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Alana
Just Said Yes October 2022

Engagement photo session—how many photos do you typically receive?

Alana, on November 20, 2021 at 7:53 PM Posted in Planning 0 14
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Looking for some help here.


May I ask how many pictures on average you received from the photographer for an engagement session?
We recently did a 2-3 hour shoot almost 3 months ago and still have not received our photos.
She gave us access to an online album but there are large watermarks across the pictures/our bodies. She let us know we could choose 4 photos to pick to be edited and have the watermark removed (included in our $375 package) but to receive any additional photos, she’d be charging $75 per photo edit and remove the watermark.
This was not specific initially, and she did let us know we’d receive 4 edited photos and online gallery access (however we were not aware we’d need to pay $75 per additional photo.) When I’ve spoken to friends, they’ve mentioned this amount is incredibly low and is extremely abnormal. I am assuming most people receive many more photos than 4 after a 2-3 session?

14 Comments

Latest activity by Kayla, on November 22, 2021 at 10:24 PM
  • Lisa
    Legend July 2022
    Lisa ·
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    4 photos does seem extremely low, especially for a 2-3 hour session! Unfortunately though, if it's in your contract, there likely isn't much that you can do. How many photos will you be getting from your wedding (if you're using the same photographer)? If it's less than 100-500 (depending on how many hours you booked them for), I personally would find a new photographer. If you find a new photographer that includes an engagement session, I would maybe retake the engagement photos too, just so you get more than 4 images.
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  • Alana
    Just Said Yes October 2022
    Alana ·
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    Thanks so much for the response. It unfortunately only mentioned 4 edited in the agreement, but that we had unlimited access to photos in in our photo gallery. What she failed to outline was those in the gallery were covered by large watermarks over the entire photo and she would be charging $75 a photo to remove them. Looks like we just didn’t ask enough questions and overlooked some details as excited first timers 🤷🏼‍♀️


    We took those in Florida (we wanted some nice beach photos) so have another photographer doing our wedding. We’re looking into booking additional engagement photos in December in NYC! Thanks again 😃
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  • Kacey
    Savvy February 2022
    Kacey ·
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    Gosh that does seem low. Our engagement session was included in the wedding photography package so I don’t have a solid price to help compare. But we received closer to 100 edited, non watermarked photos from our 2-3 hour engagement session. For what it’s worth we are actually only using about 10 of them when it comes to save the dates, website, and having framed for our house, etc. But still, if you feel like the photographer wasn’t super up front about the watermark and the cost of removing it, it might be a good idea to switch to a different one for the wedding.
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  • Lisa
    Legend July 2022
    Lisa ·
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    Glad to hear you're taking additional engagement photos in NYC, and that you have a different photographer for your wedding! 4 edited photos (to me) isn't worth the cost for an engagement session. I would probably just move past this, retake your engagement photos in NYC (and make sure ahead of time that you'll get more than 4 photos), and make sure your wedding photographer will give you enough photos from your wedding too. Sorry that the ones in Florida didn't work out, but hopefully your photos in NYC will turn out better!
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  • Cece
    Master October 2023
    Cece ·
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    Wow, that is an extremely low amount of number. And the fact that she did not specify the photos you had access to you would have watermarks on them was pretty shady. She was not forthright with you, to say the least. We had a one hour engagement session and got 200+ edited images, plus online access to them without watermarks.
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  • Cece
    Master October 2023
    Cece ·
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    *photos (not number 🤦🏼‍♀️)
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  • Kate
    Dedicated May 2022
    Kate ·
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    We received 192 engagement photos from our engagement session. We can save them, print them, share them at no additional costs.
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  • Amy
    Savvy November 2022
    Amy ·
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    That seems really odd.. Our engagement session was about an hour and we received 116 photos back that we were able to download and print at no cost. Every photographer is different of course, but I would be extremely disappointed getting only 4 photos included in the package and paying $75 for each additional photo. I hope you have better luck with your additional engagement session in NYC! Smiley smile

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  • Alana
    Just Said Yes October 2022
    Alana ·
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    Thank you!


    Yes we were pretty disappointed, I guess we didn’t do a great job of clarifying, but we went under the assumption she was operating under typical industry standard (providing access online) but you live and learn I suppose!
    This helped me to be super clear with our new photographer for the NYC sessions who confirmed we will receive 40 edited photos and access to the rest of the photos (no watermarks) via online gallery with full print rights at no additional costs.
    Thanks for everyone that chimed in, was great to hear your perspective and how many pictures you received!
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  • Sylvana
    Devoted August 2021
    Sylvana ·
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    Wow. That's nuts that your online gallery has watermarks across your photos! I would be livid that she did not specify that you'd have to pay an extra $75 to have her remove it PER PHOTO! Honestly I would use this as a learning moment on what to expect from here on out and would be SUPER clear with all of your vendors prior to signing any contracts. If I were you, I'd also write an honest review of your experience with this photographer and would be sure to explain what the online gallery entails so that other future brides know what to expect. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. If you want to have more photos, you can always have some taken in NY or somewhere that's significant to your relationship.
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  • Nisha
    Expert May 2022
    Nisha ·
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    Our session was 90 minutes and we got 30 photos back. It was included in our photography package and would have been $350 separately.

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  • Josie
    Dedicated October 2022
    Josie ·
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    That's very odd, and to be honest your photographer should have been clear and mentioned that your package only included 4 pictures and the rest would be an additional cost (and then mentioned the exact cost!) We're taking our engagement pictures next month and our photographer was clear that we would have access to around 50-100 edited pictures from our 2 hour engagement session.

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  • Allison
    Devoted May 2022
    Allison ·
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    We got 253 edited photos. So sorry you are dealing with this!

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  • Kayla
    Just Said Yes October 2022
    Kayla ·
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    I am receiving 20 photos for a one hour session. Cost: ~400$
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