry about getting in all the photos I wanted in a 5-hour window!

I had planned to spend around 10% of our total budget on a photographer and ended up finding one for wayyy under the projected amount at $800 for 8 hours. He doesn’t advertise himself a solely a wedding photographer but was recommended from a friend of mine in the area of our wedding (destination wedding in orange beach AL)

We are paying $500 and have her from when we start getting ready till end of the day. We looked around and got recommendations before deciding because it’s important too Us but we had a small budget. When looking we were told about 5 hrs and around $****.

We had two shooters for 6 hours and paid $2,000. This also included an engagement session. We went back and fourth on adding more time, but 6 hours ended up being just enough.

$4,000 for 2 photographers, 8Hrs coverage, one 30-40 page leather album, all digital prints, edited images.
Photographer is a friend who I have modeled for since 2001. He goes for the high-end classic shots my FH wants and the fun & whimsical I want.
We are located in the Washington DC area.