Hours for Videography, Photography on your Wedding Day.

This depends on several factors. For example, if you want "getting ready" photos and/or having a first look before the ceremony, you'll need to book the photographer for longer. The length of your ceremony and reception can affect the amount of hours as well. Some people want the photog/videog there all night to catch photos of people dancing and their send off (ie, if you're doing a sparkler or fireworks, etc. send off at the end of the evening). Some people choose to save money by only having one stay throughout the night (so only the photographer stays, or only the videographer stays) to capture the reception in it's entirety. Others only have them stay for the first hour of the reception so they can capture things like cake cutting, first dances, speeches, etc. It really just depends on what you are wanting to capture and what your budget allows for.

We did 8 hours of coverage! That included getting ready photos, a first look and group pictures before the ceremony, the ceremony, and most of the reception (they left about an hour before the very end.)

Here's a great discussion where a ton of brides shared how many hours of photography coverage they're getting: How many hours of photography coverage?

We're doing 9 hours. I wanted to include getting ready pictures, a first look/private vow exchange, as well as the trip to the church. We didn't want our photographer to miss out on any of the later-evening action either, so this was our big price splurge to make sure we captured everything.

Thanks for the advise

Thanks for the advice