Photography

It depends on how important that is to you and how many pictures you want taken. We booked ours for 8 hours ($2000) because we want a lot of group shots with family at the reception but still want to do most formal pictures before the ceremony. If you have a smaller number of guests coming or aren't worried about photos other than your formal pictures and those of the ceremony then you can probably get away with fewer hours. We've planned 2 hours for formal pictures, an hour for the ceremony/ceremony prep, an hour for cocktail hour/receiving line, and the rest goes to dinner/cake cutting/group photos.

Ultimately, it is totally up to you! My fiance and I prioritized photography in our wedding budget, since the pictures will be our best keepsakes from the day. However, not everyone feels the same way about the photos. You could go to a local college and see if there are any photography students that you could hire for your wedding. It would likely be cheaper, and the photo quality is typically great as well. As far as the number of hours, look through your wedding day timeline: are you doing a first look? Do you want getting ready photos? If so, plan for about an hour before the first look as the "photography start" time (so that they can capture the very end of getting ready), and then calculate 4-5 hours from there as the "photography end" time. If that end time is in the middle of cocktail hour or dinner, you may want to book for more hours to ensure that everything is captured. The photographer likely doesn't need to be there until the very end of the reception (unless you're planning a grand exit or want evening photos), but maybe until around an hour after dinner to capture open dancing/guests socializing/etc.

I'm in South Carolina and I booked a photographer from Georgia. I really think I won the lottery with her.

Locally, most photographers had a cap on photography time - usually like 8-10 hours total for around $3,000 and that DID NOT include a second shooter.

My photographer only request that I get her a hotel the night before and the night of the wedding for her and her second shooter, and then the amount of time she spends on us is unlimited - literally unheard of.

She charged me $2,700 plus travel (hotel room for two nights), she brings a second shooter, and will be with me the entire day of my wedding - including post send-off bar hopping downtown!

It all depends on your location and what you're wanting! And of course how important the photos are to you.

It really depends! for instance i did not care to have getting ready photos, etc. so for 5 hours if that gives you time to take photos, ceremony, and the important parts of the reception then go for it! all depends on what you want captured

I want everything captured! I hired a photographer/videographer for 4 hours the day before for pre-wedding stuff, wedding day for 10 hours, plus an assistant each for 6 hours. I also have multiple locations: getting ready at a hotel, church ceremony, and reception venue.

When working on my timeline, I'm still not sure the day of timeline is enough. So I need to ask a wedding coordinator to help me with that.

If everything is at one location and you want just the main events, you could cut it into 4-5 hours.

4/5 hours is not enough to cover reception and exit much less wedding and pre wedding photos. A good photographer will cost $****. You definitely get what you pay for and there are no do overs

We did 9 hrs... there was no way 4-5 would have been sufficient. We were already spend thousands, so we figured we better not regret being cheap on photos! We did not hire an assistant as we had a small wedding.

What does your day look like? if you are going to have the bulk of your photos being taken before the ceremony then do 8 hours, We are paying 2000 for video and 8 hours of photo

It all depends on what you want and what you're comfortable with! We spent $5000 on our photography package, and it included 10 hours of coverage, a second shooter, a 1-hour engagement shoot, and a 15-spread wedding album.

We are getting ready at the venue itself so everything is there .... I was thinking 4 hours plus the bridal party getting ready would be enough I just don’t want to cut myself short ..... it is going to be a smaller wedding

I personally wouldn't do 8 hours bc I'm not a fan of looking at myself in pics lol. I'm only doing one hour of photography for $250

What does your timeline look like? Do you think you'll be able to squeeze the bulk of your formal photos into cocktail hour? Are you and your FH okay with having to miss cocktail hour? Do you want your photographer to stay long enough for cake cutting? These are just a few things to think about. Nobody can make the decision except you. For a traditional wedding, I'd think I'd need 6 hours at minimum for photo coverage. 8-10 is average. 4-5 seems rather tight.

I have two photographers for 8 hours on the big day and it cost $2000

8 hours sounds fine for me, we'll go with 7-8 hours for photos and videos. Also many photographer work with videographers and you can book both cheaper than if you were booking them separately, so think about that, too. The price mostly depends on the working time and the skillset of the photographer, so make sure you love the style and not the price, because otherwise you may end up with Photoworks, trying to re-edit the pictures you don't like.