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Help! Hours included in photo packages

msmelissggmsmelissgg
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in Connecticut
Hi Everyone!
We're getting married the Sunday of Labor Day in Sept..  We're in the process of choosing our package for our photographer and I was wondering to anyone that had packages that involved hours, how many did you have?  I am not too concerned about albulm, etc., so the time is my main concern in choosing the pacakge.  We have our venue for the whole day, so we're not sure yet around when everything will start as well, which makes it hard since I don't have any form of a timeline.  Is 8 hours enough?  10?  12?  FYI our ceremony and reception are taking place at the same venue and we will both be getting ready close by, so we don't have travel time or anything.  Thanks in advance!
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Re: Help! Hours included in photo packages

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    banana468banana468 member
    First Answer First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I think we had our photographer for 8 hours.  He showed up and did some pre-ceremony photos at 1 and left our reception at 9.  For us, it worked. 
     
    The only thing he didn't get was our last dance.
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    AMISSA31AMISSA31
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    edited December 2011

    We chose the 8 hour package....our wedding starts at 6pm and reception is over at 12 midnight.  That way we have the photopgraphers 2 hours before the ceremony.  You will have a better idea once you narrow down your start/end times.  Good luck!

    wedding ticker
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    rswan412rswan412 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Agree with PP- figure out a tentative day of timeline, then figure out when you want the photog to start and end, and then you'll have your hours. I have mine from about 12:00-10:00, the entire day.
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    herb0622herb0622 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I had mine the entire day. She came to my house around 8:30am while I was getting ready and then stayed through the end of the reception which was 5pm. I would recommend having your photographer for the length of your day from the time you're getting ready unti lthe reception is over.
    Anniversary
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    msmelissggmsmelissgg
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks everyone!  Looks like I need to plan out my day, but I feel better about the 8 hours now.  Thanks!
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    Karebear852k3Karebear852k3
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I had a 6 hour package, which worked for us because we did not have a long day. 

    My ceremony was at 5:00pm (very short & simple about 1/2 hour, same location as reception), then cocktail hour, reception started at 6:30pm and ended at 9:30pm.  We were not able to be on-site until 3:00pm anyway, and I was getting my hair/makeup done off-site at a location far away from the C/R site (C/R site was in Mystic, I went to Dana Bartone's salon in Cheshire to save travel fees and I didn't have a location for her to come to anyway) at 9:00am-12:00pm, and then lunch and getting to the site.

    I wasn't hellbent on having pictures of me getting ready, and DH's "getting ready" was pretty much on-site when we arrived separately, and we weren't doing a First Look.  So for the photographer to arrive at 3:30pm, get some pre-ceremony shots of us separately with our BM's/GM's and families, and be there until 9:30pm (the full 6 hours) when it ended worked...

    I think best thing you can do is to figure out what your venue's timeline is going to be first.  When the ceremony starts, when the reception starts/ends and everything else around that is going to dictate  how many hours you might need a photographer for so that you are sure to get the shots that are most meaninful to you (i.e. you might not care about the last dance, just using PP's example, so maybe photographer can leave early to save time if you care about all the getting ready shots, etc.)...

    Good luck!
    image
    "I don't know how it gets better than this. You take my hand and lead me head first - Fearless"
    Anniversary

    Visit The Nest! Visit The Nest! Visit The Nest! Visit The Nest!
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    daniellelmilczakdaniellelmilczak member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    It all depends on what you want - I didn't care for pics of me and the girls getting ready at the salon. My photog showed up about an hour before the wedding ceremony at 1pm, got some pics of me getting into my dress and some formals with my parents and the BMs. She stayed until 9pm-ish. After a certain point in the reception, you're just going to get pics of people dancing and being drunk and possibly sweaty. That's my thoughts.
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    fluttaby32fluttaby32 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    there are plenty of photographers who will charge you a base rate for the whole day- not a set number of hours. If you could find one like that they are the best! No need to worry about paying extra if you end up needing them to stay longer. Im using http://www.belleamore.com/ and they are okay with no set end time. another one in ct who will do that is http://momentsbymelaniect.com/
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    Agnieszka ChwiedzAgnieszka Chwiedz
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Our photgrapger packages are all unlimited hours they are there as long as they need to be to get the "whole sotry" of the wedding day told through the pictures. If the album is not a big deal there base package is a good price to the amazing qualty of picures they have. Just saw they're latest wedding pics put up and I can't wait until April lol!!!
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    msmelissggmsmelissgg
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks everyone!  You are so much help!  I made a tenative timeline and made up everything myself and that helped and also figured out how much I really want of the "getting before pictures".  Thanks again, you guys are the best!
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