Photographer

I was just saying that to my oldest daughter that I rather have them and other bridal party take those shots of us getting ready. And they can come @2:45-3pm to start with the professional shots of me then with my bridal party and other family members. Our ceremony start at 5pm so that should be enough of time to do that and then go the venue.

Even if your ceremony starts at 4pm, arriving at 4pm is not enough time for your photographer to be ready. They need to arrive by 3pm to make sure they’re in place and ready to go.

Your photographer should arrive an hour prior to start time to be ready like Sara said. Are you doing a first look or family pictures? These are typically done before the ceremony if you don’t want to miss out on cocktail hour or reception time.

View Quoted Comment No I’m not doing a first look or anything before the ceremony

Our photographer is meeting us at the venue at 3pm and starting bridal party photos before our 5pm ceremony start. I’ll probably stage some getting ready photos when I’m in my suite after we finish the bridal party shots. She has an assistant coming with her who will be taking photos of the groom and his side while she is with me to minimize the amount of photos we have to take after the ceremony since we are not doing a first look. I think it will work out fine!

I had an abbreviated photography schedule, but I did the opposite.
My photographer came early for photos of details and getting ready, then did ceremony and family portaits, and left before the reception. Worked great for me as I didn’t need party photos, was skipping most of the “photo ops” anyway (cake cutting, bouquet toss etc), and really didn’t want a camera tracking me all night when I just wanted to enjoy the party! Helped with the budget too

She did still need to arrive a bit early to set up/measure lighting/figure out best spots in the venue to get the pics she wanted, so definitely make sure to factor that in to your timing!

I told her we needed her from 3-7 and for some reason it says we need her 4-8 so I’ll have to call

It's very common not to want professional getting ready photos, so there's nothing wrong with that. But, just for scheduling purposes, you need a bit of buffer between arrival time and photo start time. Your photographer will know how long they need to set up/prep on site, so just ask them what they recommend for a 4:00 ceremony time.

I'd check your contract or just give them a call. I didn't want getting ready pictures either, so we have our photography/ videography team meeting us at the ceremony location an hour before to get detail pictures, our letter exchange, my first look with my dad, etc. (not doing a first look with FH). They also mentioned that they get there an hour earlier than the start time so they can get their stuff all set up. The set up time isn't considered part of the time we have them for though.

We have our photographer for 5 hrs, with our ceremony starting at 4pm; however, the venue allows them in 2 hrs prior to. I'm not doing professional photos before the ceremony, but the DOC has two assistants that will be with each of us, so we'll definitely get some pictures in during this time.